1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
I installed a new LH running board and brackets on my 49 this winter, the originals had been long removed by a previous owner as a result of a fender bender and the parts were lost by the time I got the truck.
I immediately noticed that the new brackets did NOT align the running board correctly and it sat low, not unlike what I see there. Shimming was necessary, so if someone has replaced the brackets at some point that could be what you're looking at.
In particular I notice that the running board looks like it is sitting below the rear fender, which leads me to think that could be the issue?
1949 Chevrolet 3/4 Ton - Still Solid. Regular Driver OT Vehicles: 1925 Hudson Brougham Super Six 1950 Chevrolet Styline (Parts) 1952 Canuck Pontiac Sedan Delivery (Well Underway) 1973 F250 4x4 Highboy 1977 F250 4x4 Lowboy
Looks like 1/2 to 3/4 inch too high on the frame to bed spacer. Look at where your fender meets your running board. The bottom of the running board ought to be even with the bottom edge of the fender. If it isn't, just reduce the thickness of the frame to bed spacers. They're usually oak, about 3" square with a hole in the center.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
Is the rear of the running board bolted to the front of the rear fender? Is the running board also sitting mostly level front to back? If the answers are both yes, all you need to do is man handle the curved splash panels until they close that gap between the splash panel and the bottom of the bed. I just went through this same scenario on a $55,000 + build for a guy. All new running boards, splash panels, and running board brackets. I installed the brackets with 5/16" stainless steel nuts, bolts and lock washers and left the bolts loosey goosey. I then laid the running boards on the bracket and fished all of the running board bolts in the bracket holes and tightened the nuts just to take out the slack. I then tightened the bracket-to-frame bolts all the way, and then tightened the running board nuts. I then installed the too-short curved splash pans to see how much I needed to take out of the curve to make them taller, removed them, man handled them and reinstalled. Work fine. Last long time.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
~~ Jethro 1954 3100 Back to Life In the Dity Gallery 1951 3100 (gone) / 1956 4400 (still in the neighborhood) / 1957 6400 with dump body (retired) / 1959 3100 panel (in the woods junked) / 1978 Custom Deluxe K10 / 1993 S-10 4.3 / 2004 Chevy Crew Cab / 1945 John Deere H / 1952 John Deere B / 1966 John Deere 2510 / 1967 John Deere 1020
The 54 splash pan is not the same as 53 and older. The 54 is not as tall as the older ones. I can not tell from the yellow truck pictures which ones you have.
