Monkey Truck Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 Santa Claus brought me a new bed kit this year, and with some time off over the holidays and the incredible Dec winter California weather we've been having, I've been busy working on restoring my truck bed. The original wooden bed rotten out in the late 1960's. This steel plate was installed in 1970 and has been in the truck ever since. Besides having to grind off all the carriage bolts to get it out, it came out w/o too much trouble. Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Posted January 4, 2012 Here's a few shots of the chassis after I pull the steel plate out. About 40+ years of dirt, mud, and rust, but in pretty good shape overall. Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Posted January 4, 2012 I used a grinder with a SS brush head and grinded off all the layers of mud and dirt build up, then used a power washer and power washed everything. Quote
Young Ed Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 Looks great. Consider yourself quite fortunate that the guy installing that steel floor went and bought bolts rather than going crazy with a welder. Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Posted January 4, 2012 Then I painted the chassis and installed some new shocks. In the meantime, in between each step I cut and milled the lumber for the bed, stained and varnished the boards. I hope to have the boards installed today. I will post pictures when done. Quote
1952B3b23 Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 Its looking good. Where did you get the bed kit from, Bruce Horkey's? Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Its looking good. Where did you get the bed kit from, Bruce Horkey's? Yes from Horkey's. It was a toss up between them and Mar-K. After reading several opinions and checking them out on line, I decided to go with Horkey's. Good quality stuff, IMO. Edited January 4, 2012 by monkeytruck Quote
pflaming Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 neat yellow color. What is the color of your truck? Will be watching. Edit: With that steel plate gone, it's likely to ride differently!!! Quote
HanksB3B Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 Mar-K are nice people with a large customer base for Chevy and Ford. However when it comes to Mopar, Bruce is not only a fine metal fabricator and woodworker but is the most knowledgeable historian when it comes to our truckbeds. My personal feeling based on his complete restoration of my truck bed is that we should continue to support Bruce's every effort to supply us with an excellent product and make sure that years from now he'll still be out there helping us with our Pilothouse Trucks. Hank Quote
ggdad1951 Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 Mar-K are nice people with a large customer base for Chevy and Ford. However when it comes to Mopar, Bruce is not only a fine metal fabricator and woodworker but is the most knowledgeable historian when it comes to our truckbeds. My personal feeling based on his complete restoration of my truck bed is that we should continue to support Bruce's every effort to supply us with an excellent product and make sure that years from now he'll still be out there helping us with our Pilothouse Trucks.Hank Hank, while I agree for the most part, IMO he needs to make the proper bed strips for our trucks, they are no where near "correct" for Dodges. Midwest Military has the tooling that does those spot on, but they only really do the bed strips. Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Posted January 4, 2012 neat yellow color. What is the color of your truck? Will be watching.Edit: With that steel plate gone, it's likely to ride differently!!! It's the original paint job from '48. It's the stock yellow color shown on the original color chips. The quality of the paint is amazing. (I'm sure full of lead). Between the power wash picture and the painted chassis picture, I forgot to note, but I used a power buffer and some heavy duty rubbing compound and buffed out a lot, not all, of the rust and scuffs etc. I'm going to put a coat of wax on before I install the wooded bed. Quote
Jim Shepard Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 I also used Horkey when I restored my B2B several years ago. He does quality work and I'm very happy with the results. Quote
Young Ed Posted January 5, 2012 Report Posted January 5, 2012 I've used both Mar-k and and Horkey kits on 39-47 trucks. Both supplied high quality wood floors. Mar-k didn't have the bolt pattern for my truck so I had to drill my own holes. They also didn't have patterns for the wood crossmembers. The wood crossmembers from Horkey were ok but I found the rear one to be a little sketchy where the hold down bolt went through. Quote
HanksB3B Posted January 5, 2012 Report Posted January 5, 2012 (edited) Hank, while I agree for the most part, IMO he needs to make the proper bed strips for our trucks, they are no where near "correct" for Dodges. Midwest Military has the tooling that does those spot on, but they only really do the bed strips. Oddly enough, I ordered my bed strips from Mar-K. During that call I described what I needed done to my bed and they recommended http://www.horkeyswoodandparts.com/ and told me about Bruce. I'll give Bruce the heads up about the bed strips. Guess I lucked out (and oh, I remember during that call Mar-K had one remaining Donn Bunn book and I ended up with it) Hank Edited January 5, 2012 by HanksB3B Quote
B1B Keven Posted January 5, 2012 Report Posted January 5, 2012 Guess I lucked out (and oh, I remember during that call Mar-K had one remaining Donn Bunn book and I ended up with it) Hank Amazon has them used: http://www.amazon.com/Dodge-Trucks-Restorers-Collectors-Reference/dp/1583880879/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4 Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Posted January 6, 2012 I finished installing the bed today. Long process, but for the most part went really well with little flaws. I used White Oak lumber, stained them with a Golden Oak varithane stain, and applied 2 coats of McClosky's Marine Varnish. I rabbited the sides of the boards 3/16" deep x 1/2" wide. This left the rails about 1/16" - 1/8" raised above the wood surface. Also, I installed neoprene washers under each carriage bolt to help buffer the wood to metal contact. Quote
HanksB3B Posted January 6, 2012 Report Posted January 6, 2012 I like your idea of rubber washers. I can't remember, was that yellow a stock color? Hank Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Posted January 6, 2012 I like your idea of rubber washers. I can't remember, was that yellow a stock color?Hank Yes, original color and original paint job. It's amazing what rubbing compound and wax will do to a 64 year old paint job. I'm sure the quality (lots of lead I'm sure) has something to do with it. Quote
HanksB3B Posted January 6, 2012 Report Posted January 6, 2012 Wow that's in great shape for original paint... except the inside of the bed, but I guess that shows it's history. Hank Quote
pflaming Posted January 8, 2012 Report Posted January 8, 2012 (edited) We shouldn't have been surprised at the yellow color. Reg has had one or more for a long time. The attached pic is a nice sample of color combinations. I especially like to look at wheel treatments. A nice example of that also. Edited October 16, 2017 by pflaming Quote
Monkey Truck Posted January 10, 2012 Author Report Posted January 10, 2012 Edit: With that steel plate gone, it's likely to ride differently!!! Took the truck for a little drive around town, and yes what a difference!! Between having the steel plate gone, the wood bed and the new shocks, I noticed it rides a bit smoother, and quieter. I don't hear that steel plate banging around on the bumpy roads. Quote
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