Narrowing Front and Rear tech needed

McCracken

McCracken

Logan Can't See This
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
With your mom at a nice seafood dinner
I've got a buddy who just acquired a new ride and I'm helping him with it. We've never narrowed anything before but I have bobbed the bed of my rig a long time ago. I'm looking for some basics that I need to keep in mind while we take this on. I searched pirate but found a lot of trucks with dovetailed beds but no details on how.

I've seen 2 kinds of dovetails. Full dovetails from the front of the bed all the way back and ones where they started the dovetail about mid fender or just before it (mainly on toyotas). Are there advantages to one over the other? What's the general rule on measurements? Do you want to tuck the sides in as far as possible or is there a limit? What's the best way to keep the tailgate functional?

On the front, I'm assuming you just cut the front valance down to size (leaving enough room for the radiator possibly), bend the fenders in and modify the hood to fit. Any tips for that? Do you retain the inner fenders(wheel wells)?

Basically, I have no experience in this but I do know how to do bodywork. Any help would be greatly appreciated and pictures would be fantastic. Especially on specific cuts. I'm hoping this thread will help others out there when they decide to go this route as well.
 
I checked out that link but I missing what you need to do at the upper corners. Do you make a cut in the corner so you can bend the panel around? Also, he cut through the fender but I don't see where he stopped.
 
Most folks dove to where the corner of the bed sits on the frame rail then cut the floor to suit, and shorten the bed to where its just above the rear shackle.
 
Bobbbing the bed is easiest IMO. When I did mine I cut it just like they did in Caver Dave's link.

they shut down Photobucket (again) here at work or I would draw a sweet MSPaint picture for you about the truck bed. Could someone else oblige?
 
picture.php


here is my sweet drawing skills. What you'll see is the cuts (green lines) that I saw in the link. however it doesn't address the corners. The red lines I drew have extended those green line cuts and cut the top rail of the bed to allow it to bend around. Something to consider, and maybe someone can point me in the right direction here, is the blue area. That is going to rotate around and come into contact with the top of the bed. So you'll have to cut out a section to avoid that. this is an example of what the sides will do when you rotate them around. Unless you plan on kinking the metal, which is fine if that's what you want, but I'm looking for a clean straight line before it gets smashed to hell and back.

awww_pirate4x4_com_forum_picture_php_b4ac144a866b960e615b33f7d602d786._.jpg
 
you will just need to pie cut the bed rail at some point. either the corner or front rail to have a clean finish.

The other thing to note as well. If you plan to run a taillgate, you will need to straighten the rear corners back out, depending on how much its doved.
 
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