Pilothouse Pickup Bed Reflooring - part 2

[grey beard]

Drilling the Holes

Once you have the three bolt head marks made on one of the two outer boards and the seven metal angle holes marked, lay this marked board on top of the other outer board and align them carefully, then clamp the two boards together so they cannot move. Now drill three 9/16-inch holes through both boards simultaneously at the marks made by the bolt heads. Next drill the seven 3/8-inch angle holes through both boards.

When you drill these holes, the top board will be right side up and the bottom board will have it’s top side inverted. This makes a mirror pattern for the holes in the boards for each side. It is a good idea to use a piece of scrap lumber under the drill so the wood will not splinter when the bit comes through the other side. The three large holes will be toward the inside edge of these boards and the seven angle holes along the outside, as the boards will lay inside the box.

Beginning Assembly

Before you bolt these two outer boards to the truck frame, bolt the two metal angle strips to them, using 5/16 carriage bolts. Where the bolts pass through metal crossmembers, these holes will line up with the three larger holes. Leave the nuts off.at these three angle attaching holes. Wherever bolts do not hit crossmembers, use a wide fender washer under your lock washer and nut for added strength. Now when you install these outer boards, the angle strips will already be attached.

NOTE: The original Dodge angle strips were welded to the box sides. Mar-K suggests that if your old angle strips are still okay, leave them in place and install the new angles over top of the old ones. This idea helps to align the bed sides properly for height and saves one potential mis-alignment issue.

Install the two outside floor boards first. Put the six ½-inch x 6-inch carriage bolts through the wood, through the crossmembers and through the upper frame rails. Remember to install square rubber washer pads between the crossmembers and the frame rails. These rubber pads and all bed attaching hardware are available from two or three bed parts vendors. Put the six large carriage bolts through the crossmembers and the frame rails, but don’t bolt them down yet.

One Important Measurement

Pilothouse trucks have a nice little feature that is not shared by other marques of stepside trucks. In front of each rear wheel there is a hole in the running board apron made to give access to the grease zerk for the front spring hanger of the rear axle. This feature makes a fine level for positioning the bed on the truck frame. Before you tighten down the six main carriage bolts, check out these two holes. The grease fittings should be equally distant from the sheetmetal apron on each side. Don’t worry now about up-anddd-down alignment, just side-tt-side. Once you are satisfied that the bed is really centered on the frame using this index, now add your lock washers and tighten the six main bolts to the frame.

If you find that the box is not properly centered at this point – left-to-right or front-to-back, you can re-drill the six large holes up to ¾-inch size to allow for “finegle room” adjustment movement.

Measuring Bed Height on the Frame

What follows here is the most critical part of the flooring job. Once the two outside boards have been bolted to the frame securely, the next step is to install the outer angle metal strips to the metal box sides. These strips bolt to the outside floor boards and will be welded or bolted to the metal box sides. Carefully check the box height at this point, for once the angle strips have been welded into place, their position cannot be changed.

If your box is securely blocked up and level, it is sometimes easier to jack the truck up or down to get the box in proper alignment vertically before the angles are attached to the box. Once again, check the grease fitting positions through the apron holes, this time for vertical alignment. If the bed sides are at the proper height, the grease fitting will be centered in the sheetmetal holes. This is a critical measurement, for the bed sides can still be moved up or down at this point. Whatever shimming or jacking is necessary, take the few minutes to get this right.

Looking at the box side panel from inside the bed, there is a sheetmetal design lip pressed into the bed side that should align with the top edge of the side angle strip when everything is adjusted properly. Once you are satisfied that the bed height is correct – grease fittings lined up with apron holes and angle strips lined up with the bed side lip – tack weld the strips with a mig welder. Some prefer to drill holes into the angle strips and rosette weld through these holes into the box sides. I just migged the top edge of the angle to the bed side, for it appeared this was how the original angles were attached at the factory.

