Smoothed/Shaved stake pockets

[mrsnicks]

I did a search and don't see where anyone did this. I am thinking about smoothing out, shaving, filling in the stake pocket holes in the bed of my 96 F100 SWB. I will never use them and I think it will give a nice look.

My question is, can I just cut them off and weld in a patch panel? Would I need to weld in some type of brace or support? Do the stake pockets provide any type of structural support?

Has anyone done this before?

[Randy Beck]

A hole that size will probably need a patch welded in then smoothed over with Bondo. I have covered door lock and antenna holes before using a fiberglass cloth and resin on the backside, then smoothing the hole with Bondo. A hole the size of a stake pocket will more than likely sag and crack using the fiberglass cloth method.

[fordman]

why cut out the pockets when you can just weld the top shut with a patch panel?

[mrsnicks]

Well, just one of those things that will hard to fully sand/sandblast/get all the rust of of. Would clean the lines up a bit. I'm trying to smooth this down and clean it up as much as possible.

I'm all over the welding them closed.. just need to know if they provide structural support/integrity.

Patrick