fshd4it

Exactly. Unless you can find someone who can give an honest review for a similar job, you're taking a gamble. Installing the corner glass makes me a little nervous, but not too much as I have 3 sets. I recently had them replace the back glass in my '87 Nissan truck... not exactly the same, but it uses a 1-piece rubber gasket w/o a lockstrip. Same for my '77 D-150, they did it several years ago with no problems. That one I tried to do myself first. No thanks, never again.

I'm on the west side of the mountains, within an hour of the coast. It rains a reasonable amount (I say that because I used to live in Southeast Alaska, where it rains an unreasonable amount), but the truck will spend WAY more time parked inside my shop than out. There's a decent small glass place in town, I've had them do a few windshields and a couple back windows for me. Their shop/advertising truck is an early 50's 5 window Chevy, and I talked to the owner about installing the glass in it. I'm relatively sure he knows what he's doing, as well as being willing to come to my place for the install (which is huge). I haven't asked him about the product or supplier he uses, I figured I'd get a broader type of responses here first. Of course, he can't (won't?) warranty materials that he doesn't supply, but as I'm reusing original glass...

Thanks, Brent, for the info. The comments I've found were mostly on here, and mostly directed toward fit and occasionally leaks. I'm assuming there's only a few manufacturers, Steele and Precision being a couple. I'm not doing a restoration (far from it), so appearance isnt that critical; chances of getting caught out in the rain are pretty small as well, as my stuff just doesn't get driven that much. I'm leaning toward spending the extra for a Steele windshield gasket, and the more affordable ones for the back 3. Triple the price for Steele's pieces really cuts into the budget (Ha! Nice idea, in theory...) for the rest of the parts I need.

Hey all- I'm getting closer to painting my '52 (at least the inside), so it's time to look at ordering what I'll need to put the glass back in. I've read a few posts about different vendors and the products they carry, and people's comments on fit, quality, etc. Steele seems to come out on top, but I know you don't always "get what you pay for". Anybody care to chime in with opinions/experiences to help give me a little more direction? TIA, Karlin.

49er... thanks for the link and the pointers on resizing photos. I'll give it a try, and I can always get one of my kids to give me a hand. The only problem is getting them to explain it in terms I can understand. I picked up a good pair of '53-up bedsides from a 116" truck, and I'm going to cut them down to 108" size. I have a short one for a pattern, but it's too rusty to be salvaged.

Sorry guys, been out of the loop for a little while. Last week I got rolling on the '52 C, it's now on a shortened '92 Dakota frame... planning on a 5.9 magnum and 46re overdrive. The '53 C is pretty rusty and beat, so it'll probably become parts. My '52 B is a 3 window with a market-side box, and I'm going to wait 'til I'm done with this one (at least running) before I decide what to do with it. Yes, I need to learn how to post pictures.

Thanks for the replies. Merle- I never considered that the 3/4 ton trucks would have had a wider bed, that explains a lot. Did that change the way the running boards fastened to the fenders? Or the running boards themselves? I'm pretty sure my B3C was a flatbed, as the boards stop at the back of the cab. Bluzhog- I've been meaning to pick up one of Don's books, just haven't got around to it yet. Sounds like tons of information there.

Hello all, finally decided to take part rather than just lurking through your posts (I did pretty well, made it through about 400 pages the last couple months). Long story short, I've wanted a pilothouse since 1985, when I passed on the chance to buy one. As I was only 18, let's blame it on the ignorance of youth. I figured it was time last winter, and picked up 3 in a 2 week period... a '52 B3B, '52 B3C, and a '53 B4C, all projects. As well as 2 early Dakotas, which will donate their bodies to science (maybe). I've also been grabbing whatever parts I can find, and I've noticed the beds vary somewhat between the years. I'm aware of the Market-side beds (which my 3B has), and the switch to the larger fenders in '53, but was there a change in the early fenders? One pair I've got doesn't have a raised section across the front edge. Also, did they make the beds wider in '53? My '53 (and the '54 bed I bought) is about 4" wider than my '52s. Thankyou for sharing your knowledge, I'm still trying to process and absorb all I can.