2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Dually Beds and stake pockets

[DonTX]

As I was looking at my 97 Dodge Brochure, I noticed that they showed beds with stake pockets, like old times where you could put on a stock rack. My 97 has NO stake pockets. Were the one ton beds different in that way?

I am looking to find a fiberglass topper shell for mine, will one off a 1500 or 2500 work, or is it actually a totally different bed?

 

[Mr. C]

Mine's a 99 3500 but it has stake pockets. I have never seen a full size American made truck without stake pockets, I assumed they all had 'em.

 

[DonTX]

Wow, this is more complicated than I originally thought. Who out there has stake pockets and who don't? And WHY?

 

[DonTX]

Not the best photo, but see, no stake pockets!

 

[Extreme1]

That's odd. I put a 2000 bed on my '94 and it has stake pockets.



Maybe you got an odd prototype/show truck? Did you buy it new or used?

 

[DonTX]

I got it only recently, very used, 169,000 miles on it. Made in Mexico, maybe they put it off until tomorrow, and never got around to it! I was NOT happy when I found Dodge stopped putting stake pockets on their trucks. This will be interesting to see how many others got gypped out of stake pockets. I merely assumed truck makers had stopped putting them on since nobody hauls livestock anymore in a pickup. I had put a couple thousand miles on it when I just happened to notice no holes!

 

[PC12Driver]

Is that a spray-on bedlineer? I'd bet that they've been capped and then sprayed over. I've never seen a Dodge without stake pockets.

 

[DonTX]

Yep, it is a Rhino liner spray on. I was beginning to think the same thing myself. Do they actually do that, I mean cap off the stake pockets?

 

[benhall]

It wouldn't take much to cap them. All a person would need would be six pieces of metal that are cut and rounded a little, a grinder, welder and the desire to have smooth bedrails. If I had a truck that I wanted to be a show truck, I would do the same thing.



Ben

 

[Woodenhead]

I'd say you have stake pockets and don't know it. You can see the recess under the bed rail at the front, middle and back of the box. Bust out a razor knife, chisel and hammer and you'll have your stake pockets. If not, hang on to that truck cause you've got a one of a kind. Show us a pick of the top of the bed rail.

 

[DonTX]

Mystery solved

Thanks to the help received here, the mystery is solved. If one clunks something along the bed top, when you get to the area where there should be a stake pocket, the clunking is different. In fact, you can depress the Rhino Liner! It appears that the bed liner people had to keep the spray out of the stake pockets of course, so they just taped over the pockets with masking or duct tape, allowing the pocket area to be cut out with a pocket knife quickly if the pockets were ever needed. Meanwhile, the bed does look much better without the holes.

I did not get gypped out of my stake pockets after all!

Thanks guys.