More money than .......... um me! You have to be single cuz I can't see any chick letting you spend so much on a truck, You should have sold the whole truck and just bought a new 2010 the way you want it. Seems you had some dealership drooling over your truck for a trade a while back...or was that someone else? I am sure you will have pics for us soon.

You sure you want to store camera equipment...not cameras or electronics, you mean tripods and crap like that?

 

i would try it myself.. but sometimes i start projects like that and get over my head real quick. Im semi-disabled (shattered wrist) so im limitied on how much i can lift and help out.

me single??? ha.. i wish! er.. no i dont lol ...and yeah i was thinkin of tradin the truck in.. but i have no clue what im doing half the time... lol

Im semi-happily married with a 2 year old (party today) and another kid coming in 6 weeks.

and i wouldnt put my camera and lenses in the there.

but it would be a great spot for my tripods, reflectors, mirrors, flash holders, umbrellas, ball heads, props, bean bags, basketball, handly tools and roadside recovery equipment.

 

well get some friends offer beer (after the work is done) and food

 

I don't do any work for friends without the beer upfront. C'mon man!

The price shouldn't be crazy but with a couple guys, it is a pretty easy task. Otherwise, I would check with a body shop rather then a dealership, they would be quicker and usually re and re rate is lower then repair rate. It's not like you need the top painter undoing bolts.

 

o have the beer on hand but would not want drunks working on my truck

 

They will still charge the same hourly fee at a body shop no matter if it's a punk *** kid taping up your car or a professional taper....if they have those. Usually grunt work..you pay the same for grunt work is what I should have said as you do for the painter and the best body man.
If you are going to do it yourself you can doit easily if you have a hoist or rent one and hang it in your garage or a cherry picker I think can pick up a box, you put 4 tiedowns in the holes in the corners on top they attach straps or chains to all 4 corners and meet in the middle attach to hoist and have a few people to guide it, when lifted drive truck out, and then back other truck in. Maybe the guy you are trading with can organize a few guys and you can supply the beer and pizza or whatever, I got 4 guys to lift my cab off my frame on my 72 chev and put it on to another. We had the new frame lined up behind the other one, I am in a wheel chair and I helped so you go no excuse. So they lifted the cab, and held it there while we rolled out the junk and rolled in the new one, they had to lift and move a few times but it worked out great. Stuff is lighter now too I believe. also the cab has to be heavier that a box.
If you can find some dense styro foam or something on that line and inch thick and line the back of the cab with it in case someone slips you dont ding the cab or box. Good luck man.

 

Watch for ground wires attached to the box and frame, not sure if there are any but older trucks have them.

 

Interesting.... around here, the shops charge one rate for general body work, re-and re, the grunt work. Another for finishing work and another for painting. Some lump finishing and painting together but still, you are not paying top dollar for the easy work. Sometimes small towns work a little different though.


If you do it yourselves, make sure you have some sturdy sawhorses to set the first box down on, you don't want to set it on the ground on the bottom of the fenders.

 

yeah.. i think the going labor rate around here is like $60-$80 an hour... i dont think it would take more than 2 hours for an equipped shop to do a bed... maybe another 2 hours for the second one.

if i tred to do it at home it would be an all day even lol

 

i think the ram box is cool on a work truck, but it messes up the "clean" lines on street trucks.... imho. good luck with the swap though.