Need advice on what to do with old bed liner and while we are at it sealing up these scratches.

[SirRobyn0]

MY 84 C20. Someone many, many moons ago bed linered it. It was done by a company in the Portland area. I've never been a fan of spray in bed liners myself, but it's already there. So what's the problem you might ask, well it's falling apart and my attempts to slow it down have been unsuccessful.

Pictures of two of the worst spots. First one is by the tailgate second one is part way up the bed. Both I attempted to repair last year. As you can see I've warn though both patches and they are separating from the original bed liner.

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And there are many other smaller areas where the bed liner is cracked or torn. What I tried previously was to fill in and lap over the old bed liner a little bit with new DIY bed liner. A year later and my hard work is pretty much gone. Is there anything that can fix this bed liner up? I'm not into the idea of trying to remove it. I'd probably be willing to recoat the entire floor of the bed. But if I'm likely for this to be an ongoing battle unless completely pulled up, I'd be much more likely to purchase and install a preformed plastic bed liner or lay a couple pieces of plywood in the bottom. Zero interest in bed mat, unless there is a mat made that I can slide or roll 55 gallon drums on then I'd at least consider it.

Issue #2.
My truck has a dump kit on the factory box. Recently I hauled and dumped 5 loads of wood to the farm. I do remember on one dump hearing some noise, but a bed full of wood being dumped isn't exactly quiet to begin with, so unfortunately I didn't know this had happened. But something got caught I guess on the bed and put a number of scratches down to bare metal between the bed and the cab. This is about 90% out of sight unless the bed is lifted. So my main concern here isn't matching the paint perfectly it's preventing rust. I didn't think to snap a pic of the scratches but can if someone needs to see it.

My plan is to clean the area, fill the scratches and then paint, with something close enough for an out of sight area. Any recommendations? Is that reasonable course of action?

I'm pretty much limited to spray paint, I guess mainly what I would like is some recommendations as to what that paint should be. I've had pretty good luck with like the 2X stuff, for general purpose, but I just don't wanna end up with those scratches getting rusty.

Thanks.

 

[bucket]

The 2X stuff is indeed a good way to go if spray paint is the best option.

IMHO, it would be simplest (and most cost-effective) to patch over the bad spots in the liner coating, then pop in a plastic bed liner. Just do an 'under the rail' type and not that garbage 'over the rail' type.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@bucket - Andy thanks I was discussing with one of the techs at the shop this afternoon who use to work in body. He agreed 2X would be the way to go for spray paint.

As for the bed liner. I've never purchased a drop in plastic bed liner, but I've bought a few trucks that already had them. Some over the rail some under. I agree over the rail sucks. Under the rail plastic is really great and the only bed liner I actually like. I'd far rather have a plastic under rail in the square. Plus with my rail rack system anything over the rail is out. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to buy a drop in bed liner when the cheap asss in me says to keep the nasty old spray in bed liner going because it's there.

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Thanks for the advice. I may just pull the trigger on that drop in liner. Oh, I bet stuff will slide out a lot better when dumping the bed too.

 

[bucket]

@bucket - Andy thanks I was discussing with one of the techs at the shop this afternoon who use to work in body. He agreed 2X would be the way to go for spray paint.

As for the bed liner. I've never purchased a drop in plastic bed liner, but I've bought a few trucks that already had them. Some over the rail some under. I agree over the rail sucks. Under the rail plastic is really great and the only bed liner I actually like. I'd far rather have a plastic under rail in the square. Plus with my rail rack system anything over the rail is out. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to buy a drop in bed liner when the cheap asss in me says to keep the nasty old spray in bed liner going because it's there.

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Thanks for the advice. I may just pull the trigger on that drop in liner. Oh, I bet stuff will slide out a lot better when dumping the bed too.

Have you looked around for used liners? There's that fella that had an axle you were interested in (can't remember his name) and then also Kenny Whitman.

 

[Grit dog]

Kenny might have one. I’d have a hard time spending much if any on a plastic bed liner. Check every old square you drive by and when you see one offer the owner a 5th of crown royal lol.
But in the mean time I wouldn’t stress either issue from a rust standpoint.
I’d be inclined to just slobber some new bed liner material over the busted up areas each fall.

On the scratches, unless there’s too many to touch up by hand, I’d not spray paint the whole area, I’d just touch up with a brush with something close in color.

 

[Grit dog]

I got this thing in my work truck for you too. Whenever you can make it down to Bellevue!

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[SirRobyn0]

Have you looked around for used liners? There's that fella that had an axle you were interested in (can't remember his name) and then also Kenny Whitman.

John something..... I have it written down somewhere. No I have not looked for a usedy but should. Still need to do something for an axle or regearing. But the axle has to be a winter project.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Kenny might have one. I’d have a hard time spending much if any on a plastic bed liner. Check every old square you drive by and when you see one offer the owner a 5th of crown royal lol.
But in the mean time I wouldn’t stress either issue from a rust standpoint.
I’d be inclined to just slobber some new bed liner material over the busted up areas each fall.

