The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed 9 plank bed wood measurements

I am looking for the measurements to cut the wood sizes for the bed of my 1947 truck. I purchased it with just boards laying on top of the rotted out (and 98% missing) wood and steel bed strips. Looking at the wood, it is a very nice oak but does not have the grooves cut for the bed strips to recess. Since a precut set of boards in the hard yellow pine is 400.00, I thought I would dig out the table saw and use what I have. I need to know how thick the bed wood is supposed to be, how wide and deep to recess for the bed strips and what are the widths of the boards for a 9 board bed wood set. Thanks for any help you can provide. Rich

This might help... https://chevytrucks.org/bed-wood-dimensions/

This may help you. It is what I used for my 47 Chevy 3600.
https://gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

I made my own bed out of Hickory I bought at Menards. I just had to be different lol.

Go to gmcpauls truck parts they have some good imfo.

I just finished reading both pages. Perfect info. Exactly what I needed. Thank you all.

The grooves in each board will collect debris and water. I did not cut those
on my bed boards. Personal choice.

A dado blade will cut those easy on a table saw. makes it a whole lot easier. easily found on the web and your tool stores.
Just be super safe some table saws require some of the the safety guards to be removed to fit the blade.

Guitplayer- I was thinking about a series of small drain channels perpendicular to the grooves to help drain away any water accumulation.

hcb3200- Thanks for the caution. I do have a full size table saw(cabinet saw) with a dado blade. That will do the trick. Checked my wood and it is already 3/4" thick. The rest will be easy.

Does anyone have a few pics to share of their longbed wood install? I am looking to get an idea of where the bed mounting bolts will fall and the orientation of the off center round washer locations. I will need to get those put in also. Fun times. Probably worth the 400.00 for the precut/drilled board set but hey, what else would I be doing?

The offset washer holes are close to the edge of the metal strip
So to keep the most wood between the washer and the metal you offset directly towards the closest box side
I make my planks from cheep lumber and left it the full 1.5 inches thick and only routered it thin where it rests on the bed rails
Test fit and Stained it all before I put it in permanently
My brother helped me he is a carpenter
-s

I can take some pictures tomorrow with some measurements. I just did my 3/4 ton and had to figure out where to locate the mounting bolts. In the picture of my bed, I did not have the rear bolts in yet. They are now.

You used 2x material instead of 1x. Did that require welding the side bed strip 3/4" higher on the bedside?

No I only allowed the extra material to go down
Anywhere it would interfere we cut or routered it to original thickness
But most of the area under the bed you have a lot of space to allow the extra material to hang lower
In one photo you see we only had to make notches to original thickness for the cross bars under the bed and the front and back edges of the bed
-s

That's a stout bed.

It gets a work out
I don’t hesitate to load it up until the aux springs are fully flat
-s

Did my 49 gmc 150 with the help of my dad. I gave himall the measurements in one of those previous posts and the board width was correct but the groove measurements were not in my case. Not sure why but dad was slightly angry when he had to re-do all of them. He did it on a table saw with a dado blade and i just used cheap pine from home depot that I painted black. Im 100% happy with it. I put quads, bikes, wood pellets, pallets and tons of random engines and transmissions and parts in the bed and its held up better than expected.

I measured my mounting bolts drivers side front to back. I put the bed boards on the cross sills marked them and then drilled them. The offset washer I used a forstner bit to cut a nice flat bottom. I put the boards in my Bridgeport, so I could line up and hold the counter sink where I needed. If you drill the 1/2” hole first you will not be able to hold the forstner bit because the point will be in the bolt hole. I would lay the bolt holes out, line up the offset washer and mark it, then drill the countersink, then put the washer in and mark the bolt hole. I had to do that with my rear bolts because my bed was already in my truck before I put the rear bolt in. The pictures are in order front two and rear two bolts and the bolt look to be 1 1/4 from the groove.

Here is a picture of my box/bed assembled. I did not put the rear bolts in because the rear cross sill is slotted and I wanted to get the other six bolts in the frame holes to be able to install the rear two bolts. The measurements I gave you in the pictures is for a long bed 3/4 ton box. If your 1/2 ton long bed is the same, they should work. I'm not familiar with the long bed 1/2 ton. Is the frame straight or wider in the back like the short box.

I am in for the night. I will look tomorrow.

lumbersawyer- my truck is a GMC 1/2T. They made a long bed version. The frame is wider in the back just like the shorter trucks. The bed is the same as the 3/4T so your measurements should work just fine. Those pics will help a bunch and your pointer about which hole to drill first is spot on. Thank you to all who responded. It was very kind of you for taking the time to help. It is much appreciated. Rich

My Chevy 3/4 ton is straight frame all the way back. You might have to compensate the width of the back two holes for your wider frame. The length front to back might be the same as your truck. Easy to check the measurements from what mine was. Good luck with your project.