The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed bed strip bolt size

1951 8 board bed. What size carriage bolts are used for the angle and bed strips. Looks like 1/4 for the strips but the punched holes in the angle are bigger however a 5/16 bolt square will not fit in the square hole. I suspect foreign made bolts or angles.
Any help? Thanks
Howard

Mine is a 1951 also, 7 strip/8 board.

I just finished fitting all new boards (which I did myself, as opposed to buying the boards already done), and bought new stainless strips and angles. The strips use 1/4" carriage. The angles use 5/16" carriage. I'm sure of this because I installed the angles on the side of the bed first, (the old angles were spot-welded, the new ones I drilled and bolted on). I did buy the stainless bolt kits for the bed to frame installation, and stainless bolt kit for the wood to bed installation, and I know for sure these are the sizes. I purchased all this stuff from LMC, (I should have shares of stock in them by now), and all of it is correct and fits. Appears if you are saying that a 5/16" carriage bolt will not fit your angles, then something is wrong.

Mike

Thanks. I suspect the bolts from Tractor Supply have a slightly larger square. I will file either the holes or the bolts to fit. It looks to be only a few thousands.
Howard

You are correct in your assumption about the Tractor Supply bolts. I had the same issue build my bed and replacing bolts on my bumpers. The standard carriage bolt you get at Tractor Supply or Home Depot do not have the same size square as the factor original carriage bolts for your AD truck. I bought the bolt kit from LMC for the strips and angles and they fit perfect. The HD carriage bolts did not. For the bumpers I bought the HD carriage bolts (a lot cheaper) and ground the square down until it fit.