I definitely want the 5.5 bed. There is a Reg cab / ext cab variant that is a tad larger than a Reg but shorter than a scab. That would be perfect, a little extra room for gear.

 

So I understand that the 09 front clip can be made to fit with a little modification to some brackets, next question is will the 09+ complete bed assembly fit the 04-08? There are a ton of front end totaled f150s here.

 

there are a couple guys here who have swapped the beds.

 

Only hard part about swapping beds is the taillights. You have to add another brake light since the 04-08 have 1 brake light and the 09 have 2

 

Alright, sounds simple as long as no metal fab. A simple splice to add a second neg/pos lead to the second set of lights, I can snip the extra plug off the totaled truck when I take the bed. Now to convince the wife!