'72 bed tweaked?

[mopower]

Hi guys, been away for awhile, finally got moved in to our new house.I am starting to assess my project truck; 1972 F-100 4X4 shortbed.
I am noticing the drivers side of the bed in the rear is up higher then the passenger side as if it was hit on that side but I find no evidence of it being hit.It is especially noticable with the tailgate.I noticed this before but allways though it was the tailgate ( it is tweaked) that made it look like this but I took measurments and it is higher on the one side.
The bed of the truck looks as if it had some heavy loads dropped in it and I was thinking of replacing it because I was planning a nice but not perfect restoration.I dont have the space (2 car garage)to do a full frame off resto, I will be taking the bed and the front "clip" off.
1st let me state this truck is in really good shape for the year, it has been a california truck its whole life, no rust except a small rust hole in the passenger side cab corner.The undercarriage has only mild surface rust.
Has anyone come across this uneven pickup bed syndrom?
I hope its not a bent frame, the truck drives straight and true down the road and the frame does not appear to have any damage at all.The tires are all wearing like they should.Also the rear bumper looks straight ------ but the bed does not look straight.Seems like the bed is tweeked.Maybe there is alignment shims for the bed to frame mounts????
Please advise, thanks in advance.
pics of my truck at http://home.comcast.net/~schaffer.d/f100/

[DirtyJim]

Mine is exactly the same! The drivers side rear corner of the bed sits higher than the other side on my 72 F100. There is no evidence of any damage. Im stuck too...I dont know where to look.

[lobuck76]

you could also have a bad leaf spring. That will make it look like the other side of the bed is kicked up.

[71Ford100]

Mine is the same way too. I think that the bed has just setteled with age.
Probably just needs a few spacers

[dragtruck]

Actually look at the front of the bed,the front crossmember gets water in it and on 67-72's the pass side likes to rust out where it sits on the frame,causing the bed to sit crooked,I've found this on several rust free trucks.

[flyboy2610]

Measure the frame height from the ground at several points on both sides to rule out a bent frame.

[DirtyJim]

Some good advice there...I definitely have a few things to check now. My bed is straight and follows the lines along the back of the cab, but must be a good 1-1.5 inches higher in the rear on the drivers side. I would think that ifa leaf was sagging, that the entire truck would lean to some degree...I may very well be wrong. Does anyone know the factory height from say, ground to top rear corner of bed, or maybe the fender height above ground? I guess I need to determine if the drivers side is higher, or the passenger side is lower. Ill check the frame heights like someone mentioned. I guess I can always unbolt the bed and place some wood shims between the mount and the bed....I guess

[mopower]

Some good advice there...I definitely have a few things to check now. My bed is straight and follows the lines along the back of the cab, but must be a good 1-1.5 inches higher in the rear on the drivers side. I would think that ifa leaf was sagging, that the entire truck would lean to some degree...I may very well be wrong. Does anyone know the factory height from say, ground to top rear corner of bed, or maybe the fender height above ground? I guess I need to determine if the drivers side is higher, or the passenger side is lower. Ill check the frame heights like someone mentioned. I guess I can always unbolt the bed and place some wood shims between the mount and the bed....I guess

Your truck is exactly like mine, the front of the bed matches the lines on the rear of the cab.
Is your's a shortbed also?
I measured the frame from the ground on both sides, I come up with the same measurment both sides.
I wonder if this was a factory defect?
If I can't find a another shortbed in better shape I will have to use this one and I guess use some large washers as shims on the effected side.
I guess the rusted out bed mount is a possiblity too, will find out when I pull off the bed soon.

[my367s]

On my 64 ford 4x4 the front passenger spring is bent so that the front passenger side sits a bit higher and this makes the rear drivers side box look twisted.In your cases could your front ends be lower on one side.

[DirtyJim]

Mine is a long bed.

The front end sits level, as viewed from the front of the truck, although the front coil springs dont look to be in great shape at all...I noticed that Gramps put in some coil spring helpers at one point...the little blocks that wedge between the coils of the spring to give it a little more lift. It does sit level though. The shocks need replaced too...they look to be as old as the truck...the thing feels like its gonna tip over in corners.

[Commodore Woods]

I've got a '72 F100 Ranger XLT 131" WB and my bed is crooked too, In my case I'm pretty sure it's just worn out leaf springs that have made the bed "settle" and appear to be crooked.

[FormerMarine1981]

Anyone in these posts find a definate answer to the problem?

[Jake11]

Same. But I got holes made in mine. Look just about the right size
for the teeth on a skiploader. The PO patched with readymix.

Gives it "character", I guess

[68F250]

It's normal for the bed to be off sometimes, Ford used shims between the bed and frame on the production line to square them up but sometimes they forgot. I think the max allowed was two shims together but would have to look that up to be sure. There was a tech bulletin on it.

[rjewkes]

sometimes even the bed is off from side to side.