The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed 1954 frame and bed details

This is a follow-up to a previous thread, but based on more exciting discoveries. The PO had welded tabs to the bed front and back at the level of the angle strips (WHY ???), and bolted them to the frame. I think he had also cut off the tails of the frame rails, but I can't tell how much. The bed sheet metal is all new, and the tops are flat, a la '54. The frame arch over the rear end is 4". A previous Bolter suggested I may be dealing with an apples and oranges dilemma with accompanying difficulties. I want an ordinary OEM wood floor, and have all the parts on order. Major questions are how much frame must I add to bring it back to specs in order to attach the rear cross sill, and when I raise the bed 4" to clear the frame, will there be a gap between the running board and splash shield. I have searched many threads and watched many Youtube videos about these beds, but '54s are just enough different that some issues are not covered. All help is appreciated

Overall length of a '54 frame is 173 inches. There are dimensions in the FAM, dated 1-15-54. From comparing the pictures of the end of your frame to mine, I don't think anything has been cut off. But your last picture with the tractor in the background sure looks like an earlier frame. The spring bump stops at the rear arch are directly under the frame rail, while the later frames have a bump stop bracket outboard of the frame rail. Installing a 54 bed on an earlier frame would require raising it to get the wood above the rear arch.

Kevin-
I had a chance to look at an unmolested 54 yesterday, and I agree that my frame tails may be correct. I assumed that the rear-most cross sill (which contains the board ends) attached to the frame, but I noted that it projects beyond the end of the frame. I will clearly need to add blocks under the cross sills, but that is easy enough to do. Regarding mounting to the frame, which of the holes at the back is to be used? I am milling my own boards, but I don't want to risk mounting the bed only to discover 3 months later that I used the wrong hole. Also heard that the front cross sill is to be free floating, not bolted to the frame. That doesn't sound right to me. I have read that Mar-K could answer all these questions, but they are out of business.

I don't recall which of the holes on the tail of the frame are used for the rear cross-sill, but could check on my truck. The rear cross-sill has pieces extending forward, and that should give you the position of the rearmost bed bolt when drilling the wood. The front cross sill is definitely bolted to the frame.The hole for those bolts are directly behind the middle frame cross-member but not behind the cross-member gussets (triangular pieces riveted tot the top flange. The middle cross-sill for the bed wood is the one that isn't bolted to the frame but floats just forward of the frame hump just behind the shock mounts. I have the bed wood instructions from Mar-K and might be able to scan them and post them here. I'll be out working on my truck today and could check for you on bolt positions (assuming that they're the same between '51 and '54.)

Here's the info you were looking for. Mounting holes for the bed highlighted in a snip from the FAM. Also a pic of the rear cross sill mounting.

Excellent! Your photo indicates that my PO cut off the mounting boxes from the rear cross sill. I guess that is why God invented welders. The snip from FAM is clearer than my hard copy. Is that from a digital copy?

No, I took a picture of the book page. I did clean it up a little bit.
Use the dimensions I circled to double check. The rear mounting hole should be ~20” to the rear of the next hole circled.

That extra hole may be the difference between my 51 frame and the one shown in the FAM. Again, check using the dimensions. They all reference from the same point.