Patent ID: 7430806

Claim:
A process for forming a bed assembly for a pickup truck, the bed assembly including a generally horizontally large floor panel and right and left upright inner side panels extending along and protruding upwardly from opposite lengthwise-extending side edges of said floor panel, comprising the steps of: (a) feeding a generally flat, wide, thin metal sheet longitudinally into and through a rolling mill to effect reshaping of the sheet in transverse cross section, said reshaping including (i) defining a first portion of the sheet adjacent and extending along one longitudinally extending edge thereof, and (ii) roll forming a second portion of the sheet, as defined sidewardly adjacent the first portion, to define a floor panel section having a plurality of sidewardly spaced but generally parallel ribs extending longitudinally of the sheet; (b) forming a wheel well opening through said sheet at a location so that the opening is defined partially in each of said first and second portions; (c) transversely bending said sheet generally along a lengthwise-extending region defined between said first and second portions so that said first portion protrudes substantially perpendicularly relative to said second portion; (d) forming a generally flat edge flange along the other longitudinally extending edge of said sheet; (e) transversely severing the sheet across the width thereof to define a defined length panel member; (f) defining a first monolithic one-piece bed member by carrying out steps (a) through (e) above; (g) defining a second monolithic one-piece bed member by carrying out steps (a) through (e) above; (h) positioning said first and second bed member in opposed and facing relationship so that the floor panel sections are in horizontally adjacent side-by-side relation with the flat edge flanges thereof being in overlapping abutting engagement; (i) fixedly positioning said first and second bed members, in said opposed and facing relationship, on top of a plurality of transversely extending cross rails; and (j) fixedly securing said edge flanges together.