All, posting on this thread because this truck has an aftermarket dump bed from back in the day.

When I got the truck there was no wood in the bed and the metal strips were zip tied together. Most of the bolts nuts and large washers were still in the strips and it didn’t appear that the nuts had been off the bolts since was built. The holes in the strips line up with the cross members in the bed frame.

So here’s my question, if the bed rotted away why weren’t the strips still fastened to the crossmembers? I’m sure those cross members raise with the bed (I’ll double check). Just want to make sure I’m not doing something stupid.

Side question, if the bolts go through the strips into cross members then why are there 6 larger, longer bolts (6”) needed going through bed into the frame.