Wood Side Racks Added...(56k Beware!)

[Juday1951]

As promised, here are the pictures of the side racks I built for the truck. I know it's nothing fancy, with some ornate decorations, but it serves it's purpose. All of the wood is red oak, attached with 20 carriage bolts (3"x5/16"). Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions. Enjoy!

[Mike 1948 1Ton]

Looks great, simple yet cool. Some lumber dimentions would be great, espically the posts. Thanks

Mike

[Jim Roach]

Looks great. First class job from what I can see. I have some 1X6X10 red oak boards I bought many years ago that I'm going to use for the same thing. I still need to get my brake issues worked out first. Time is my biggest problem. Thanks for the photos.

Jim Roach

[MBF]

Nice personal simple touch that gives the truck its own unique identity. Mike

[Bob_Koch]

Nice looking truck, good looking racks.

[ggdad1951]

nice! And I'm a woodworker! I plan on doing similar, but with curly/burl maple.

[Juday1951]

nice! And I'm a woodworker! I plan on doing similar, but with curly/burl maple.

I had 1x6x10 curly maple sitting in the workshop, but I decided to go against it. If I were building this truck as a show piece, I would have definitely gone with them. However, since I'm going for the original style, I don't think the farmers would have used curly maple! So, I settled for red oak.

Also, thank you for the compliments so far! Next on the agenda, changing out the kingpins on the front axle, hoping that fixes my vibration issues....

Kevin

[1937 Dodge]

I like the contrast of the oak against the black paint job. Am currently working on my side boards using photos submitted by other posters on this site.

You are right about the type of lumber used. My wife was complaining yesterday that "Grandpa would never have used fancy wood or added all the fancy stuff that you have to his farm truck."

Thanks for posting the photos.

Edited June 30, 2010 by 1937 Dodge
typo

[Dan Babb]

Looks great.

Did you just drop the posts into the side rail holes....or did you bolt them in somehow?

Just wondering if they rattle around if you don't have them bolted in.

[carls 49]

came out nice, great work.

[Juday1951]

Looks great.

Did you just drop the posts into the side rail holes....or did you bolt them in somehow?

Just wondering if they rattle around if you don't have them bolted in.

The front posts (towards the cab) have just been dropped in place. The posts are 3 feet long and stick above the top of the bedsides 9.5 inches. When I bought the post they measured 2.5"x2.5"x3' (actual), but I had to cut them down to 1.75"x1.75"x3' (actual) so they fit in there perfectly. The rear posts were a pretty tricky because of the tailgate latch. I had to cut out a section of the posts so that they would clear those bolts with no obstructions. Also, I had to trim more off of the rear posts because it seemed to taper down towards the bottom. So, I used a piece of poplar and made a prototype to fit, as to not screw up the piece of oak. After I got that done, I just copied the dimensions over to the oak so that there wasn't any problems. Since I had to taper the bottom of the rear posts, there was some movement. To solve that, I just cut a wedge on the bandsaw to slide down in there and make everything nice and tight (but also able to be removed, if needed) out of the scrap pieces.

So to answer your question, there are no bolts holding the posts in place to the bed.

Thanks for the compliments fellas!

Kevin

[NiftyFifty]

That looks great....I'll have to remember that, although with the 9' box it could be fun finding 10' boards in anything but spruce or cheap wood.

I'm considering pine for my box floor boards, it won't see any "action" so I'm not worried about it being soft.....anyone else try this?

[Dan Babb]

When I got the truck, the bed floor had pine installed...it also didn't have the metal rails between the boards.

I didn't want to spend the money on all new stuff, so I just removed them and restained them. Then put them back in.

They do flex if I stand between the supports and do scratch easy. If I were planning on using it for heavier loads, I would change them out. But for now, it's fine.