bkahler

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?

I've seen similar to what you're describing. Tolerances can start staking up also which can be a problem. In this case, it's probably a combination of aftermarket reproduction parts mixed with original parts with a touch of me not knowing what I'm doing

I spent the last couple of days prepping the wood planks for the bed and I've ran across a problem fitting the planks in place. The issue is fitting the plank between the strip welded to the bed and the top of the rear cross member. The first two pictures show what I'm talking about. At the front of the bed (closest to the cab) the 3/4" board fits nicely between the strip and the bottom of the front panel. However, at the rear, the gap between the top of the cross piece and the metal strip is only about 1/2". My first thought was the metal strips didn't get welded properly to the bed sides. However, after looking things over and checking with a tape measure, it looks like the strips are correct. I measured from the top of the strip to the opening in each of the stake pockets and at all four points the dimensions were within 1/32" of each other. To me that means the strips were installed correctly. The other variable was the replacement of the stake pockets themselves. The new stake pockets came from Bruce Horkey and they seem to have been well made. There is only one way the pockets can be fitted due to their shape and there is no way to adjust the stake pockets up or down due to the way they mate to the bed sides. As a recap, both bed sides are used replacements, the L brackets and rear cross piece are replacements from DCM. I compared the hole locations of the new L brackets with the old pieces and they are identical (just not bent like my old ones!). The cross piece measures out the same as my original bent piece. To me that leaves just the vertical hole locations in the stake pockets as the probable issue. If you look at the pictures below you'll see the orientation of the cross piece to the bottoms of the stake pockets. The cross piece is roughly 1/4" higher than the bottom of the stake pockets. To me that means I need to grind the bottom of the vertical holes to drop the cross piece down enough to provide clearance for the wood planks. Currently I see two options, slot the holes in the stake pockets to drop the cross piece the required amount or cut a rabbit in the ends of the planks to allow the plank to slip under the metal strip. My preference is to slot the holes.... Thoughts anyone?

Got them from DCM and the rubber sleeves are on. The picture he has on his website now, doesn't match with the ones he sent me. They are close but the taper to a point is missing. I bought them in November of 2019. I've seen a few trucks online with the same style hooks as mine. Not sure if they were original or aftermarket. https://www.dcmclassics.com/catalogs/p/all/parts_by_year-1948_1953_b_series-box_parts/654e4b7e093270eb01271032/bp-505-steel-tailgate-chains-pair

Ha! It's only taken me 28 years to get to this point Yep, the older I get, the more I have days like that as well.

It's half time Got the guides tweaked. There was a little bit of collateral damage but a bit of touch up paint and it'll be good to go. Also took three links out of each chain and the tailgate now sits level when open. As far as I'm concerned, the bed is now done so the next task is to get the bed wood milled and cut to size. Hopefully that task will done sometime this week.

Back to work on the bed today. I got the rear cross member installed with the help of the DCM L brackets and hinges that I bought. For the most part everything lined up perfect, I did have to use a drill bit to open up three holes slightly. The two bed sides are perpendicular to each other within 1/32" of an inch. Close enough for me Next was installing the tailgate. Hanging went without a hitch but I did run into two problems. The first problem is upper guide plates will need to be tweaked in order to get the tailgate to close all the way. The only option I see is to bend or spread the two guides so they can slip past the brackets on the bed sides. Nothing like messing up new paint The other problem is the nice new chains I bought from one of the suppliers is several inches to long. Not a real problem, just frustrating when you buy something listed for B3 high side pickup bed and they don't fit without adjustment. Time to go watch a football game....

Here's a good picture of what the bracket looks like.

I installed the weight rating placards today. I'm not sure why but its very satisfying having them installed

That's sneaky of you to link to my own picture!! 🤣