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Before I even got started cutting these out, I noticed a crack along the bed seam. Knowing that there was probably some Bondo in there, I stuck a screwdrive in there and pried up....and got a HECK of a bad surprise!
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Apparently the bump along the side was crushed in, and a previous owner then drilled a bunch of holes in there to use a dent puller. When he found the dent puller wasn't working, he just Bondo'd it up....and it's a full 1/4" thick!
So at this point, I'm thinking that although I really didn't need this right now, I could still work with it. So I spent the rest of the day getting both sides cut off. Once they were off, I decided to then give them a good going-over. The driver's side was in great shape, and I can still use it. However, the more I dug on the passenger's side bedside, the worse it got.
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...and then I started poking around the lower section of this panel, and it got even worse!!
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Needless to say, this is going in the trash...and along with it, about 4 hours of my life I'll never get back.
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And now I have to go buy another parts truck.
I'm tired and dirty, so I'm off to the showers. I'll post a project update page tomorrow evening, with more gruesome pictures.