The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Bed Out of Alignment

My bed has been out of alignment causing a tire to rub up against an inner fender.

The current bedwood is rotted so the bed to frame bolts are sitting in questionable wood and were a bit loosy goosy.

I ground off the heads last night and pulled the six bolts off. I need to install new bolts in a temp fashion until I replace the bed. And the new bolts will have to be sitting directly on the cross sill. Now I have a couple of questions:

1) Do I need rubber pads? There were none... Mar-K catalog shows 8 - why 8 if there are only 6 bolts??
2) Where do the rubber pads go? The technical info page on Mar-K (Bed Mounting Information) has some glitch and only shows a cross section illustration for F**d....
3) Anyone ever drill a hole all the way thru the wood so the bolt directly sits on the cross sill ... then put a wooden plug in the bedwood to hide the hole?? Any reason why that won't work?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Larry Bear,

Gee, imagine that!


Stuart

Imagine what Stuart???

1)You should have 8 bed to frame bolts in the 56 short stepside bed.

2)Sorry about the glitch. I have emailed you a copy of the correct file. Webmaster will correct the problem directly. The pads go between the cross sill and the frame.

3)This will work. You would basically be bolting the cross sills to the frame and attaching the bed to the cross sills. Make sure the cross sills are securely fastened to the angle strips, with a piece of good 3/4 wood between cross sill and angle strip at each cross sill.

Instead of the wooden plug, we often make bed wood with hidden mounting holes by milling a cavity on the bottom side of the wood where the bolt goes and providing bolts for bolting the cross sill to the frame as you propose. The wood just lays over the bolts and is secured to the cross sills by the bed strips.

When the wood starts to deteriorate, things can get real loose and allow the bed to move around. Bolting the cross sills directly to the frame should make it secure until you can replace the wood.

Mar-Ktech

Larry,

I haven't done this in a very long time , but I remember getting a little creative with the bed of my 46 half ton. I used some tounge and groove or half lapped pine and carrage bolts without the metal bed rails. I also added some cross pieces that sat on the frame to have a place to bolt into. I also remember making some 4x4 blocks out of treated lumber to support the end of the bed. I did ths by cutting to length and drilling through the center. So, to answer your question:

1. I would not bother now, if you are to do a bigger job on the truck later. I don't remember using any.
2. Don't need to worry about if you don't use them. I suspect they were there to prevent squeeking so put them against the metal.
3. Yes. I used carriage bolts. I didn't Counter bore and plug and it looked fine.Counter boring with a plug is fine as well just a little more work.

My bottom line is do what works and meets your standard for looking good.

Larry Bear,

The shifting bed scenario was what I suggested in the Driveline post you did...it appeared to me that you took this idea with a grain of salt.

Maybe I read too much into your reply..

Stuart

Yes you did suggest that if the rearend was OK then maybe the bed had shifted.... I replied that I'd pull up the plywood sheet I have covering the bed and do some checking last night.... After closer inspection of the bolts and the punky wood, I do indeed think that that is the problem. So you steered me in the right direction. My questions above were next steps... now what do I do, etc.

Bottomline, I didn't take your advice with a grain of salt... I took it to the bank.

Thank you for your help.

Larry Bear,


I guess my ego was like your bed..out of alignment. Thanks.


Stuart

No prob bro.