1960-1963 arm rest - WHERE TO DRILL THE HOLES

[Lugnutz65]

DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility if you drill holes that don’t line up. Work slowly and carefully. Measure twice before you drill a 1/8” pilot hole. Check to make sure the 1/8” holes you drilled line up with the corresponding holes in the door before you drill it out to the larger 7/16” size.

I believe the information I’m giving here is accurate, but then again we are talking about 50-year-old trucks.

My 1963 C10 had a factory armrest on the driver side door. The passenger side door panel did not have an armrest. I decided to take some measurements and share them with the folks on this forum.

I used simple tools to make my measurements. I recommend that everyone get a set of calipers for your tool box. They are wonderful tools for the job when you need them. A set of calipers usually consists of inside diameter, outside diameter, and straight calipers.

I used a straight caliper (see photo) to find the location of the holes in the door panel for the armrest. I kept the tips of the caliper on the flat surface, but up against the edge of the ridge that outlines the center section. My measurements are shown in the photos below.

To test the accuracy of my measurements, I duplicated the same measurements onto my passenger side door panel by using the caliper and a steel ruler. I marked the spot where my measurements told me to drill a hole. Before drilling, I put my door panels face to face and checked to see if the holes matched. They did. Hooray!

After cleaning and painting my door panels, I reinstalled them on the door and as you can imagine, the holes lined up with the corresponding door holes.

I ordered new armrests. I also ordered caged nuts that I will spot weld in the corresponding square holes in the door.