On the scratches, unless there’s too many to touch up by hand, I’d not spray paint the whole area, I’d just touch up with a brush with something close in color.

I was thinking about the hood ornament when looking at the pics of the running boards installed!

I had enough plastic bed liners and like them to be ok with spending some money on one the real problem is shipping a new one is right around $200. I think I'd be willing to live with patching the bad areas annually if I liked the this spray on bed liner. I will look into a usedy.

To many scratches over to wide an area to make a touch up brush be effective. I'll have to post pics when I work on repairing it.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Update: I've patched up the spots in the bed. I didn't take pictures, IMO it looks like chit the old bedliner is that weathered gray color while the new stuff is black. It never turns out smooth due to the old chit. Well it's sealed so when the rains come I don't have to worry about starting rust at least. And after a few loads are hauled it'll wear in and not look so bad. Really it's not that bad I just don't like spray bedliner so I have to bitch. Don't have a plastic bedliner yet, but when the farm slows down in a few months I'll start seriously looking for usedy.

The 2X stuff is indeed a good way to go if spray paint is the best option.

IMHO, it would be simplest (and most cost-effective) to patch over the bad spots in the liner coating, then pop in a plastic bed liner. Just do an 'under the rail' type and not that garbage 'over the rail' type.

Done. I hit it with that filler primer stuff and top coated with 2 coats of 2X. I picked this stuff up last week and while it does not match the paint on the truck it's close enough to be between the bed and the cab. I thought I took a picture after I removed the tape but I guess not. So this is the only one.

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[SirRobyn0]

Just had to walk past the truck so here's a picture of the finished paint patch

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[Soundmound]

Man your fuel lines are way longer than mine and I think your sender is clocked opposite mine also. I wonder if that is a C10 vs C20 thing since we have the same year and motor?

 

[bucket]

Man your fuel lines are way longer than mine and I think your sender is clocked opposite mine also. I wonder if that is a C10 vs C20 thing since we have the same year and motor?

Looks like a left sender on the right side.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Man your fuel lines are way longer than mine and I think your sender is clocked opposite mine also. I wonder if that is a C10 vs C20 thing since we have the same year and motor?

Looks like a left sender on the right side.

Andy has the correct answer. My truck was a single tank truck, tank on the left. When I added the second tank right sending units were back ordered with no release date. So ya, it works just fine, but the outlets face the wrong direction so the rubber has to be longer to loop around to the switch.

Reason for adding the second tank. The single left tank is a 20 gallon tank, but that only gives a guy what about 15 usable gallons, unless you like to hammer the tank empty. So that's only around a 180 mile range unloaded. Load it up or worse yet, pull the trailer mileage drops and pretty soon your filling up every 150 miles, or less. My big grip was when I do my feed runs. I've got a guy up in Bow which is near Bellingham, he's about 100 miles one way. I'd end up filling up before I left and again near the farm. So with the second tank I feel free to hammer the left tank and switch to the right, which I opted for that to be a 20 gallon tank as well. So if I leave 5 in that tank I've got 35 usable gallons and a little over a 420 miles range. less loaded or with the trailer, but man I just love having that second tank in. I've thought about putting rear tank into, but with the dump bed working out a filling neck would be interesting, and I really don't need another 30 gallons or whatever the Blazer tank is.

 

[AuroraGirl]

@bucket - Andy thanks I was discussing with one of the techs at the shop this afternoon who use to work in body. He agreed 2X would be the way to go for spray paint.

As for the bed liner. I've never purchased a drop in plastic bed liner, but I've bought a few trucks that already had them. Some over the rail some under. I agree over the rail sucks. Under the rail plastic is really great and the only bed liner I actually like. I'd far rather have a plastic under rail in the square. Plus with my rail rack system anything over the rail is out. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to buy a drop in bed liner when the cheap asss in me says to keep the nasty old spray in bed liner going because it's there.

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Thanks for the advice. I may just pull the trigger on that drop in liner. Oh, I bet stuff will slide out a lot better when dumping the bed too.

Your entire problem is probably friction ripping the new liner coating off that spot. The wood is heavy, and is very high coefficient of friction. Tell us when you find a cheap nice bedliner
Also nice toolbox i have one of those

 

[SirRobyn0]

Your entire problem is probably friction ripping the new liner coating off that spot. The wood is heavy, and is very high coefficient of friction. Tell us when you find a cheap nice bedliner
Also nice toolbox i have one of those

Thank Taylor, Pretty much I've put everything on hold, bedliner, interior carpet ect all on hold. IDK, if you have seen the thread but my transmission is going out now. Short version is there is bearing noise coming from the 1st / reverse shaft. I'm still driving it and using it, but want to get it rebuilt in the next month or two so it does not go out and leave me on the side of the road with a bed full of feed.

I also occasionally slide loaded pallets in and out of the truck. I can't tell you how hard that can be with that stupid spray on bedliner. I'm sure I've torn it up doing that too. Well if a cheap enough used bedliner comes along I'll grab it anyway even though I'm trying to shut down any unneeded expenses so I can do this tranny.