If you are going to assemble the bed with no wood floor, you probably should use a scrap of 3/4 wood between the angle and the cross sills to support the bed sides at the right height. Otherwise you may damage the apron. Be sure to use the correct height wood blocks under the cross sills at bed mounting points.
Short bed '52 should have three cross sills, one bolted to the front panel, one between rear sill and axle, and one "floating" between the front sill and the axle.
The floating cross sill, between the front sill and the axle, may be bolted to the angle strip in the correct location, even though it is not bolted to the frame.
Mar-Ktech
