The bed's on but............

[mobileortho]

I spent the last couple of days installing the bed on my truck. I think it turned out pretty good considering I had to wing it. I hit a couple of snags like having the wrong rear crossmember and having to make custom mounts. But by far my biggest disappointment has been the tailgate. It just dosen't fit! As you can see here and here, there is about a 1" gap on both sides. For the life of me I can't remember where I bought it otherwise I'd be fussing to someone right now! I suppose I can fix it but for once I wish "bolt on" really was!

[Houston54]

The bed floor acts as a structural member to the bed. Once you have the bed boards in place and the bed bolted down to the frame the sides will come back in for you. Another fix is to loosen the two bolts at the bottom of the stake pocket, have someone push the top of the bed sides inward while you re-tighten them.

[mylow53]

also if you need to you may need to slot out the rear cross member. just slot the bolt holes so you can slide it in..once you've done that you may need to trim one of your wood planks to fit in the wood... use a square to align the bed sides as well
GT

[mr48chev]

When I enlarged the photo to full screen size it looks like the tops of the bed rails are spread out quite a bit. That could be from the truck having hauled heavy loads in it's lifetime or because there is no floor in the bed to add stability. I think it should measure the same distance across as the bed does at the front. I would measure the width of the bed about an inch from the front panel at both the top and bottom and then measure it at the back and see how far it is off and go from there. One of the guys who has a bed in perfect or near perfect shape might be able to give you some measurements to
help you out.

I've found by experience that these beds like to have every bolt in place and tight and every piece in it's correct place so that they will stay square.

Also remember that these trucks didn't always come that close to perfect from the factory and 50 + years of use and abuse take their toll. As Mylow53 mentioned, you can expect to do some fitting of the pieces to get it to what we consider up to par for a hotrod, custom or restoration these days.

[mobileortho]

Both the front & rear measure 50" while the tailgate is only 49 1/8".

[mobileortho]

Well I found a new tailgate . It fits great and the pinstripping if awesome! I like the black satin look so much I'm thinking about painting the truck that color. I sold the other one on Ebay. I initially sold it for $100 but forgot to mention in the listing that it was too short, so I contacted the buyer and offered it to them for half off and they took it. Figured it was the right thing to do as I'd want the same done for me.