Broken bed welds anyone?

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A friend has a '99 3500 4x4 with stock drive train and engine, a bunch of the spot welds in the bed have started coming apart #ad
Has anyone else seen this problem? She's had the truck for two years, since new, and has a 1 1/2 mile rough dirt road to her house. Doesn't seem like that should be a problem though. Thanks for any input.

Scott in AZ

[This message has been edited by SSJL (edited 09-22-2000). ]

 

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Does she carry a slide-in camper by any chance?

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David Dressler
2001 Driftwood 3500 Quad Cab 4x4, 155 inch WB, 5. 9L HO Cummins Diesel (ETH), 6-Speed HD Manual (DEE), SLT+, 3. 54 Anti-Spin Axle, Camper Special Group, Trailer Tow Group, Leather, Sliding Rear Window, Jacob's E-Brake, Rhino Liner, VDO Vision (pyro, boost, engine oil temp. ), Weather Guard Diamond Plate Saddle Box, Tork Lift camper tie-downs, AND functional Halo light!
Bigfoot 3000 10. 11 Slide-in Camper.

 

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Originally posted by dresslered:
Does she carry a slide-in camper by any chance?

Occasionally pulls a 4 horse bumper pull trailer, never anything of substance in the bed.

 

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I have heard of the bed welds cracking (in the front) from people who carry large slide-in campers, but a bumper pull trailer should not have any affect on these welds at all. Is there anything else that she might be doing that fastens the bed to the frame other than the factory mounts?

Sorry, I am all out of ideas.

[This message has been edited by dresslered (edited 09-22-2000). ]

 

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About two years ago my bed started to crack in the rear. It actually got bad enough to crack the fiberglass around the door of my topper! the manufacturer of the shell replaced it under warranty, and the dealer reinstalled it for absolutley no charge, not even materials he had to replace. (Jason is the manuf. of the shell). I took it to the Dodge dealer (Don Flier in Pacific MO). They welded the bed completly around the pillars in back for $80. 00, which wasn't to bad I thought. The problem was attributed to a poorly aligned robot at the plant.

 

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I noticed some minor cracking at the weld spots in the bed at the rear. Will keep an eye on them.

 

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Thanks for the replies. She lives on a 2 mile dirt road that is pretty rough, that must be the problem. I thought my dirt road was tiresome until I drove on hers, made mine feel like a superhighway. Thanks again.
Scott in AZ