Picked up my replacement SRW bed on Friday. It was taken off a '99 the day the guy got it new for a utility bed. He had it in his barn for 14 years. It has just a couple of scuffs from removal and storage that should buff out. The tail gate came with it and is like new.

I pulled off my dually bed with an engine cherry picker and swapped out my duals with a temporary set of OEM 17"s with 285-70s. I have another set of clean steel factory Dodge chrome clad wheels that I will put on when I get some tires. looking at just going with 265-70-17 in an all terrain tread. The 285's look good but rub a little at full lock turning.

Plan on cleaning up the frame and doing a fresh undercoating before I install the "new" bed.

I drove the truck with the duals swapped out for the singles and DAM!!! that was the best performance mod I have made yet, getting those heavy things off the truck.

Will post more as I move forward on this project.

 

A little frame restoration, and removed the six 5th wheel/gooseneck hitch supports that were welded to the frame.
I don't see a hitch in the bed in the near future.
New bed and wheels.....light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Looking good man!

 

Must be nice to be somewhere where your 97 frame is in that nice shape

 

It has some surface rust and a few clamps are in bad shape but overall not too bad. This one lived a little too close to the ocean with it's 1st owner on the horse ranch.
Most of the trucks around here are totally rust free.

 

Looks good

 

Got a late start this morning and it hit just under 100* today but lots of progress.

The pics say it better that i can type.

A lot of little details to take care of and need to get tires on the good set of wheels.

That dolly under the bed made it possible for this to be a one-man job.

 

You got lucky finding that bed. Looks really good

 

THat bed looks brand new. wow