The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed 1950 bed

Hello all,

I have a couple of questions on my 3100. On the rear cross member there are a couple of lights installed that look like they could be running lights or back up lights. There are no covers on them and there are 2 bulbs in each steel mount.

Were the bed sides welded to the rear cross member under the tail gate?

On the front panel there is a threaded rod. What do you use to replace this if it broke in disassembly?

Is the bed painted as an assembled unit or in pieces and then put together?


Thanks for any replies, Jerry

The lights in the rear bed sill (just below the tailgate) are not stock. There was nothing there originally.

The bed sides were welded to the rear cross sill. One bead vertically on the rear side. (at least that's what my bed had)

You could either get a piece of solid rod and thread the ends, or use allthread rod to replace that rod.

Not sure, but I believe the bed was painted as an assembly after the above mentioned weld.

The bedsides were probably gas welded to the rear cross sill so that the assembled box could be man handles to be painted as an assembly before the bed wood was installed.
I had my bed parts painted prior to assembly and did not weld anything. There are lots of bolts back there to keep the bedsides upright without welding.

My thought is GM welded the rear cross sill to prevent the tailgate opening from getting tweaked during use. There really aren't enough bolts with enough spacing to make a truly secure joint there, IMO. Not to contradict you Carl, but I think actual use is just as severe as man handling. Possibly the very early AK series trucks weren't welded and GM started doing that to avoid complaints.