Duwop -- That appears to be the exact same bed as the one I'm working on. It does not appear to me that there are any more pieces to the front of the bed. The side rails curve around to form the front corners and then attach to the front cross member about a 1/4 of the way in or so. I don't think there is a filler there -- that's the way it's suppoed to be. Maybe the guys with the first hand knowledge of these beds when they were new can confirm that.
The front and rear cross members are different from the 5 inner cross members. The five are identical (it appears), but the three forward ones "face" to the front (flat side forward) and the two aft ones "face" to the rear (flat side aft). Of mine, all of the cross members had varying degrees of rust damage (a couple of them were almost completely gone in the middle). I took the best original to him and he quoted me a good deal so I had him fabricate all of them (all five inner ones and the rearmost crossmember) It worked out to about $25-$30 each (nearly exact reproduction in heavier guage steel with the holes drill exactly and ready to paint and install) which I thought was a good price. He'd be happy to make more if you're interested. Let me know and I'll ask him.
Good and interesting info on the beds -- this has become a very interesting thread! Please tell us more. I think that's very interesting that the factory beds would come with wood longitudinals but the after market beds had steel. Why would that be?
And were all the factory beds black? Or would they have painted the rim to match the cab color?
And to answer the earlier question from Steve -- I'm just going to make the two oak longitudinals look nice with either the spar varnish or the poly. The actual deck boards are just going to be treated lumber with some dark stain. I am planning to put stuff on the bed (like taking the Gator to shows or doing hayrides around the farm during christmas tree sales, etc)
Thanks,
John
