So I loaned my truck and trailer to my nephew and he returned it with a caved in rear fender. He managed to jack-knife it so bad the front rail of the trailer dented the bed of the truck while moving a pool table. The bed already has a massive mud puddle repair from before I bought it so I have been on the lookout for a replacement for a while. I saw this one recently and wondering what effect the heat may have on the integrity of the metal. Is the metal tempered or annealed originally and would the bed pictured below be compromised? Thanks for any replies.

 

This is what the side of mine looks like after pushing it back out a couple inches.

 

Many newer vehicles do use heat treated steel, which can be adversely affected by the heat.

 

Id fix the oe youve got. Most of that dent can be removed. Find a guy who does paintless dent repair, you'd be suprised how straight they can get things now.

 

^^^THIS^^^

You'd have to get that fire damaged bed "on the cheap" to make it worthwhile. At the very least the entire bed needs a coat of paint.

 

Fortunately the left side which you need does not appear to be damaged to bad. No way I would consider the right side. Price needs to reflect the damage. No way paintless dent repair can fix that fender. It appears to have a hole in it. It still may be cheaper to fix it though.

 

I'd repair what you have, not replace the bed. Get a couple estimates from body shops.

 

The steel used on today's pick-ups is paper thin. You probably already know that. I think this is one reason it has to be hardened somewhat beyond normal cold working during the forming/stamping process. I have a 2014 Ram and can't believe some times how thin the sheet metal is. That being said, I'd be worried the fire damage on that red bed didn't just anneal the metal but caused oil canning of the panel that no amount of massaging could remove.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Mine doesn't have a hole in it, but a rust spot where the paint chipped off when I pushed the dent out. I'll get some estimates for fixing mine and see how it matches the cost of the red one plus paint and repair. The heat damage scares me.

 

I went through this last year when one of my operators decided to cave in the bedside of my work truck. Try calling around to some outfits that install service beds on trucks. I found several (5-6) brand new beds in the same color for $900-$1000. In the end, the owner of the company decided to repair the bed for $3000 and the repair is already failing. You may find it cheaper to replace than repair...hope this helps