A real easy job with the tray off the truck and on its back.
My next plans are to
- baremetal the skirts. They are pretty good, I just have a spot of rust on each, fix the seam lips expecially on the rear ones, remove the flare crease and then il epoxy primer them and put them away. I'm going to make some under tray storage - inspired by the under tray battery compartment on the 1st gen 4wd's. So these probably wont be welded on, and cant be fitted until the tray is on the chassis to check clearances.

- Repair the wheel wells. Mainly just the under tray seams, they are totally rusted away so at least they are easy to remove. This is just the flat section on the leading edge of the tub, so I will just replace that whole bit. The fuel tank side is the worst, with a little extra rust down the inside face, so this will be patched in place as this section actually runs the whole length of the tray.

- With the wells done I think I will try remove the upper tub sections as they will need totally new seam edges, the bits that are still there are pretty bad.

The front section of the bed just unbolts - so no issue there, I think I will undo the seam at the tail light section.

The tail light section and the under bumper cowl area is actually very good. a small hole of rust in one corner but I think I can leave all this attached. The seams look nice and clean.


Just ordered a barrel of paint stripper, and I have everything else so no excuses now huh