I have one of those "opinion" questions, but I appreciate and respect every opinion that's out there. My question is about the access panel in the front of the bed. The one that can be removed to access the space that would have been the back seat/cargo area if it were a station wagon. I pulled mine up after finding that my passenger side rear floorboard was Swiss cheese. What I found was one to two inches of mud, dirt and debris. I believe it had plugged up the drain holes on that side and just poured right into the back floor through that little inspection flap or whatever it is. Anyway, I couldn't believe my eyes after I cleaned out the mess. The metal in that under-bed area is rust-free. What I need to know is, when I put the 2' by 6' inspection cover back on, do I seal it to be water tight or is it a good idea to let the water go into there and out the drain holes? I'm undecided because if the bed were water tight, wouldn't that just encourage the front part of the bed floor to rust out from standing water. If that area went straight out to the ground underneath like a full size truck, I would have no problem driiling drain holes in it, but this leaks right into another, secondary if you will, floorboard and not straight through. If I seal it tight, what would anyone suggest to do that with. If I leave it to drain down into the underneath compartment, what should I do to that area to prevent rust? What would you guys out there do? I plan on driving it every day to work where it will sit in the rain sometimes all day long. Thanks for your time and responses, Mike.
Mine rusted the right side of the floor board, the area at the bottom of the back of the cab, and the "inspection panel was gone. Much sheet metal work to fix.
My opinion is that no water, what-so-ever, should leak from the bed. I had to install a complete new bed (J.C. Whitney, two long panels, real nice) and coated the bed with Hurculiner. It now holds water like a swimming pool with no side effects.
The roll-in liner coating needs to be re-done only for looks at this time, but no other problems.
If you don't intend to "use" the smugglers box for anything, why have it? It's just a problem area.
Please let us know what you do and how it works out.
Great questions. Thanks for asking them. I've got the same situation as well, so the answers you're getting are helping me (when I get around to fixing it permanently) too. For now I just store it in a garage and avoid any rain like a plague. Car came from SoCal so the builder never worried about rain much. New England is an entirely different picture.
On one Elky picture I saw (think it was eBay but I'm not sure) the owner hinged the panel and lifted it with hydraulics (or vacuum). I don't recall if it opened from to back or back to front, and it wasn't obvious how he kept it sealed/dry but it sure looked trick and there seemed to be lots of room there.
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