Am I doing the bad all backwards, or something? I had the sides, tailgate, front, all together and painted. It's been on sawhorses while I put in the wood. I used wood strips to determine how far apart the mounting holes would be and marked the wood accordingly. When we placed the assembly on the truck's frame today, none of the holes line up! Luckily, all I had done to the bed wood was drill the 1/8" pilot holes, so if I have to move them, it won't be too bad.
Now, you should know that I installed new cross members, and I laid the old ones on top to determine the hole placements. I know a few (many) are not where they should be, and I'll have to make adjustments (bigger holes....)
My question is, should I loosen the bed wood (only the center five are in) and take them off the frame, set the bed sides assembly on the truck frame and try to align it peoperly with the frame before reinstalling the wood? Will this work, or is there a better (or easier) way to do this?
I'm getting really discouraged. It seems that nearly every new part I purchase for this truck isn't quite the right size, or some adjustment has to be done to get stuff to fit.
The bed wood, for example, is too wide for the truck. When I installed it, there was an inch and a half too little space for the final board, so I had to shave the outside boards by 3/4" each to make everything fit. (Sorry I didn't get Mar-K wood back 12 years ago when I bought this stuff.) This is making the mounting holes interfere with the bed strips, but I think I can work around it when I get things straightened out.
Is there any wisdom from 'bolters who have run into similar problems.....?
