The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed '65 Stepside fender braces

Hi everyone,
This is my first post. I just found Stovebolt.com the day before yesterday and have been on it dang near ever since! I love it. I always knew there was a place like it somewhere in cyberspace...just didn't know where.
I'm Jim from Tennessee. Just a good ole boy working on a truck he's wanted for 43 years.
My first question is about the rearmost fender brace on the stepside bed. One end obviously attaches to the fender...but what about the other end? My bed was sitting in a field and rusted up to the bed curls so I didn't get to see what it was attached to when I took it apart. That was a few years ago, and it's all sandblasted, welded, and primed now. I have the brace, and it doesn't look deformed...but it doesn't seem to want to fit anywhere just right either. My guess is that it goes on the end of the bed cross-sill???
My second question is, should I put any kind of seam sealer between the bed sides and the fenders/steps?
My third question is how in the world do you paint the underside of the curl and the top of the fender with good results?
Thanks in advance to any and all who may answer these questions! A GREAT site!!!

Jim

well for the first question the fender brace bolts to the bed side .

second , i belive most people use fender welt with or with out a bead on it .

third , its under the fender where unless its a show truck a desent amount of black frame paint, keep it looking fine, sounds wrong. heheh

ohh .. welcome to stovebolt.

Thanks for the reply Tim, but since the bottom 6 inches of my bed was rusted off, the hole for the brace is missing. Does the brace bolt go just below the level of the bed boards, and more or less perpendicular to the bed side?

Thanks, Jim

well . went out and looked and my bed side has holes in the side rails (that hold the wood) but i uploaded some pictures on my webshots so you can get a better understanding.

Thanks Tim. I have since found a photo on Mar-K's site that shows that the hole goes through the bed's angle strips...Seems odd that Chevy would have put this hole where they did??? Mar-K replied to my question by telling me that they (Mar-K) don't punch the hole in their new angle strips because the new hole might not align with their customer's old bed sides. They do however, punch the hole when they weld the new strips onto their new bed sides.
Thanks for the photos.
Jim

ohh thats good , well my dad said that its there for strength which seems right .but i dont see how and inch lower could be catastrophic seeing as the brace should bend before tearing through the sheetmetal.