bkahler

Nice work. Looking forward to seeing the completed running boards.

Dang, that's a great idea! If done properly the eye bolts wouldn't be a problem. The eye bolts can be fastened into place as shown in the picture below. The protruding threaded section would guide the bed into the holes in the frame as it's being lowered. I think I'll attempt this approach first. I've got eye bolts that I can use which gives me a no cost solution Thanks!

To be honest, I don't even want to think about disassembling it and then reassembling it. The risk of scratches, drops, etc is more than I want to deal with. I figure the factory assembled the beds in a separate location, trailered or moved them to the factory floor and lifted them into place. I think it is probably a lot easier to crawl around underneath the bed during assembly on sawhorses than if it was sitting on the truck frame. I would think lifting into place would be the most efficient for them.

I replaced the sockets the same way. It just so happened the sockets that I bought had a tab for connecting a ground wire which made it easy to take care of the ground issue. I like the idea of the sliding plate. That was my first thought when you started describing your problem. Should be quick and easy to do.

EMT would definitely be cheaper than pipe. I'm going to look into JB's suggestion of straps and see what happens. Thanks!

Deforming the sides is my biggest worry. I would much prefer the hoist, assuming I can get the rigging in place properly. Possibly this weekend, we'll know for sure

I like the strap idea! That saves me the cost of the pipe and the longer 2" x 12' sling straps that I was going to have to buy. The ratchet straps would also give me better adjust-ability than the sling straps would have. Not sure what you mean by "duct tape attached to lifting strap" I don't care if it's pretty if it gets the job done. Heck, I ain't pretty and I always (well almost always!) get the job done....😄

Stacking like you described is something I've thought about, but I keep coming back to my problem of having enough floor space on the sides for setting up 4 saw horses. If I could come up with the room, what did you used to support the bed? The side panels hang down lower than the bottom of the bed floor causing interference with the cross pieces sitting on the saw horses. Did you place smaller chunks of wood under the bed to raise it up?

Now that I'm getting close to completing the bed assembly it's time to figure out how to lift it onto the truck by myself. Here's a sketch of how I'm thinking about going about doing the lifting using my gantry crane. I have everything on hand but the 1" steel pipes. I'll either have to buy some or borrow from someone. The reason I'm thinking about using the 2x4 lumber is to keep the tops of the side panels from bowing inwards during the lift. When I was lifting the bed on one end while I was working on the L brackets I noticed the tops of the panels were bowing inward slightly. I was using 5/8" rebar at the time for lifting the end and while the rebar was ok, the bowing bothered me. So, I think using 1" pipe and 2x4 spreaders will solve that issue. Thoughts?

Yep, I agree with that assessment.

They are definitely purdier than what they looked like when I first picked them up The body guy spent a lot of hours shrinking various areas. They still aren't perfect but they are plenty good enough for use. There's a point where you end up with diminishing returns. Bottom line is I'm pleased with the panels and glad I got them. Thanks!

Bed assembly is progressing. Four planks are installed as of today, tomorrow I will layout the 6 bed to frame mounting holes and get them drilled and ready to go. With luck I'll be able to install the last two planks as well. We're in the middle of an ice/snow storm so staying inside and warm is a high priority

HA! You've described my life in one sentence! 🤣

You don't remember every detail of very build? I'll start with 3/8" and if that doesn't hack it I'll enlarge them. Thanks.

I remember seeing that thread years ago. Good info. Thanks!

Those are some stout running boards

The only suggestion I have is to give this place a call. Back when I first started restoring my B3B I got a lot of parts from them. It helped that they were only an hour away from me at the time and I spent hours scavenging parts They don't like to ship, but there are alternatives if you're creative enough. Watts Auto Salvage Wymore Nebraska (402) 645-8066 https://www.theoldcarguys.com/salvage-yards/listings/watts-salvage/ Good luck in your search.

