Bed Questions

[YukonXL04]

Hey Guys, I was working on my truck yesterday, didnt feel like getting into anything serious so I figured I would start putting the wood bed back in. While I was at it I noticed 3 things. I have outlined them in the following photo. I hope you guys could help me with them.

The truck is a 1950 Chevy 3100 with a 9 board bed.

Up first is the Red rectangle. I didnt think anything of it until I noticed the front bolts on the wear strips cant go in because they end up under this little lip. The lip is at the same height as the side angle strips so the boards must go under it. However of all the pictures I found online none of them have this. Should I install everything and just put the boards under this strip and leave the front row of bolts off?

Up next is the green rectangle. While comparing to other photos, I noticed my side angle strips don't have any holes. Do I need to drill some in to secure the sides of the outside boards? Is it needed? I found some that have them and some that don't. Most do seem to have them though.

And last up is the Blue circle. This is where the rear most bed to frame bolt goes, what goes between the bed and the frame here?

Thank you for any and all help I may get! This really is a great forum!


And a pic of the truck

[OrrieG]

Take a look here:

http://www.mar-k.com/installation_hints.aspx

I have a TF so not much help otherwise...

[oldman3]

I have a 54 bed on my 50, so it is different. From your pics I think someone as changed the angle piece on the side, it should have holes that a carriage bolt goes thru angle, then thru the wood and maybe a cross sill in places. Here's some pics from different stuff I have shot off.

Pic 1 This is how my front panel fits to my boards and strips. Close but different that yours. Your front panel should have holes for the strips.

Pic 2 Shows rear cross sill with brackets that sits on the frame.

Pic 3 Shows cross sills with holes.

Pic 4 Here another shot showing rear cross sill with the brackets.

Pic 5 Here you can see how the angle side pieces, strips, and cross sills all line up with holes.

[oldman3]

Pic 1 Here's another shot of how the rear cross sill should look. The bolt goes thru the wood, then thru this bracket and then thru the top of frame with a nut on the bottom.

Pic 2, 3 and 4 are pages from a book on how the bed goes together.

Hope this helps some...Jim

[YukonXL04]

That is alot of great info! Thanks alot! I don't have the rear bracket on my rear cross sill. I wonder if I could make another wood block to go there instead?

On the front, if you look in the picture, there is a ledge similar to the side angle strips, I'm thinking someone bent this up at some point in time, because it's at the same height as the side angle strips so the bed wood and strips have to slide under it. Which leaves no way to get the bolts in.

Are the bolts on the side angle strip necessary? Also good to know on the middle cross sills, my bolts weren't lining up, I assumed they were welded in place, I will give them a whack with a hammer and try to align them.