The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed New Tech Tip - Building bed sides

Vic "vickraft" Leger worked on this tech tip for some time. He's got some good pictures in here. And feel free to post questions. We will add more information to the tip as necessary.

Building Truck bedsides and front panel

When you see his before and after shots, it's amazing what he was able to do.

This tech tip should apply to 1947 to 1953 Chevy 1/2-ton pickup trucks. My truck restoration project is a Chevy Advance Design, 1951 1/2-ton Shortbox.

Peg

I measured the rolled pipe on my 49 and its 1 3/4 od.
I was wondering why he used 1 1/4 pipe

What gauge metal was used?

When I built my bedsides for my one ton I used 16ga steel.

1-1/4 pipe is 1.66 OD, which is closest to 1-3/4 if you're using steel pipe and not steel tubing, which is sized on OD. 1-1/2 inch is 1.9 OD, which would be significantly larger (and heavier) than the desired 1-3/4 size.

Hi Jacksun , klhansun is correct in the imperial and metric measurements. What is not mentioned in this post is that this is just standard exhaust tubing, which can be purchased from any muffler shop. The rest of the box is 16ga just like the original. I have been driving,showing and travelling for almost 4 years now and not one person has ever noticed the slightly smaller diameter and gauge of metal used. Also have won awards and certificates.
Even the classic car guru's have never noticed. So I would say it's an absolutely perfect choice and does the job well. Most importantly at the time of the build, the cost was about 75 percent cheaper than a brand new bed. I am very pleased with the look.

Where do you get your 16ga material from Vic? I mean, what sort of
shop did you get it from. All the sheet metal shops around here
only stock 26ga and 28ga in galvanized.
dg

Hi Denny, I live Eastern Canada, here in Moncton New Brunswick pop. 120,000
Our city is a major distribution centre and supplier to Nova Scotia,New Brunswick,Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. We are fortunate to have 3 major wholesale and retail suppliers to the welding and fabrication industry. Also major ship building in St John NB and Halifax Nova Scotia. Depending on where you live I would assume that perhaps you could buy from a fabrication and welding outfit in your area. Another possible supplier could be a steel fire door fabrication Company that manufactures 16 ga fire doors, sometimes they have rejects of improperly size or holes drilled in an incorrect measurement. Some of our car club members here have tapped into that industry and have gotten some brand new stuff with a real good price. Hope this helps.

Denny, go to The Needam Shop in Kaneville. Bart can get as much as you want in sheets, 4X8 and 5x10. Easy Peasy!

I just want to say thanks to Vickraft for this tech tip. I made my own bedsides for my 41 3/4 ton following his tips and they turned out great! I have a couple questions though. I have since decided to convert it into a short bed. Where and how much should I cut off the 3/4 ton sides? From what I can find the extra length was in front of the axle. What confuses me is the WB on the half ton is 115" and the WB is 125 1/4" for the 3/4 ton. That's 10 1/4" difference. But the inside lengths of the two boxes is only 9". What am I missing here? Also, what is a good paint for the back side of the stake pockets? I haven't welded them on yet and figured I should protect it with something. Thanks again Vickraft.

Dan