The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Running Board Patch

I made this so called stamping die to make patches for the running boards on my 1950 and 1946 Chevy trucks (mostly the 46). Turned out fairly well, and the first piece I stamped is shown and fits the beads of the actual boards nicely. I only stamped a 4" long piece of 20 gauge just to see how it was going to do. I know the running boards are probably 18 gauge so I will try that next. I'm going to Alaska in two days so I probably won't get back to this project for two weeks.

Thanks for taking a look, Tom

Tom - That's a pretty neat tool that puts the bends in all the right places. I'll bet it will gain some interest with fellow Bolters, but perhaps this post better belongs in the Tool Chest forum??? Will leave that decision to the Paint and Body Shop moderators to decide.

In the mean time, folks can see what you've created here as some would be interested in being able to patch their running boards vs replacing them.

Nice work.
Patching the running boards is one of the toughest spots on the truck.

[on edit] Dan, I think this thread can stay where it is.

But if Tom would like to tell us how he built it and how it works (hint, hint) then the Tool Chest would be the spot for that.

Thank you gentlemen for the compliments. First Kevin, just wondering where Eagle River is, I'm flying to Anchorage on Friday, my first time in Alaska. Looks like anywhere in the state is very nice scenery.

Pretty easy build actually. The strips are 1/8" x 1/2" width flat steel 6" long. I welded them to 3/8" thick plate at a spacing corresponding to the ribs on an actual running board. Welded short pieces of angle to use as a guide for the upper plate so it wouldn't rotate any when being pressed. Simply laid a piece of sheet metal between the strips (oiled both the strips and the sheet metal before pressing). Used my 20 ton press to squeeze the plates together and the result were as pictured. I also used a 1" thick plate between the ram on the press and the top plate (thought it might help distribute the load). Was pleased with the results, might look at it some more after the trip to see if I need to adjust anywhere, but I think I'm on the right track anyway.

Thanks, Tom

Bills truck shop sells a patch piece for running boards if some of you don’t want to make a jig ,but it is nice when you can make a piece yourself.

Tom - Thanks for the description of your tool!

For those that may be interested in Kevinski's referenced resource, here's where you can find Bills Truck Shop. Click on his link for BTS CATALOGS to load the current PDF catalog for your year group for viewing in your browser.

Well, made it back from Alaska, what a nice place to spend some time. When I started this post, I had just used a piece of 20 gauge sheet metal just to see what was going to happen with this thing I created. Today I used a piece of 18 gauge to see how that would do (since that matches closer to the actual running board material). Took slightly more pressure to form it, but turned out again very nicely. Don't think I will need to tweak the stamping plates at all, just need to take your time when pressing and watch how things are working. Going to work good for the area's I need to patch.

Just one more quick note, the so called ribs on my running boards at least do not have the crisp edges like they once had (especially on the 46). I can play with the pressure a bit and get the patch to replicate the flattened out ribs pretty well so it doesn't look like an obvious patch in the board.

Thanks for reading this post.
Tom

Just bought a 2’ section that fit perfectly from Carter on eBay so I know that I have them, but I can’t find them in their catalogue online.

FYI LINK

What are you going to paint your patch with?

Just to add to this I watched a video from carter auto restyling and he was grafting some origional running boards to make one and they were not completely the same he figured that the origional stamping of the boards were different due to the wear of the stamping dies from the early trucks to the later trucks .