pickup bed - assembled or disassembled

32forddump

32forddump

Senior Member
Im looking to purchase a 42 pickup bed from either Midwest Early Ford or Mack Hils. My question is should i buy it assembled or disassembled ?

Thanks
 
32forddump said:
Im looking to purchase a 42 pickup bed from either Midwest Early Ford or Mack Hils. My question is should i buy it assembled or disassembled ?

Thanks
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Do you have the necessary talent to assemble it? If you do, you will know it's been done right.
What's your time worth to you?
 
The two beds that I bought were both disassembled. Not being assembled, they cost less, the freight charges were much less, and I feel that I did a better job in my assembling of them than the maker of them could have done. While assembling them, I added additional rear corner bracing that cannot be seen after being assembled. The beds were excellent reproductions except for the Ford script on the tail gates. The Ford script could have been stamped a little deeper to match the original tailgates. There is no way that I could have restored my old beds for as little as the new beds cost me.
 
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My experience with Mack Hils isn't as positive as others on this forum. However, I did not buy a complete bed, but the items that I did buy from Mack Hils for my '36 needed not just a lot of work to make them correct but they also needed a lot to simply make them fit. My personal suggestion, for whatever it's worth, would be to search high and low for an original bed in the best condition that you can find and spend less time making any repairs needed to that bed than you would messing around with a brand new, non-factory, bed. This will be my rule of thumb moving forward on any early pickups I build.
 
OldGold360 said:
My experience with Mack Hils isn't as positive as others on this forum. However, I did not buy a complete bed, but the items that I did buy from Mack Hils for my '36 needed not just a lot of work to make them correct but they also needed a lot to simply make them fit. My personal suggestion, for whatever it's worth, would be to search high and low for an original bed in the best condition that you can find and spend less time making any repairs needed to that bed than you would messing around with a brand new, non-factory, bed. This will be my rule of thumb moving forward on any early pickups I build.
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Kind of my experience as well. I bought in pieces so it was easier to modify as necessary so as to replicate an authentic box.
I'd witnessed these sold as assembled and I was able to do a much better job.
 
I Called Mac Hils about a bed and they are 20 weeks out for completed beds. They are waiting on the side pieces and don't know when they will be in stock ( 2 - 6 weeks) Im
working with Midwest Early Ford to get it at Carlisle.I will let you know how this process works out. Mac Hils shipping is $750 for disassembled and $950 for completed.
 
Mack Hils overcharges on their shipping, or at least in my experience they tried to. She got irritated when I asked why the shipping quote is so high. They wanted over $1000 for shipping and crating fee for a bed floor, rear bed crossmember and stake pockets. I bought all the same parts from Ecklers, along with a bunch of other parts I needed, for a little over $200 in shipping and no crating fee. All the bed parts came direct from Mack Hils. There are a lot of distributors for Mack Hils bed parts. If you decide to go that route it certainly makes sense to explore those other options. Good luck
 
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The meager few hundred $$ to have them assemble it on their correctly aligned jig/table is worth more than $$$ you'll ever save by attempting it yourself.

You will probably spend hundreds on materials and supplies over and above all the hours of fixing welds that burned not just thru the "factory" primer as well as burned or distorted the adjoining metal and then lumped up behind itself.

Pay the man.


good luck with your project,
moe of the north


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I bought my 32 bed from Mack Hils assembled and was very satisfied. It bolted right on the frame using the original mounting points. My shipping wasn't so bad only about 350.00 from Missouri to Nebraska. Sure couldn't have driven down to pick it up for that.
 
moefuzz said:
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The meager few hundred $$ to have them assemble it on their correctly aligned jig/table is worth more than $$$ you'll ever save by attempting it yourself.

You will probably spend hundreds on materials and supplies over and above all the hours of fixing welds that burned not just thru the "factory" primer as well as burned or distorted the adjoining metal and then lumped up behind itself.

Pay the man.


good luck with your project,
moe of the north


It's not about the money, it's about doing the job right.
1) Weldable primer is total crap and I'd question the professionalism of anyone that wouldn't remove all of that crap prior to doing any serious painting.
2) Why would anyone burn or distort adjoining metal? Are they unable to weld properly? If so, then yes, perhaps they should buy an assembled box.
3) Why would you think the jig or fixture that they may (or may not) use to assemble these boxes is spot on? Have you not seen what much of the repop stuff fits like these days?

Maybe it's just me though I pray I am not alone in my desire to do things correctly. Correctly is more often than not the slower, more expensive route.
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I bought a kit from Midwest Early Ford and riveted it together with a friend's help. I arranged to pick it up from them in Kalamazoo and saved shipping. There is some tweaking and body work required, but better than fixing rust.
 
Which ever way you go, as had been stated all ready, get it from a source that’s as close to you as possible and either ship it, pic it up at the point of sale, or pick it up at a show they can bring it to that’s close to you. It is what it is whichever way you go but you are in as much control of your purchase that you can be in control of, your shipping costs and your time, in my way of thinking.
 
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