The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed 1947-51 9 board layout help!!

I’ve looked through and couldn’t find what I was needing (my search skills aren’t that great). I was hoping one of you could verify the orientation of the 4 outside boards.

The ends boards I “think” are correct(4 1/2” boards).

The 5” boards with the offset hole drilled in it I’m not sure which is which. I’m guessing the hole is closer to the cab but not sure.

Also on the 5” boards the hole is drilled offset (not centered) so not sure if the offset favored the middle or toward the bed sides.

The bed came with nothing as far as boards or hardware and it’s on an S10 swap so I’m lost on this one.

Pictures would be great or first hand knowledge!

Thanks in advance!

I believe you have it correct. Confirm by measuring between the mounting holes on the frame for the front of the bed.
Here's a picture of my bed with the wood installed. You'll have to zoom way in on the pic to see the front holes.

Kevin, I like the black painted boards, just like they came from the factory!
Kent

First-Thank you for the pic and confirmation.

And that bed looks great, rethinking on whether to stain or paint black.

Thanks again

I vote stain. That is pretty enough wood that it would be a shame to hide the grain under paint.

Are you going for originality? If so paint it black.

If I were to stain it, I'd use Cabot solid black stain. You'll still see the grain but it will be dark like worn black paint.

Thanks, that's what I was aiming for. Everything on my truck looks original, except that I had the running boards shot with bedliner so it won't wear off like paint would.

I used a black stain that was recommended to me by a guy who said it holds up well to winter weather on decks in Fairbanks.

The offset holes are associated with the bed mounting to the frame. Given that you are working with an S10 conversion the "standard" board location may not match up with your frame.

In addition to lining up with the mounting holes in the frame make sure that the holes line up with holes in the cross sills. I recently assembles my bed only to determine that I needed to loosen most of the bolts to shift the boards to allow those frame mounting bolt holes in the boards to align with the holes in the cross sills.

Thanks for the advice all. Still need to tighten it all up but it laid out well with only a few issues.