So I picked up a used tool box that fits in these dakotas that had alot of oxidation on it. It is aluminum so no rust. I was first planing on getting some white diamond metal polish to clean it up but being in florida and rain season coming up along with the hot sun it would be oxidized again by july in my guess. So I picked up some primer meant for aluminum boat hulls cleaned it up primed it and am planing to paint it black. But I don't want an ordinary black box because they are sold like that from factorys. So before I paint it black I'm going to paint the front red and the sides mopar blue. Then I will tape of mopar M's on each side and Dodge on the front then go black. After this I plan on a clear coat so it should last a few years.

Now I've also had this idea in my head for awhile and seeing as I've been making decent money I think it's about time to go through with it. Going to order a few sheets of 5x8 aluminum diamond plate and with the help of my friend who is going to school for fab and welding make a custom tonneau cover. I want to make two peices for either side of the bed to mount ontop of bed rails like sold on sites but I want to have it flare out on the inside so I have a track to build off of.

I can weather strip that for some water proofing. I also need to make 3 seperate panels for the cover itself will need to make a list of everything I will need for hardware. Possible get a door handle from a junked dak to replace the gate handle so I can lock it will need to make custom linkage probably unless someone has done this before and can share how it was done. Umm When I finish it I plane on going with the same paint scheme as the toolbox or maybe just put a big ram emblem in the middle of it.

Sounds like alot of work to me which is also alot of fun By the looks of it the cover will cost me around 350 plus man hours Possibly some new tools. In the end I get the satisfaction of a like no other cover. Still should be cheaper than any fiberglass cover and should last years on end. I've seen kind of simular concepts done on other trucks except people used plywood to make the cover then sealed them and wraped them in vinyl.

Will take plenty of pics of the box and cover. Although it might take month or two for the cover. Plan on finishing the box on sunday.

Going to make a rough blue print of how it will look and work so everyone reading this has an idea of what I mean. After reading what I typed I guess it could be confusing lol..

 

Some of it is confusing. But if you think it is a good idea go for it. Post up pictures.