Box bed strips question

[fireguyfire]

I’m curious how the steel box bed strips for between the wood planks came from the factory.

were they painted black, or body colour?

I know repop places sell stainless but I’m guessing stainless wasn’t an option in 1940.

 

FYI my truck is a 1940 1/2 ton

[Los_Control]

For fun I will play along and admit I do not know the correct answer.

 

I'm pretty sure the original wood was painted black from the factory. It only makes sense the strips were painted black also.

 

So any truck with tinted and stained wood is custom, they never came that way ..... In fact the standard beds were all painted black inside and out.

The cab was painted a body color, but the beds were black.

 

If you look at @ggdad1951truck you will see a red truck and a black bed .... That was the way they came.

I'm sure you might be able to custom order the paint scheme ..... and many did ..... but if you just went in and bought one off the lot, the bed, the wood, the strips were all black.

 

I do not think we notice it so much today, these trucks are 70-80 years old and all been repainted or in the need of paint. .... They usually get painted one body color .... some times two tone .... But from the factory the bed, the wood, the strips were all black. .... Cab and dog house had body color.

[fireguyfire]

Thanks for the intel; very educational.

my truck is a survivor with 65% of its original blue paint and I don’t want to have a fancy lacquered wood bed with stainless strips.

If I go with painted black steel strips and painted black wood, that would fit the ethos of my survivor truck for sure.

[Los_Control]

To be honest my truck came to me with a Texas suntan, no visible paint to to see. ..... But it was a black truck from the factory and so I painted it black.

 

I'm not even trying to restore it just repair it.

I used exterior treated plywood and was able to salvage the original strips and painted them black .... I'm not really the right guy to tell you what you need to do to your bed.

@Young Ed is another one that can chime in and he has a truck like yours and painted it black .... He knows more then I do.

 

I just want to make mine a daily driver and not restoring .... so this is what I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Veemoney]

For our 1939-1947 trucks the bed strips and the wood were black as these trucks were made to work. However, the Cab and truck bed had matching paint color as I understand it and with the new body style in 1948 they started doing some of the bed panels standard or optional with black paint. 

[fireguyfire]

Yes, my truck is still in its factory paint and it is all blue. I read somewhere that trucks came in body colour body and black fenders and running boards as standard, and for an up charge you could get the entire truck painted in body colour, but I don’t know if that’s true.

 

im assuming the wood and metal strips were painted a flat black, not any kind of gloss?

[Robert Harrison]

Bed wood and strips were black to the best of my knowledge.  Tail gates. bed sides and bed head panels were painted body color. 

1945 year trucks sold just after the war were still black out trucks basically with some special pieces left over from the war etc.  Those may have been all black as well.  The 1945's were often sold to returning Vets first.  

[fireguyfire]

A related question; my box is 78” long.

im going to make my own bed boards in my shop. How wide should they be, and how thick?

[Los_Control]

20 hours ago, fireguyfire said:

A related question; my box is 78” long.

im going to make my own bed boards in my shop. How wide should they be, and how thick?

Someone may have the exact number, I think it matters on if you have a low side or standard side bed. My truck is a low side and I have a standard bed utility trailer.

They both seemed to be different measurements ..... the beds are different and probably were made in different assembly plants.

 

If you look at where your strips go.  The 2 outside boards are wider and I believe the center boards are 5.5" wide.

The 1/4" carriage bolts are a spacer between the boards, they do not go through the boards ... it is a expansion joint and the strips covers the joint. The boards have a kerf cut in them that the edge of the strips sit in and hold the boards tight. ..... So just measuring in-between the bolts gives you the width.

 

The large bolts and washers that are on the side of the bed, they do get a hole drilled through the wood.

 

The height of the strips welded to the bed sides set the depth for the wood. They are set for 3/4" thick lumber.

Just saying if you change them, you want to be sure to put them back where they came from .... or raise them up if you want to run thicker lumber.

 

Again I have a 49, yours have some difference in the cross members, I think everything else is the same ..... I believe you have 1 wooden cross member in the rear ... 47 up they were all metal.

 

.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 21 by Los_Control

[Veemoney]

19 hours ago, fireguyfire said:

A related question; my box is 78” long.

im going to make my own bed boards in my shop. How wide should they be, and how thick?

This is posted in a few places on this site. The measurements will get you in the ball park for ordering your wood. I used white oak and shaved thickness down to 3/4". I recommend if you have your side and head panel in place you confirm the rest of the measurements but I believe they worked out for me. As far as cutting the kerf If I did it again I would do without. My truck sits outside and the kerf seems to catch pine needles and other trash. My truck had plywood for the bed with the strips just mounted on top like Los shows on his truck. If your truck sits higher in the rear like mine make sure you leave a bit of room up front for drainage. I did and that is also where the pine needles gather.

 

I far as I know our trucks did not come with anything covering the last wood cross brace. Just open but others have made one to cover that area.  

_BedWoodDimensions (1).rtf

[Young Ed]

Make sure you have your strips first before you start cutting. They aren't all created equal and my last bed came out about an inch too wide because of the strips. The 39-47s have 6 equal width boards. My turkey truck thread should have some pics of my 47 bed build. 

Sorry not sure if they were originally flat or glossy. 

[nkeiser]

I was really happy with the strips I got from https://www.mar-k.com/ .  I have the 3/4 ton long bed. Their kit was the correct length, number of strips, and hardware. I went with the unfinished steel option so that I could paint them myself, but they have a variety of finishes.