Bed-To-Frame Bolts

[grey beard]

Whilst at the Macungie, PA anique truck show, I enjoyed looking at three Pilothouse pickups. One must have been owned by a very clever feller, because it immediately caught my eye. His nice new wood bed had NO large bolt heads in the outer boards, as we expect to see.

Sugsequent crawling underneath revealed that he had bolted his four steel cross members to the frame in the usual fashion, but did not run the bolts up through the two outer boards. The croissmembers were bolted to the frame by their lower flanges only. He then refloored the bed in the usual fashion with angle and rub strips as original.

I gave this a lot of thought. There is really no saving grace in drilling and bolting those two outer boards to the frame if the crossmembers are already securely bolted down. Surely the 49 bolts used on the strips are sufficient to keep the boards from rattling. The bed is just as secure. (Seven strips with seven bolts though each).

Bottom line is that the advantage of this method in my opinion is that six fewer large holes are needed in the wood, the floor looks cleaner without those giant washers and carriage bolt heads sticking up, and rthere are six fewer spots for the wood to begin deteriorating, once the project gets some age on it.

Wish I'd have done my bed this way. You'all who still have this task ahead of you may want to remember this little improvement. JMHO:)