Lynngrove is correct about the sills connecting to the bed side by bolting to the angled strip through the bed wood(vertical mount). This is on 1/2tons. On a 1 ton (AD) the cross sills bolt directly to the bedside with 4 bolts on each side(which stick out the side and IMHO look silly...but kind of bad [censored] too. It is a one ton!)
I wonder why the 1/2 tons didn't use this. I'm tempted when building my 1/2 ton bed to copy the 1 ton's cross sill mount method. It would probably ease assembly.
On the custom bed we are building for my 53 3100, we welded the ends of the cross sills to the bed sides. We also welded the front panel to the bed sides (didn't use the long threaded rod) and also to the front cross sill. The entire bed is welded up into one unit. Time will tell if that was a mistake or not.
