Here are a few update pics from last weekend. As mentioned above, I replaced the hex head bolts with button heads. It's amazing how much better it looks. I still plan on filling in the allen hole. Next, I started filling in the gap where the side rails meet the back rail. In order to make the bed look as original as I can, I needed to extend the side rails to overlap the back rail. Unfortunately, the back rail on the right side (not pictured) extends about 1/8" past the side rail. The left side (pictured) isn't as bad but I still needed to shorten it. The marker lines indicate where I cut the corner off the back rail to shorten it. I haven't finished the side rail extension but you should get an idea of how I'm approaching it. Once done I'll drill some holes for more button head bolts to again make it look riveted together. (I didn't have a big enough sheet of the right thickness metal so I'm having to patch it together.)
That will finish it up nice. Maybe it's just me but I'll suggest leaving the button heads as is, after they are painted you will not notice them. They do actually go with the theme of your build.
I like the riveted look, too, but I can see where Johnboy34 is coming from. How about the best of both worlds: A smidge of body putty in the allen holes, sanded down and painted over would retain the riveted look, likely remain in the holes, yet give you that flexibility to clean out/burn out the putty if for some reason you need to remove the bolts sometime down the road. Love each stage of progress, by the way. Warming up to 70 here today, so I'm headed to the garage to fumble around with my own project.
Thanks guys, I really do appreciate the input. I do plan on having the bed powder coated which means putty in the allen holes wouldn't work. I also had concerns over the nylock nuts and whether they'd survive the powder coat process so I talked with the powder coater guy (sounds funny) and he didn't think there'd be an issue with them. The bed will be sandblasted and then have a powder primer applied before the gloss black powder coat. should look really nice. With two coats of powder coat on the bolts, I'm not sure I'd be able to undo them even if I wanted to. Once the powder drys in the threads of the bolt I'm pretty sure they'll be stuck.
Powder coating will look nice, I would recommend a crimp lock nut instead of a ny-lock. There is also little insserts for the allen head hole to hide them. https://kiwavmotors.com/en/accessor...hread-allen-head-bolts-ie-m5-allen-key-detail
Oh, yeah, powder coating changes everything. I didn't know about those inserts, either. Even if the powder coating makes the threads impossible to loosen, it's still no more difficult than cutting through Henry's rivets if you need to remove them. I know first hand.
Osage, those Henry rivets are tough!! Which is a good thing I suppose. Johnboy, I think I've about decided to just leave the Allen button head bolts like the are. I'm not trying to pass the bed off as "original" but I'd like to get as close to the look as I can. So I got a bit more done on the bed this weekend but unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I should. I finished up extending both side rails and I think they turned out good. All I need to do is drill some holes in the ends to attach the side plates to the end plate. Here's a prewelded shot of the right corner. And a quick selfie. Haha I also spent some time cleaning up the caps that attach the wooden stringer to the bed end plate. As you can see, it's two pieces of metal welded together and I had already welded a seam on the top. What I am trying to clean up are the welds on the side to give more of the look of a stamped piece. I ground the welds down and now I'm trying to determine what to do next. I thought about welding them together from the inside but I'd have to cut the back open so I can. I also thought about running a smoothed bead of JB Weld down the side but I need to check with the powder coater to make sure the powder would stick to the JB Weld. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I think it's looking great! The way you have the welds ground will look fine after powder coating. ( as long as the welds had enough penetration to still be solid ) The little line that's left won't look bad black, the button heads also. I think shiny black will keep eyes from picking out those things. Will you need finer sanding so the sanding scratches won't show through?
Great progress. I have never seen those allen head bolt covers so may have to look for them here. They look very trick.
Johnboy, good call on the finer sanding discs. I'll be sure to pick some up because I'll need to go over the bed frame too. The Weld penetration seems pretty good because both pieces are still solidly connected. It was the gap on the one that I was trying to figure out how to fill. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Geez Dave, this stuff your doing , detail to the nines friend . If this truck does not win a trophy or two then I don't know what will . Stay at it !
Thanks Andy, I just want the truck to be as nice as possible and I don't want to regret not doing something, you know? "I wish I had done this, or that." This is my first vehicle to restore so I know there will be things I wish I had done differently, I can already name a couple, but overall I want to be able to say that I did the very best I could do.
