When I repair my 85 Xtracab bed, I plan on drilling out the spot welds to repair the panels. I'll fill in the spot weld holes, weld in replacement panels and paint the panels at that time. When I re-assemble the bed, I'll place a wide bead of non-hardening seam filler and bolt the panels together. This will take a lot of extra time but I think it will be worth it. Besides, most of the replacement patch panels will have to be hand made since they are no longer available so the extra work will won't cause any additional time.

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