I started building the front of my bed on Friday, but I had a "Whoops, OH ****" and ended up having to head to the ER. I took it easy Monday and Tuesday so that I wouldn't stress my wound (doctors orders).
I got stitches out today so I got back to work, I finished up the front and started on the back.
I am still not entirely sure how this happened but I bet down to pick up an air hose and when I stood up I cut myself on a piece of sheet metal that was on the table.
The cut was 2" long and cut all the way to the bone.
I ended up with 10 stitches.
After the stitches came out, It is healing up pretty quickly just 5 days later.
All good builds need some blood, sweat, and tears right?
Back to the build!
I ordered the stake pockets from Macs Antique Auto Parts because they were cheaper than I could build them.
Here are the back two, the front two haven't showed up yet.
The front of the bed is also 18Ga. sheet metal, and I rolled three 1" round beads in it to stiffen it up a little bit. I rolled the beads all the way off the end to minimize distorting the panel so I used the torch and a hammer and dolly to shrink and shape the ends to what I wanted.
I folded a 1" flange around the sides and bottom to weld to and stiffen the panel more.
A close up of the bead.
Here is a little mock-up teaser. This was the first time I saw the bed where it is going to sit, mainly because I knew if I had the opportunity to change it, I would, so I did not let myself do a mock-up until the point of no return.
I just need the front stake pockets and to finish up a tail pan, weld everything up, and then build a tailgate and this little bed project will be complete.