Long bed to short bed, has anyone done it?

I'm having a hard time finding a clean short bed, but I've found real clean long beds. My question is has anyone taken a long bed and cut it down to a short bed? Is the distance from the rear of the rear wheel well to the end of the bed the same as a short bed?

I believe you will find that both ends of a short box are shorter then a long box. But I've been told I don't know what I'm talking about, so take that into consideration. Gene

That's the next thing I need to find out is if anyone can take a measure of the rear section of a long bed and a short bed so I can compare. I've looked online and some look the same and some look different so I'm not sure.

I don't know if you're looking for more insight than a measurement, but 67-72 Chebby C10s do this as often as Mopar 'verts have big blocks dropped in (and for the same reason - $$). If the Dodge truck forums don't have anything maybe take a peek at the GM forums.

1972 - 1993 or...?

chevys shorten the boxes at both ends----i think the dodge longbox has 18 inches extra in front of the wheels------behind the wheels is the same----you know when you drop the tailgate on a shortbed you have a 8 ft surface for a sheet of plywood.....

If you're talking '72-'93, then this is correct.
Always thought a truck cab and a very short bed would be cool on a Ramcharger frame.

Speaking of RC's, if an RC tank can be swapped into a long bed or short bed, wouldn't that make the ends the same length?

Man, someone's son on this forum did exactly that; (as I remember) a Ramcharger frame, truck cab and a shortened bed. To the best of my recollection it was Stumpy's son, but I could be WAY off. Looked really cool though...

72-93 fleet side Long beds can be converted to short beds with 16 inches of removal,
Cut it about 4 inches behind of the front panel, that way you don't disturb the front bed pocket. you can figure the rest out.

Neat trick we did in the early 90s was to take 81& up 4x2 ramchareger and drop a regular cab on it, leave the back open(except fenders) and make a Mini Big rig.
The ramcharger Wheelbase is 106 inches, a Standard cab and a short bed, needs a ton of work to the front of the bed to work on the 106 WB The rear wheel is about 10 inches away from the back of the cab. so in order to put a short bed on the ramchager frame you have to take out 10-12 inches of the front of the bed,
72-93 SWB Wheel base is 115, Long bed is 131, CC SWB is 133 If I remember correctly CC LWB is 144/146 ?

For the record , a 73-93 style ClubCab Cab won't fit on a Ramcharger frame without modifying the back corners of the cab, it hits the front edge of the rear wheel

You and me both!! I finally found a clean body short bed but it took so long. I saw soooo many sweet long beds that were perfect other than the bed!

I see you're in so-cal so you should be able to find something with some patience. I had to ship from there to get mine. Obviously you are looking at a major cost to do what you want to do, so I'd be patient and it will come along.

Tell us exactly what you're looking for and I'll keep my eyes open. I'm always looking despite already having one truck

What year are we talking about?? I agree with Poorboy, IF we are talking about the 72-93 beds. The Ramcharger and short box are the same behind the rear wheels. The long beds are longer at both ends. I bought a short box at the local salvage for my 85. It had been there awhile and one day they decided to move all the old inventory that had been on the shelf for years. Only paid $250 for it... So yes they are still out there...

Anything is possible with enough Mig wire. I had a pretty mint 78, 400 Club Cab and nobody wanted to give me $1k for it. My son's Ramcharger body was had so... All this sheetmetal is hammered now but at least it got used.

I replaced the floor of a short box with the floor of a long bed

over lap cut at the front of box and over lap cut at rear of the box.

I also added a full set of tubs to the cut 1/2 tubs in the short box.

the gas fill bulge to tub are the same so it all lines up.

I drill all the spot weld out of both beds and then welded them all back up. then welded up the cross cuts.

I had to cut/move one bed mount to line up to the 85 swb frame. the long bed was an 88 and had 1 extra cross brace under there that came out with the mount relocation.

thought about chopping the long bed sides down but that's too much measuring/cutting/welding/body work to get it flat with the body lines straight.

shaving the gas door was not so hard to finish out flat.

but it can be done the long way for sure.

plenty of pics if you want a look.

Once again, I misunderstood a post. You're talking just the bed, not making a long bed truck into a shortbed, frame and all. I can be thick sometimes.

Really need to understand what year. I've seen this done on Sweptline era trucks (61-71) where the back portion of a long bed was cut-off and the rear "cap" sheet metal re-attached. I couldn't tell the difference when it was re-attached (no-bondo or other "blending" materials were used).

- EM

It is much harder on this era of truck due to the curving line in the sheet metal. You do have to cut both the front and back of the bed to make it the correct length and wheelbase too.

Sorry guys I did't see all these replies. I actually was talking about making a 72'-75' D100 long bed single cab into a short bed single cab. It sounds like the rear section of bed behind the rear wheels is the same be it long bed or short bed. Sounds like you just need to take 16" out of the front section of bed in front of the wheel wells. Can anyone confirm the rear measurement of a long bed and short bed from the rear of the wheel well opening to the rear of the bed?

on my mid 80s I cut both ends of the long bed floor to fit it in the short box.

tubs and gas fill bulge are in same spot. so measure from the edge of tubs front to back when chopping.

don't for get the frame needs a chop or swap to SWB

I swapped my 88 long frame for an 85 short frame so it was short and a 440 bolts in. repaired a short box.

more work but less body work on the slab sides.

It may be easier to build a step side bed than to cut down a long bed. Much of the metal on the step sides is flat. Reproduction fenders are available. The major advantage of this is the bed will be built from new, rust free metal.

I believe Poorboy built a bed for his former truck. He could probably offer some advice. If I lived closer to him, I'd ask him to build one for me.

I finally found a 75' D100 shorted fleet side. It has a little rust over the wheel wells but they make patches for that and the rest is rust free. It's an Adventurer SE with 360 and 727, air conditioning, sway bar, tow package and some other cool options. Comes with build sheet so I can't wait to go over that. Hoping to have it next week sometime, waiting on shipper.

nice, when you get it you should take some measurements of the box, I will compare to some long box measurements and we will know for sure what would need to be done for shortening in the future.

rednuck - great idea! Will do.

My truck was a little older, but the step side beds look about the same. My truck has the correct 48-52 fenders, the 53 on up used the larger fenders.
A step side bed is really easy to build from scratch, and you can put the fenders anyplace you want/need to.

I used 18 gauge flat steel, added a 45 degree bend at the top (modern trucks have a 90 degree angle), and then added a 1" conduit tube at the end of the 45 angle. The "stake pockets" are 1 1/2" square tubing added 1/2" in from each end. The early step side stake pockets were pretty stylish, but after about 1060, the stake pockets were square channels with flanges spot welded on. Its your option if you want to cut the pocket opening in the angle piece. Inside the bed sides I welded a 1/8" x 1 1/4 angle front to back at the floor height. The bed sides bolt (or can be welded) to the bed floor through this angle. If you really feel ambitious, you can bead roll a design into the bed sides and even the bed front. I made my bed sides a little short so I could add a piece on the bottom like the original trucks had. I also built the running boards for the bed and the cab.

The bed front is also flat 18 gauge. I added a 1" wide 90 degree angle on both sides where they will bolt to the bed sides.

I also made a tailgate with square tube and expanded metal. Gene

Ya, stepside is much easier. I was referring to fleet side because of the body lines and double wall construction.