my 2500HD's used as a to and fro school and farm vehicle along with hauling dirtbikes and getting conned into hauling crap for my friends, so with all that being said, since it is basically a work truck should i fix it or leave it?
options for fixing it include:
A) The person i bought it from i'm still friends with and puts utility boxes on all of the trucks he has, so in short he has extra beds that would work for this truck but they're all orange.(i'd repaint but you know.. still in options phase)
B)slide hammer prime sand and repaint whole bed (its a worktruck, theresss plenty of gouges.)
or C) just leave it and worry about drivability and reliability which has been my mindset until i just got my ses light to dissapear!


so in short my question to you is what is your guys opinions on ways to fix it? i know i could just leave it but it just would make the value of the vehicle go way up.
(p.s. i did not do the damage shown, i bought it like that. story was a wire cart jackknived.)

and yes, the inside of my bed is primed up. i ran out of bedliner and never got back around to doing the otherside.

 

Your main concern is reliablity you could just drive it. If your getting a good deal on a spare bed then why not... It's a few hundred for a skin any ways and considering what you use it for I would not use a slide hammer and bondo it...

 

yea, isn't bondo still pretty "soft" lets say after its dried, like easily gougeable?

he's just throwing the beds away more than likely. opinions on just cutting that portion of the bed out of the new one and cutting the bad section out of this bed and just tiging the "new" skin on?

 

If it still needs work for reliability and driveability, take care of that first then i id think about getting a bed from your friend and worry about repainting when funds allow.

 

You could cut and tig weld just a section in. but then its just a patch... Yes "Bondo" is soft and is more of light coating type of product. Its designed to take car of small imperfections that you cant work out in the metal. The more you pile on the more likely it is to crack later on. if you have never done this type of work I recommend researching before attempting it your self. Also practice before you do it on something you intend to keep.

If you can get a whole bed with minor dents you would be better off and get it painted when the cash allows.

 

might just get the beds, they came off the day they came out of the factory so they should all be good, sitting in the corner of his shop. might go snag one when a trailer is available.
im alot less concerned with the reliability now that i've got the driveline solid and got my back brakes fixed. just not sure what direction to take, i'm waiting on my new shocks and throtle body spacer from jegs right now.


only reason i've brought this up is because im noticing dirt build up in the fender flare gap, and im concerned with rust starting on the body.

 

If the truck is going to be used as a work truck, I would work the bed side and get it kinda close, then lay some DIY bedliner over it really thick to hide the rest. Make the bedliner even and matched on both sides. Whatever happens from there, happens.

That's how I do the off-toys I build. No sense in spending a lot on a repair that is just going to get dinged up again.

Get one of the new beds and put it away. When you get ready to sell the truck, or retire it from work duty, swap and paint then.