I lucked into a knuckle saving tip while working on the bed wood install on my 58 one ton. I bought hot dipped carriage bolts and square nuts, just for the look. The lock washer fits right into a 7/16 8 point socket along with the nut. I’ve always had trouble getting my fingers in the sills to start the nut and hold the washer. Hope someone can benefit.
I hear you about balancing the lock washer on top of the socket. I used hex nuts and with the smaller nuts, the lock washer perched precariously on top of the socket (with two nuts in it so the first could start on the carriage bolt.) I dropped the lock washers numerous times, then finally got a piece of tape wrapped around the socket to keep the lock washer from slipping off the side. That worked pretty well.
Your tip about using square nuts is a good idea, so the lock washer fits inside the socket. Not everyone has 8 point sockets, but 12 point sockets should work with square nuts as well.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Having just done this, and struggled with the lock washers, the square nut idea sounds good. But, Stan, I’m confused by the 7/16 socket. It fits the hex nuts, wouldn’t that be a larger socket for the square nuts? And that tubing trick looks great. But I found a deep socket necessary. Anyway, there’s sure a lot of bolts in those beds! Charley
~Charley 1954 Chevy 3100 with 235 “Bud” Follow along in the DITY 1963 Chevy half ton stepside short box 230 1954 GMC 3 ton 302 And several more Chevy camper and work trucks 1979 1987 1996
I recently assisted in reassembly of a '52 3100 bed. Another gent I worked with had a short socket that he welded a small stepped ring on that was used to capture the washers and nut like the plastic tubing idea. Even with his modified socket, we probably dropped or knocked off the washers more times than not - argh!
As Charley mentioned there is a need for a deep well socket which makes that type of modification difficult to use as the nut falls all the way to the bottom of the long socket.
Just thinking out loud here, but wondering if we could take the foam/rubber sleeve from an old spark plug socket (or something similar) and trim the outer sides down to fit into the 7/16" deep well, leaving it long enough to support the nut close to the end of the socket while still letting the sleeve keep/hold the washers during the beginning assembly???
Once the washers and nuts are started, it's easy to go back and tighten them with a second socket that doesn't have the modification (or simply remove the inner and outer sleeves and use the same socket).
Thoughts/suggestions???
Dan
~ Dan 1951 Chevy 3 window 3100 Follow this story in the DITY Gallery "My Grandpa Carl's Truck and How it Became Mine" 1966 Chevelle (Wife's Hot Rod) | 2013 Chevy Silverado (Current daily driver) US Army MSG Retired (1977-1998) | Com Fac Maint Lead Tech Retired (1998-2021)
