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Body-Dropping the Bed of a Chevy S10 - Daily DimeLay Out Your Dime, And Drive It! From the February, 2009 issue of Mini Truckin' By Mike Alexander Photography by Paul Moffat
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Check out our latest project: a daily driven S-10 that will be laid out on big wheels, still get 23 mpg, and be driven every day! That's right, the Daily Dime is in progress. Working with Suicidedoors.com, Air Lift, and Needful Thingz, this daily driven dime will be 'bagged, and body-dropped, keep the A/C, and we'll show you all the cool tricks along the way. Like we said, this truck is driven, and since we couldn't take it off the road for too long just yet, we began by body-dropping the bed, to keep a stock bed floor. So follow along as we get this project underway! For more information, contact the companies listed in the Source Box.  1. Here's the stock virgin...  1. Here's the stock virgin Dime ready for some cuttin'.  2-3. Since we're going to...  2-3. Since we're going to start with just body-droppin' the bed, begin with removing the taillights, gas filler neck, unplug the taillights from underneath, and unbolt the ground from the bed.  4. Unbolt the bed mount bolts...  4. Unbolt the bed mount bolts from underneath, but save them as they will be reused. With everything removed from the bed it can now be taken off and set upside down on the bed cart.  5. There are a million ways...  5. There are a million ways to skin a cat, but for Needful Thingz, they started with the underside of the bed. The spot welds securing the wheel tubs where drilled out first.  6-7. With the spot welds drilled...  6-7. With the spot welds drilled out, mark and cut out the inner-side which secures the wheel tubs to the bedsides. The goal here is to work on separating everything connected to the bedsides.  8-9. Next, the Needful Thingz...  8-9. Next, the Needful Thingz crew worked on adding strength to the bedsides so they bent tubing to line the wheel well.  10. Once the tubing matched...  10. Once the tubing matched the curve of the wheel well it was tacked into place.  11. The wheel well tubing...  11. The wheel well tubing support will be welded to a straight support connecting to the bed mounts, so an area is marked and will be cut to separate the bed floor from the bedsides.  12. Here you can see the supports....  12. Here you can see the supports. They go all the way down the bedsides and add much needed strength.  13. Six inches will be cut...  13. Six inches will be cut out of the sides to raise the bed to where the top of the wheel well came up to the lip of the bed. The bottom cut was marked and scribed right above the wheel tub.  14. As we had two people working...  14. As we had two people working on the bed at the same time, we were able to save a little time and jump around a bit. So, we also had one person drill out all of the spot welds holding the back wall.  15. Needful Thingz uses electric...  15. Needful Thingz uses electric shears to make the straightest cut possible for the bottom cut.  16. For the top cut, which...  16. For the top cut, which won't be seen, a combination of the sheers, a sawzall, and an air saw help get the hard to reach areas.  17. Next, the floor was cut...  17. Next, the floor was cut across using a cut-off wheel and separated from the rest of the bed.  18. With everything else cut...  18. With everything else cut away, all that's holding the bed floor in place is these last side cuts. The sawzall took care of them in no time.  19. The bed floor was completely...  19. The bed floor was completely separated and moved up. All four corners are measured at 11 inches to make sure the floor is square before welding.  20-21. Corner gussets are...  20-21. Corner gussets are built and welded in place to give extra support to the naturally stressed corners of the bed.  22. With the corners strengthened,...  22. With the corners strengthened, and the floor now tacked in place, its easiest to turn the bed on end and weld the rest of the sides, slowly but surely.  23-24. To fill the 6-inch...  23-24. To fill the 6-inch gap, a filler panel was measured, cut, and tacked into place.  25. Now that the filler panel...  25. Now that the filler panel was in place, it could be welded up from the back, and the stock bed mounts were also reused.  26. The factory bed supports...  26. The factory bed supports also needed to be lengthened, so they were cut and a piece of tubing was used to slide over them and give the supports the six inches needed.  27. Almost there, just needed...  27. Almost there, just needed to build some 6-inch bed mount extensions since the truck isn't quite ready to be rolling around with a body-dropped bed.  28. With all the added strength...  28. With all the added strength and support, this bed, the bed mounts, and this Dime will be ready for anything that comes its way!  29. The final steps include...  29. The final steps include grinding and cleaning up all the welds, caulking, and then we'll head over and get some Line-X sprayed.  29. Finally, the bed was set...  29. Finally, the bed was set back on the truck and everything was bolted back together.  31. And there you are, that...  31. And there you are, that much closer to having the Dime on the ground, and the truck can still drive around in the mean time, as money is saved up for parts, and time is set aside to tear into her some more! Stay tuned. Sources
Air Lift
(800) 248-0892
Airliftcompany.com
SMC Pneumatics
Available through Suicide Doors
(317) 899-4650
smcusa.com
Suicidedoors
(812) 782-3581
Suicidedoors.com
Toyo Tires
Use Dealer Locator Option At:
Toyo.com
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Maximized - May 2013
Excuse me while I wipe the dust off of my keyboard *cough, cough*. There is an old saying that goes...
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