I believe powdercoat will work with "allmetal" but not standard JB Weld. I've heard the allmetal has powdered metal inside that makes it work. Never tried it myself. BFC
Thank you for this information!! I think I have the standard JB Weld. I've pretty much decided not to fill the holes in the allen head bolts and for the end caps on the bed (Pictured above) I'm going to weld those gaps and then grind the welds down again.
I love these sweet trucks, my younger days in a farm community allowed me to see many of these dandys in operation. I was always fascinated with those beautiful Fords. Love how it is going and understand the rear gear concerns. I am needing to change out my Chevy 4:11;s for the highway, but sure love them for the 1/8 mile drag racing, so for now I just drive 55 on the secondary highways and am pleased with that. keep on keepin on!
Just curious but wouldn't carriage bolts work with the crimp nuts on the back side? You could dress the head to remove the strength rating marks and then they just look like rivets without needing to fill any Allen holes or possibly deal with those caps falling out. Just curious if you had thought about those. They do need square holes though so maybe that's what is stopping you. Truck is looking beautiful by the way. Really great details I especially like the oil filter MC reservoir.
redzula, I actually did think about using carriage bolts but having to turn 100 round holes into square holes quickly dis-swayed me. Thank you for the compliments on the MC reservoir, I'm very happy with how it turned out; now I just have to figure out the best way to connect it to the MC!
Here are a couple of random pictures. Another shot of the bed showing the finished extension. Looks like I have a few waves to work out And a pic of the steering column installed. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I was able to work on the wiring the past couple of days. I have all of the power and ground wires run to the battery, the alternator is wired and I have the front and back light wires run but not hooked up. Slowly but surely. Sorry for the bad pics. It's hard to take pictures of wiring while laying on your back under the truck. Haha Also, once all of the wiring is run I'll use Painless Classic Braid wire loom to cover it all up. Alternator Front, middle and rear sections of wires joining together. Wires sneaking their way into the cab. Also a shot of my grounding block. I ground everything. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I just keep tucking away your good ideas in the back of my mind for when I get going again on my project. Great grounding idea! I've heard that wire brushing off paint and dielectric grease in places where body meets frame also is a good idea. Grounding headaches are the worst to track down.
Osage, for grounding I attached the negative battery cable to the back of the right head doing exactly what you mentioned above about sanding off the paint and using diaelectic grease. From the head I ran a ground strap to one of the bolts that is used to mount the battery tray to the frame and the. Ran a ground strap from that bolt to the right front body mount bolt. Again sanding off paint and using the grease. For my grounding block, I ran a 10 ga cable from the bolt on the battery tray to the grounding block. I also ran another 10 ga cable from the grounding block to the ground lug on the panel used to mount the fuse panel, relays etc. The ground for all of the stuff outside of the cab will terminate at the grounding block and all of the interior grounds will go to the lug. There are probably better/easier ways to ground it all but this method has worked well on the other two vehicles I've wired. My $.02. [emoji1] Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks for the detail. Doing wiring of another sort today. Got a sturdy old workbench from my 93-year-old mother in law, who's just moved to a retirement community and sold her home. Wired a nice fluorescent light in the warmest corner of the basement, and will install the outlet wiring this afternoon while the snow flies outside. Then I can piddle with my own project, or at least pieces of it, without freezing my patoot off in the unheated garage.
So I know these next few pictures aren't related to the build but they are too cool not to share. The family and I went to see my in laws in East Georgia and my father-in-law gave me these items. His tool box that he bought used in 1970. He believes it is circa 1950s. Any guesses as to what this came from? It is laying by a 1/2 in socket. My wife's great-grandfathers tackle box. And this great toy truck. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That thing next to the half-inch socket might be a clutch plate pilot. Looks like someone cut off the drive stem from a transmission to use as the pilot.
You're correct Osage! I knew it was part of an input shaft and my father-in-law told me he used it for installing clutches on Peterbuilts. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
So what is the secret to getting the old glass out of the vent window frames? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Figured it out. I ran a razor blade along the glass where it seats into the frame and then I took my bernzomatic and heated up the frame. I carefully grabbed the glass with some pliers and eased the glass out. Yea! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
