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B3B Bed Strip Question


1949 Wraith

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I am planning on refinishing the present white oak boards in my '51 B3B. I thought if I was taking it apart, that I would probably change the bed strips and bed angle strips to stainless steel. Companies that list the strips for my vehicle state," the mounting holes are drilled per original specs". I have learned through experience that a lot of original specs have been changes on my truck by previous owners. So I want to check that holes in my present strips are stock. Two companies who sell this product are so busy that they have not responded to email inquiries for the mount locations. 

 

These are front to back measurements for the mount locations(approximate), on my 78" strips. The bed and side angle strips seem to match pretty good except for the second bolt location on the bed stips;

 

Bed      Side angle

4"         4"

14"      16"

24"      24"

40"      40"

53.5"    53.5"

65.5"    65.5"

77.3"    77.3"

 

Also does anyone have opinions on the stainless side angle strips that cover the original steel side strips, that are welded to the bed sides? The paint on my truck is decent and I don't want to remove the originals and damage the paint.

 

Thank you for your assistance.

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I'm going to follow this thread closely.  I'm in the exact same situation as you on my 51 B3B only I don't have the original strips to work with, just the two that are fastened to the side walls.  Reading through the archives I've read that Midwest Military supposedly is the only vendor that sells the correct profile bed strips.  It sounds like the other vendors sell Chevy knockoffs which are different. 

 

I've been in contact with John at Midwest Military and he is going to sell me bed strips that don't have any holes in them which allows me to place the holes where needed.  What I don't know is if he offers them in Stainless.  

 

I'm going to have to compare your location numbers with the my side rails to see if they match.

 

Thanks!

 

Brad

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pretty much every vendor out there (Horkey, Mar-K) does NOT make strips proper for our trucks.  The only vendor with the proper profile is Midwest Military.  If you want stainless, MM likely won't carry them as they are for stock stuff and would be painted and their dies would likely not handle SS properly.  Horkey does do a good job in having the holes in the right spot from what I've been told, just know it won't be the right profile.

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Most people wouldn’t notice the difference in strip profile unless the two were side by side. If you are worried about exact originality, go with Midwest Military. But since you are going with stainless strips I’ll assume you’re not concerned with the original profile. 

I got my strips from Mar-K and they were punched perfectly. I’m not near my truck this week and can’t measure the bolt spacing. Plus my 3/4 ton truck would likely be different than your 1/2 ton anyway. 

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12 hours ago, Merle Coggins said:

Most people wouldn’t notice the difference in strip profile unless the two were side by side. If you are worried about exact originality, go with Midwest Military. But since you are going with stainless strips I’ll assume you’re not concerned with the original profile. 

I got my strips from Mar-K and they were punched perfectly. I’m not near my truck this week and can’t measure the bolt spacing. Plus my 3/4 ton truck would likely be different than your 1/2 ton anyway. 

Thank you for your experience with the Mar-k brand. Did you use the side angle strips on your truck?

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I just got done installing the Mar-k brand and it matched up perfectly.  I used steel, not stainless.  However, to properly weld the angle strips to the side of your bed, you will probably burn the paint on the outside of the bed.  I repainted my sides, so it was a moot point, but if you don't want to repaint, and your angle strips are in good shape, you might want to pass on those.  Someone might have better experience than me.  Have fun...there are a lot of bolts, so always handy to have one of your kids / grandkids there to help.  At least my 12 year old was having the time of her life putting all those bolts in!

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You can see my bed process starting midway on page 14. I have Mar-K stainless strips and midwest military bed angles. I am building a patina truck so I didn't touch the paint on the outside. I drilled holes in the bed angles where the spot welds were originally and then welded with that. You can see discoloration on the outside where the paint was but it's a small spot for each one. Also on my 47 most of those spots end up inside the fender. 