Alternately, if you do not have access to a mig, you could drill holes through both the bed metal side and the metal angle strip. Install 3/8-inch carriage bolts from the inside, using acorn nuts on the outside with lock washers. The fastening of these metal angle strips to the bed sides is critical, for it will carry all the metal box weight. Bed crossmembers carry the floor and cargo weight, but all the metal box weight is carried by the angle strips resting on the outer edges of the two outer boards.

Finishing Up the Job

After the angle strips have been secured to the bed sides, the remaining boards and rub strips can be installed, working in from each side. There should be ½-iinch space between each board though which pass the bed strip carriage bolts. The boards should not touch each other anywhere. Unless the bed is off the frame, try to install as many of the 3/8-inch bolts and washers from the top, reaching underneath, as possible. There are 49 carriage bolts holding the wood flooring down. A few of these – over the fuel tank, for example – are difficult to reach from underneath. One font strip bolt above the fuel tank is extremely difficult to see or reach from underneath. Don’t forget about it.

Suggestions

Use this recipe thruout the entire job. When installing the 5/16-inch bolts, for those that pass through metal crossmembers, use either lock washers or locking nuts. For bolts that pass through wood only and not thru crossmembers – like the angle strip bolts – use wide diameter fender washers above the lock washers. Also use fender washers in spots where bolts secure rub strips but do not sit above crossmembers.

On all nuts everywhere, use either lock washers or lock nuts, if you want the floor to stay together for a long time. Where access was limited and it was difficult to thread lock washers and nuts into place, I used shouldered one piece lock nuts with the lock washer built in.

NOTE: If you are a mechanic and not a woodworker, it is an easy mistake to use an impact on these strip bolts. Don’t over tighten them or the strips will buckle. I estimate that for the 5/16-inch nuts, 30 to 35 pounds of torque is sufficient for the job. Don’t over tighten these. One hand is usually sufficient to get these tight.

There are no bolts used on the front steel bulkhead lip at the front of the wood floor. There are bolts used at the rearmost box crosspiece immediately in front of the tailgate. These bolts are difficult to install and tighten, for they are in close proximity to a crossmember just in front of his crosspiece.

Many of the nuts used will require tightening with a wrench rather than a socket because of their position inside “C” channel crossmembers or due to their proximity to other chassis components. It is usually necessary to have one person helping topside to tap or hold the bolt heads down while washers and nuts are started. I used a dead blow hammer for this job.

When working alone, a large floor magnet on top of the bolt heads can be substituted for the topside helper, and serves to magnetize the bolt to hold the washer in place until the nut is started. This is time consuming and tedious work. Because my hands are large and somewhat numb, I had my 10-year-old grandson start many of the nuts and lock washers for me, then I did the final tightening myself.

When the job is finished properly, the box will sit square and level on the truck frame and look very sturdy. The design is a good one and makes a good looking package. My suggestion is that just because vendors sell stainless hardware and fasteners, and just because show trucks have varnished flooring, the nicest and most practical look is that which was original. JMHO

Disclaimers

These trucks are more than fifty years old. They have fought the good fight, and show all the signs of well-earned wear. Many of them have had loads shift into front bulkheads and tail gates, pooching out the sheetmetal at each end. These two areas may require individual attention before floor lumber is put into place, for discrepancies will become more noticeable with straight board edges bolted up to crooked panels.

The natural stance of these trucks was tailgate-high. This design put any bed moisture against the front bulkhead. It is suggested that 1/8-inch be trimmed from overall board length to keep front ends of bed lumber away from direct bulkhead contact, to preclude further rust.

Good Luck

Vendor Listing

Mar-K Corp.

6625 W. Wilshire Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73130

405-721-7945

Mar-K.com

Bruce Horkey Wood Parts

46254 440th. Street

Windom, MN 561401

507-831-5625

www/horkeyswoodandparts.com

Both vendors sell wood, fasteners, metal strips, rubber pads and bed accessories.

Lumber Dimensions

Thickness ¾-inch

Length 78 inches

Width outer boards – 7 ¾ inches

Inner boards – 7 3/8 inches

Spacing ½ inch

Dave Erb

New Holland, PA

oldabe@copper.net