ok gimme some opinions here

[a1awind]

had a few idea's on my bed problem

 

as some of you know the bedsides are shot on my mj. but, the bed tub is clean. Earlier i mentioned about putting a stepside bed on it but, after seeing the ford stepside on one i don't like the way the ford bed looks, and i was told that the s10 step is too much of a pain to attempt. i was left with either a wooden bed or hoping a new bed pops up or ...option 3 was to try and get bedsides from amc 4x4 and find a way to ship them, then find someone to weld them on.

 

idea #1 cut the bed sides off and weld trimmed stepside or trailer fenders onto the outside of the tub. then clean up and paint the outside of the tub.

 

idea #2 cover the rust gaps with diamond plate (thanks for the idea pete)

[1999MJ]

I'm in the same boat as you are right now. I don't know what I want to do for a bed. My tub is in great shape. Just bad sides. I would be interested in seeing what you came up with

[86FUBAR]

if ur not worried about puting on flairs go to any sheet metal shop and

have some complet sides bent up , it is super easy and shouldnt cost that much . and if u realy wanted the flairs I'm sure u could makem fit, maby with the BushWacker cut out flair

[cozee]

What do ya think patch panels for the wheel well and quarters, or a complete side would be worth???

[Eagle]

JC Whitney used to have patch panels and complete bed sides in their catalog a few years ago. Has anyone called them to ask if they are still available?

[cozee]

Online all JC has is for the CJ for the most part. Tabco has rocker panels listed for a Jeep Pick-up but doesn't state years. Only a reference pic and dimensions. Raybuck doesn't list anything for the Comanche.

 

Here is a link to a listing for a fiberglass bed side flare? Not sure if it is a flared bed side or a flare for the bed side. They do list 2 different front fenders, one with a 3" flare and the other with a 6" flare so I'd suppose the bed side is just that. The site is under a little work and the pic didn't work for me.

 

http://www.hannemannfiberglass.com/Jeep_Commanche.html

[TNT]

here are some pics. I believe these are the correct ones.

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[a1awind]

this stinks, i really wanted to keep her original. i called every junkyard in the area that keeps more older than late model vehicles ...one yard had one but he said it is rusty. a few yards even said that they won't take them in because they can't sell the parts.

[sinnaevd]

When the Body shop redid the green truck I have know, they used Fenders to replace the sides because they supposedy were the same shape and length and matched the bnody lines pretty decent.

 

They used the passenger side fender for the drivers side box and driverside fender for the passenger side box.

 

The truck had a rust ring close to about 5 inches all the way around the wheel well. Its looks pretty decent in my opinion, it turned out well, and a set of used rust free fenders would be peanuts to find.

 

Maybe that can be a solution to your problem, and shouldn't cost you too much either. At least then you will get the factory appearing lip.

[JeepcoMJ]

I had a stepside idea for a comanche bed that would work really well

 

you would keep the top rail, remove the sides but leave enough to curl the outside edge of the top rail around (so you don't cut yourself).

 

so cut off the bad sides. THEN you'd cut off the inner well and inner bedside at the seem. put in a flat panel at that seam, and use some 2 foot-ish sections of angle iron run vertically to reinforce it.

 

then add a set of willy's flat fenders or something of the like.

 

that would give you an m715 bedside look with square fenders instead of round, and you could add some gerry can supports and shovel mounts on the sides.

 

I even drew this out on my 86 parts truck...then I junked the truck...

[a1awind]

now that is a cool idea

[JeepcoMJ]

yep.

 

I think I'll do it with my spare shortbed...

[JeepcoMJ]

...you'd have to run some sort of aftermarket trailer tail lights on a setup like that though.

 

I'd run a set of squares with LED's equipped with reverse lights.

 

something like these lights, but most definitely not by Grote (Grote is crappy quality IMO)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GROTE-SU ... enameZWDVW

 

bad thing is that the stock tail gate would look kind of out of place. if you added some sheet metal to it to square it off and give it an upper lip it would work pretty well.

[cozee]

You can always get a shot bad and shaping hammer and beat out your own. Guys replicate sheet metal parts all the time this way. I used to fab motorcycle fender. If ya want some more info, let me know.