Planks are set in place to verify fitment. I'm happy with the results so this afternoon will be spent painting the planks and trying to cleanup the huge mess that I've made in the shop lately. It looks like it will be couple of days for painting them so not much will be happening for the next few days. Quick question, what diameter should I drill the holes in the two outer planks? I'm thinking 3/8" but would like to verify.

The holes in the stake pocket for the L brackets are a really close tolerance fit. There is no movement in the L bracket once all of the bolts are started (but not tight). I spent most of the afternoon looking at various areas of the bed and the shovel rails that are spot welded to the bed sides. What I found is there was more downward angle on the shovel strips that I original thought (possibly from handling over the last few months). After some tweaking with a large adjustable wrench and some blocks of wood I managed to get the shovel strips straightened. Once that was complete I found that by rabbiting the end of the plank 1/16" provided just enough clearance that I could get the planks to slide under the shovel strips. The most likely explanation for the problem was my installation of the shovel strips. The bed sides aren't 100% flat which contributed to the issues with the strips. Bottom line is the truck is going to be a 10' looker, just don't get any closer 😄 I'm now at the point where I need to rabbit three more planks and then rip the center boards to the correct width. After that I'll be painting for a while. Both the planks and the four frame cross members need to be painted. I'm hoping to have the box completed by January 10th

I haven't discarded that idea just yet. I thought I had some plate stock for making the nut plate, but for some reason I haven't been able to lay my hands on it yet.

Without the wood planks being in place there is no way to check that. The bed cross members sit on the truck frame and the wood planks sit on the cross members. The rear cross member I'm dealing with doesn't touch the truck frame so it just rests against the bottom of the wood planks. In my case I can't get the planks installed due to the rear cross member being to close to the shovel strips. Pretty much all the rear cross member does is support the end of the planks and in conjunction with the L brackets locates the tailgate. In my case the L brackets locate the tailgate hinges in the correct location to match the 1/4" dimension that JB indicated for open tailgate to top of shovel strips. I guess when you put a mix of reproduction parts with side panels from one truck and a tailgate from another truck things aren't going to match up exactly the way they should, at least not without some fiddling around

Ok, this morning I checked out the plank / tailgate relationship as it currently sits. The a 3/4" plank sitting on top of the cross piece places the plank about 1/16" above the tailgate which means the shovel strip will be about 5/16" above the tailgate. This pretty much matches with what JB described on his trucks. Which means I'm still faced with my original dilemma, I either rabbit the ends of the planks or relocate the mounting holes via grinding the holes or relocating the nuts on the L brackets. Looks like we've come full circle Modifying hole location method: 1 - currently the plank sitting on top of the cross piece is 1/16" higher than tailgate and the shovel strips are 5/16" above the tailgate 2 - if I do nothing but lower all mounting holes 1/4" the plank will still be 1/16" higher than the tailgate 3 - this would put the shovel strips 1/4" to 5/16" above the tailgate 4 - there are two ways to accomplish this, slot the mounting holes on the stake pockets or relocate the nuts on the L brackets. Slotting the holes would take about 1/2 hour, relocating the nuts will take a lot longer and require more painting Rabbit method: 1 - if I rabbit the ends of the planks so they fit in the current 1/2" gap between cross piece and shovel strip then the shovel strips will be 1/4" to 5/16" above the tailgate 2 - this is a fast an easy change One part of me just says rabbit the planks and move on. Another part of me says just slot the holes and move on, yet still another part says relocate the nuts. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm somewhat conflicted on which method I should use 😂. I'm going to spend some more time today looking things over and try to make a decision.

Sounds like a typical purchasing department! I hadn't considered the height of the shovel strips. I'll have to do some measuring tomorrow morning to see what that dimension does to the mix. Thanks for the tip.

Interesting thought. Currently the L brackets have individual nuts spot welded in place. Easy enough to remove. I like the idea of using a metal strip with holes drilled and tapped and then welded onto the L brackets, after enlarging the holes in the L bracket. That would make it quick and easy to get the tapped holes in the right locations. Definitely something to think about. Thanks!

Los, could you get a couple of pictures showing the same thing as my last two pictures showing the bottom corners of the stake pockets?