Our 2018 Extended Cab Short Bed Overview| Custom Bed Build!

This is our 2018 Colorado LT that I bought used. Over the last few years we have shortened the frame by 12" and combined a short bed and long bed together to make the First 2nd gen Colorado Extended Cab Short Bed.

Along with that, we swapped in ZR2 suspension and lockers, AEV Highmark flares, 315/70r17 Goodyear Territory MT's and Method 701 wheels.  We had done some smaller local off-road trips with it at first, then we took it to Easter Jeep Safari in 2023 and had a great time. We ran Hells Revenge, Top of the World, Fins and Things and Onion Creek.

Later that year, dropped the bed and converted the old flat bed from our 2019 Ranger build to fit. Added some aluminum lower panels.

We even raced it at a local (ish) off-road endurance race. The race course was 6-7 miles long and we had to complete as many laps as we could in 90 minutes. There are three classes that race at the same time, Stock, Modified and Unlimited. We ran in Stock class which limits us to 35" tires and 2.0 shocks. So we ran the stock DSSV's along with our Carbon Bump stops. We had 7 cars in our class, mostly Jeep Cherokees and other beater trucks. We qualified 2nd in class and 3rd overall. Qualifying is a shorter lap, but shows you a glimpse of what the race course looks like

Here's a vid of our qualifying run:

YOUTUBE LINK

During the race, we held our 2nd place position off the start of the race and was making ground to catch up to first place. Towards the end of Lap 1, we had a bolt fall out of the right front caliper. The caliper flipped up and broke a hole through the inside of the wheel. Giving us a flat tire and stopped us dead in our tracks. It took some time to get the truck jacked up in the soft sand and get the wheel off that was jammed with the caliper. We didn't have any spare bolts for the caliper, or a spare tire on the truck. We left the spare tire in the pits, because we can drive on a flat and they are faster at changing tires. So, with the wheel off, we cut the brake hose and pulled the other bolt out of the caliper, bolted the flat tire on and finished the last mile of the lap. In the pits they swapped our spare on and off we went. We were way behind everyone else at this point, but eventually started passing a lot of broken cars and finished the race in Fourth place.

We had a blast racing, but the truck took a lot of abuse. I'm pretty sure the frame is slightly crooked now . Surprisingly, that tire still holds air after we swapped it to another wheel!

Anyways, fast forward to it most recent "build".

We sold the flat bed, the original short bed has seen better days, and we needed something new.

So, we built this...

Internally, we call it the Trail Bed. At this point, I'm not sure that this will be an offered product, but it's something I've wanted to build for a while now. It's made from a combo of steel and aluminum. High impact areas like the bed floor and rear corner guards are steel. The rest is aluminum. Inside features lockable storage cubby's and the two integrated Jerry Can mounts. The drivers side Jerry Can is actually the fuel filler, while the passenger side is a regular Jerry Can for spare fuel. I'm working on a table that mounts inside the tailgate. Hopefully get that finished up soon.

Trucks still a work in progress, but, along with the bed build we also added:

• Version 2.0 Alignment Lockers (that should be available shortly),
• Custom rock sliders that cut our the rocker panel and weld in
• Test fit a new set of 4.56 gears from Revolution Gear and Axle. They are coming out with 4.10s and 4.56 gears.
• Kenda Klever 35x10.50r17 MT2's
• Color Matched Method 701's
• Baja designs S2's in the rear bumper
• 20 gallon fuel cell in the bed
• Avery vinyl wrap and black painted roof.

Future plans, new front bumper, steel version of our ultimate skid plates, and our new 9" replacement rear axle.