The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed I need help with bed.

I bought a 49 that someone else had "started" to make a daily driver. I'm getting ready to tackle the bed wood however I am running into issues. The brackets he welded on for the upper shock mounts extend higher then the angle strip on the side of the bed. He also ran uni-strut as cross sills and was going to cover with diamond plate. My first thought was to use the hidden fastener strips between the wood in order to line them up with the "uni-strut" cross sills and use a over sized washer and a nut to fasten. I am not sure if that will work very well or not. I will try to include some pictures if I can figure it out. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank You
Corey

I don't know the depth of the original cross sills, but I believe they're quite a bit taller than the unistrut that you have on yours. I'd recommend that you ditch the unistrut and buy original cross sills. Mar-K is a good place to get the stuff you'll need.
The original shock mounts on '50 and later trucks do extend slightly above the top of the frame, but not higher than the hump over the rear axle.
Here's a pic from my '51 before disassembly:

[on edit] Taking another look at your picture, it looks like the unistrut is mounted on top of the angle strips on the bed sides. The cross sills go underneath the angle strips. Your bed is currently too low, so your fenders also won't fit correctly (the bottoms will be below the running boards.) Also, it looks like your shocks are mounted nearly vertical. For best performance, they should be at a 45 degree angle off vertical. Or at least 30 degrees if 45 doesn't work well.

I can assure you the bed is not too low as everything lines up with fenders,side skirt and running boards. I will get some better pictures up soon so you can more clearly see what I have. The shocks are angled foreward but maybe not enough. I will get that pic as well. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. It really is appreciated.

My 54's frame is different than yours but here are some things to think about.

I see you have a gas tank under the bed, so the shock mounts aren't your only issue to deal with.

My cross sills were damaged (warped, rusty, blown out welds...) so I replaced them with 2x2 square steel tubing. I used riv-nuts where you couldn't get to the regular nuts. I might have used repro sills but shipping is an issue for me - probably not for you.

I cut up some 3/4" hardwood flooring to go between the angle strips and the cross sills while getting everything lined up. C-clamps are useful for this.

Fender location is determined by the running boards.

OK on second (or third) look at your photo, your bed is probably at the right elevation. Since you're doing a restomod, you could put the bed wood higher if you like. The bed would be shallower, if that matters. Stock bed would have the bed wood barely clear of the frame arch, and it looks like your shock mounts are higher than that, but hard to tell. You could definitely move them forward if room allows in front of the current mounts. You can probably find the original holes for the shock mounts on the frame web just forward of where yours are welded.
The original bed was supported on the cross sills, but it looks like yours may be supported on something welded to the front panel of the bed. Again, no issues with that, if that's the way you want to go. Originally there were three cross sills, one at the front panel, one just behind the shock mounts forward of the frame arch (missing on my photo), and one at the rear, which extends up to the level of the angle strips and forms a ledge for the bed wood to sit on at the rear. The center cross sill doesn't connect to the bed sides, but just supports the bed wood.
Again, you're free to do whatever you like with yours.