Once again I have to ask a question IM starting to feel like the dumb guy. The book I bought doesn't have any info on truck beds but it also doesn't have a index and the cover is upside down so it ****s anyway maybe I shouldn't have got it off ebay but anyway the truck with the rest of the bed is coming tomorrow so I should have it painted by early next week and I am wondering what I need to get for the seams when I ***emble it I have stainless bolts ,washers and ny-lock nuts do i put anything in the seams? is there anything I should know? I want to say thank you to all the people on here who have helped its been hard just starting with a frame and a few parts not having a truck to take apart so I know how it goes together but with some help on here I should have it done in 10 or 20 years.
hi, what year truck do you have? The beds changed in 1953 I think....I have the 55-59 ***embly manual, I think it shows the bed, and it would mostly be applicable to a 53-55 truck.
I bought an ***embled 32 bed from Mack Hills in Missouri and we didn't use any seam sealer on the bed before paint.
It doesn't matter where you buy the "47/54" ***embly manual it doesn't have the bed info in it. They all get them from the same source anyhow. No need to put anything on the "seams" unless it is a very thin strip of something that might serve as an anti squeak deal but it isn't necessary. You aren't dealing with keeping moisture out. The only "seams" you have anyhow are between the bed sides and the front panel. The usual way to put one together for a Chevy or GMC is bolt the bed sides to the front panel and the rear cross sill, Put the two outside boards in place and install the cross sills in the middle. That way you can get the nuts on them without a helper. Then lay the boards in in their prospective places GMC Paul has the layout of the bed wood https://gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm Years ago someone did a how to on making the recess for the offset washers and drilling the offset holes for the corner hold down bolts if you are making your own bedwood and not buying predrilled boards. That is when having a buddy who is a serious finish wood worker comes in real handy.
The frame is a 1948 it had the gas tank bands on the frame the bed is all new parts I was going to paint all the parts then ***emble the parts I was thinking maybe they might have had some kind of strip that would stick between the sides and front of box
This a bunch of pictures on ***embling my '53 Chevy PU bed. You didn't give enuf info to give specific advice. No sealers in mid 50s Chevy beds, just slots machined in the wood that holds the bed strip edges and all locks together.
The above is the best illustration of the wood ***embly I have ever seen. The only thing I would add is that the number of boards and thus the widths changed over the years.
Mar-K has bed ***embly tips on their website, explaining how to get things straight and square. On my ‘58 I used 3M strip caulk between the panels to prevent squeaks and paint to paint contact. Overkill? Maybe, but I didn’t want the unsightly welting on the fenders, etc...
I wasn't going to use metal strips I was thinking maybe just tongue and groove some ipe wood and bolt it in.
If you're not going for a restoration, or a copy of how the factory did it, opens up a lot of possibilities. I've seen some real neat wood bed, fabbed strips and using just 3 or for pieces of stained marine grade plywood, etc. Don't limit yourself.
The bed in the pictures above is ipe wood. Really strange stuff. Looks like walnut but the saw dust is lemon yellow. Sinks in water, has the same fire rating as concrete. Otherwise I copied the factory design with stainless strips and bolts.
ipe is hard as hell on spindle shaper cutter heads and saw blades it has a janka rating of 3680 but weathers better then most wood and doesn't scratch easy so I was thinking that would be the best pick. I had bought a front and 2 center cross sills but my frame only has holes for the front and one behind the hump for the rear does the other one not mount to the frame?
As mentioned above, ipe contains a lot of silica so is really tough on tools. Use carbide blades and bits, problem solved. Here is what the saw dust looks like. Yellow is bug resistant resin. Finished bed. I painted it with clear wood deck preservative. Looks all the world like black walnut. Really pretty. Here is a similar bed I put in our '59 El Camino. This is tigerwood, a decking material similar to ipe. I machined the boards like I did for the strips on the '53 bed. I got undrilled strips and drilled them to fit. Raw wood. I painted this with automotive catalyzed urethane. Prettier but requires care, bed cover is recommended. I put down synthetic decking boards to space the wood off the factory steel bed which was in rough shape. Finished bed.
As I recall on the '53 there were 3 that had really long bolts thru the frame and a couple that just bolted to the bed wood. Also had at least one row of just bolts. You can see all three in the top photo in my first post which is a shot from underneath of the un***embled original bed. The bed sits on the frame hump, the front and 2 back bolted cross members have tall wood spacer blocks so they can sit on the frame.
Open the GMC Paul's link that I posted in post 4 that has all of the Chevy/GMC wood bed floor wood measurements up to the early 70's.
I'm not sure why you have those suspension bushing in the front cab mount holes though. The correct mounts for a real 48 cab look like this https://www.cl***icparts.com/1947-49-Cab-Mount-Kit/productinfo/35-110/#
This is the bed we put in my buddie's '42 Willys pickup. A polished 16ga stainless sheet with Chevy Advance Design stainless bed strips. The factory bed was lunched.
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