 

I agree with Merle most guys won't notice the difference in the strips. In my case I got bed board plans from the 39-47 group and my bed ended up too wide I believe because of the different strips. So plan accordingly on the bed boards. Also the 39-47 trucks use wood cross members so they strips should have a mix of square and round holes because some of the holes get wood screws and some get bolts. The Mar-K ones are all square holes so you end up using carriage bolts for everything. I bought all stainless bolts but haven't been having good luck with mock up and being able to actually reuse them after removing. About 50% of them end up with damaged threads. So you might want to use plain steel for any mockup and then stainless for final assembly. 

 

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1 hour ago, Young Ed said:

I agree with Merle most guys won't notice the difference in the strips.

 

 

Actually, now it is one of the things I look for...jumps out at me when the "wrong" ones are on there...especially on a restoration.  But that's me.

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8 minutes ago, ggdad1951 said:

 

Actually, now it is one of the things I look for...jumps out at me when the "wrong" ones are on there...especially on a restoration.  But that's me.

we know you aren't most guys!  good thing neither of my trucks are restorations :D

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5 hours ago, Merle Coggins said:

Yes, I replaced the side angles too. And as baby_gonzo said, they are welded on. However, I believe their stainless side angle strips are designed to sit over the top of the, welded on, steel pieces. More of a 'dress up' item.

Yes these are the stainless angle strips that just cover the existing steel units that are welded to the sides.

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52 minutes ago, 1949 Wraith said:

Can anyone confirm  if my bed bolt hole locations are stock for the B3B  78" bed strips?

 

My 51 B3B-108 has the following measurements on the left side rail.  Unfortunately I don't have the five inner rails to measure.  I only measured one of my side rails as I can't really get to the other side just now.

 

4"

13.5"

23.5"

39.75"

53.5"

65.25"

77"

 

Brad

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13 hours ago, bkahler said:

 

My 51 B3B-108 has the following measurements on the left side rail.  Unfortunately I don't have the five inner rails to measure.  I only measured one of my side rails as I can't really get to the other side just now.

 

4"

13.5"

23.5"

39.75"

53.5"

65.25"

77"

 

Brad

Brad, Thank you for taking the time to measure the locations of your side rails. Are your measurements at the approximate hole centers?

 

Nick

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8 minutes ago, 1949 Wraith said:

Brad, Thank you for taking the time to measure the locations of your side rails. Are your measurements at the approximate hole centers?

 

Nick

 

Yes, as best as I could discern I measured to the center of each hole.  Some of my  holes were enlarged but I could pretty much see at least a small portion of the "square" hole in each one so I used the flat edge as a reference to determine what would have been the center of the hole.  

 

Brad

 

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12 minutes ago, bkahler said:

 

Yes, as best as I could discern I measured to the center of each hole.  Some of my  holes were enlarged but I could pretty much see at least a small portion of the "square" hole in each one so I used the flat edge as a reference to determine what would have been the center of the hole.  

 

Brad

 

Definitely a bit of variance on the side angle strips. Mar-K sells the stainless angle strip cover pieces without holes. I imagine it allows installers to compensate for the variances when the side angle were tacked to the bed side.

 

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14 hours ago, JBNeal said:

Thank you for the diamensions of your bed strips. Your 1948 108 bed strip holes seem to basically match the the side angle holes.

The second hole from the front on my 1952 108 bed strip is about 2" shorter than the second  side angle rail hole.

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  • 1 month later...

I ordered and installed the Mar-K stainless bed and side rails in my truck. their side angle rails match the hole placement of the bed rails, so i had to drill 2 new mount locations other than that things fit nice.

IMG_20200116_114035.jpg

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Looks nice!

 

But you can note the difference in profile between the strips in the field and the edge ones.  This is why I don't like Mar-K or Horkey marketing these as Dodge parts, as they clearly are not.

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1 hour ago, JBNeal said:

when asked about unused holes on a project, I usually tell folks that they are used for drainage or ventilation, depending on orientation :cool:

 Speed holes?

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