Difference in beds between years

[truckjunky87]

New to this year of Ford trucks but I have a'69 F250. The bed floor is just awful and I need some options to consider to address it. Did the beds change through the years or are they pretty much the same? It would be nice not to repaint so is there any options to just repair bed floors that anyone has tried?

[flyboy2610]

The physical dimensions of the bed are the same from '67-72, but there is a difference in the tail light/ marker light arrangement.
There is an excellent article on the main page describing the differences between model years and it will give the low down on the tail lights.

[NM5K]

I notice LMC sells bed floor repair panels. "16x48". Only 20 bucks...
I guess you can weld, rivot, whatever...
They sell new wheel housing metal, but those cost quite a bit more.
I'm assuming this is a styleside, being step f-250s are semi rare...
...They did make a f-250 stepside longbed...If I ever got rid of my current utility bed, that would be my #1 choice to go back to a stock ford bed. I think they look fairly cool... They are kinda hard to find though. MK

[oldschoolrods]

my 69 has a bed off a 70-72 and it looks origonal except for the marker lights...

[bumt72]

What do you mean by awful? Are there rust holes in it? is it just banged up with surface rust? Etc. Etc. A number of people replace the bed floors with diamond plate, I have heard it runs around $100-$120 for a 6 foot bed. Personally I would suggest slowing down, taking a step back and seeing what has to be replaced, what you want to replace and what can wait until later. From your posts it sounds like you are starting to get overwhelmed and it is easy to get overwhelmed by these trucks. Then start running around wanting to hit everything at once, believe me I've been there and still am there in alot of ways. I was wanting to finish stripping out the interior of Da BUMT this weekend but got myself sidetracked on another wild idea I had and got nothing accomplished. That is when it starts getting discouraging.

[truckjunky87]

Awful meaning the left hand bed side moves back and forth just by pushing on it with my hand. I'm just considering options right now. There are a couple 3-4" holes in the floor and other area that are thin. If I replace the bed I then have to paint it. If I can manage to replace or salvage the bed floor then I save on the paint job. Realistically nothing will happen until the spring but come spring I want to have a plan for what I'm going to do.

[dotcentral]

Can you leave it as is and drive it for now? Maybe a sheet of plywood to cover the holes until spring.

You might be able to cut some old bed floors up for replacement panels to weld in, but you need good metal to weld it into. The LMC patches sounds like a decent price, if shipping isn't too high.

Maybe one of the guys on this board in your area has a parts truck you could get a bed or some patch panels from? Check the classifieds or post your own want add. Just some ideas.