1968 Ford F100 - The Bumpside Build-Off

Making sure I first lined up the center of the spacers with the centers of the bed floor mounting holes on the floor crossmembers, I MIG welded them in place.

A 1/8-inch drill bit and a spot weld cutter were my best friends throughout the process of severing well over 150 factory spot welds.

Here I had to cut one side of this support bracket in order to get the Sawzall in to cut the front of the bed floor so it'll slide up when the time comes.

Since I'll be removing pretty much everything that keeps the bed in shape dimensionally, it's a great idea to make some preliminary measurements to ensure the bed is the same shape when it goes back together. Write the results down either on paper or on the bed itself, like I did. Preliminary measurements also help to find any underlying problems before starting a project like this so they can be fixed first.

After recording their length, the braces that keep the lower portions of the bedsides from flapping in the breeze had to be cut to allow the floor to go up. A piece will have to be added to the braces to reconnect them later.

With all the details taken care of and cut, I used our Miller plasma cutter to cut the sides of the bed loose from the floor. I didn't want to cut the floor since it was going to be reused, so instead, I stayed on the vertical pieces.

Aside from the hole I cut hastily months ago, I have a complete, intact bed floor that's now separated from the bed. You may want to get a few helping hands to wrestle the floor out. Notice the spacers I already welded to the crossmembers.

Here is a look at 20 or so of the factory spot welds I drilled out so I could leave the stock bed floor intact. I'll use all the holes to weld the floor in at its new height. Make sure to clean any rust or dirt from any area that'll be welded, as well as running a grinder over it with a 36-grit sanding disc to reveal fresh metal.

In a step to make sure I didn't get ahead of myself, I set just the bed floor on the truck again to make sure my spacers were going to be enough to get the floor to clear the step notch.