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FLOOR CROSS-BRACING

With the new rear suspension and new truck bed, the original cross-bracing was not going to work any longer. They were no longer in the proper position fore/aft and all the interfaces to the flooring strips would need to be redone so it seemed easier to make new parts.

I used some 2 x 2 square tubing to make the new cross-braces. I did not want to keep lifting the body up off the frame to get them in and out so I split them in two pieces (just off-center so it wouldn't interfere with the center wood strip) and built a clevis joint to keep them fastened together. This allowed me to simply slide them in and out and bolt them together without raising the body. I fabbed one forward and one rearward of the “hump”.

The new fore/aft position of each one landed about mid-span between two of the existing bolts that held the wood floor. I didn't want to redo the bolt spacing so I had some 1/4” thick bar that I used to make a plate that spanned between the two bolts on each side. I notched the ends of the square tubing so the top surface would still be flush when mounted to the underside of the wood floor and welded these pieces to the ends of the tubes. I then drilled and tapped holes in these plates so I could simply bolt thru the wood floor into them without the need for a separate hex nut under the floor.

I had already fabbed some wood mounting body block blocks some time ago so I used them to figure out where I needed to bolt the cross-braces to the frame. On the rear cross-brace I was able to drill a new hole in the frame top cap to bolt into. I then welded a 3/8-16 cage nut under the cap to screw the bolt into.

On the forward cross-brace, on the stock frame mount provisions there is an angle riveted to the frame web that it bolts through. Since the space was tight and I couldn't get the grinder in to remove the rivets and old bracket, I left it for now and fabbed a new similar bracket in the new, more-forward location. When I remove the body (again) I will remove the old bracket.