folks do any old thing to keep'em workin!
if by pads you mean thick square washer sorta things, they're just shims to seat it fairly level, and may not even be necessary - may be some rubber pads too that sit on the frame to stop body squeek, but the only part welded is the rearmost sill below the gate that gets fixed to the stake pocket boxes there, and maybe the frontmost one, tho' I forgit just now, and my assembly manual is on loan - that's a handy book if you can find one around, or have the $$ to buy one
Bill
