The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Bed - Side Panel Hole Pattern???

I purchased new bed side panels for my 1953 Chevy 1/2 ton that did not have the rear fender holes pre-drilled. Does anyone know where I could get a template or instruction guide on drilling the holes?

Who did you buy your bed sides from???
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I purchased them over 10 years ago from a company called Chevy Duty. Soon after I purchased them, I moved and the project was put on hold. I have since moved two more times, but I'm finally getting some free time on weekends to start working on my truck again. Unfortunately I disregarded the old rusted side panels during all the moving around the country.

I'm basically looking for a template or instructions on how to cut the holes in these panels (since Chevy Duty no longer exists). I think they changed to Classic Parts, but they do not have anything that will help.

Why not use your fenders as a guide ?

Thanks for the suggestion Bruce. Unfortunately I do not want to eyeball it. These side panels were very expensive. I do not want to use them as experimental pieces. I had hoped to find a template or possibly someone close to Knoxville, TN that has some old side panels I could use as a guide.

I tried lining up the fenders to the side panels, but again I am not comfortable cutting on them unless I know it's right.

2 of the fender mount holes go thru the angle strip. If someone posted their distance from the ends of the bedsides that would give you enough information to use the fender as a guide. I would measure it but my truck's already in hibernation.

That would be my suggestion, line up two of the holes and bolt the fender to these then transfer the others. All you need is for someone to give you a couple of measurements front to back.
Like my 1950, 3604 measures 8.5" and 58.5" from the rear bed crossmember and the holes are on the center of the corner angle leg.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny ... Thanks for the help! I emailed a restoration/repair shop that works on AD trucks and he replied that he would be willing to make a template for me. I will let everyone at Stovebolt know how it works out once I receive the template.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

If anyone lives near Knoxville, TN and has a AD truck, please contact me. With my truck in millions of pieces, it would be nice to see a complete truck for some guidance now and again.

I forgot about my original box sides that are stuck in a corner waiting to be turned into a trailer some day. Hopefully these dimensions will help you with template placement:

Front of box side to front fender bolt hole in angle strip = 19 1/4"

Rear of box side to rear fender bolt hole in angle strip = 10 1/2"

Distance between holes = 50"

Distance from angle strip (horizontal face) to top (brace) fender hole (vertically)= 10 3/4"

Spacing is the same but I get 10.25" from the back of the bed side to the last bolt in the angle. Of course it's a 1950, 3604 so it might be different.
What's a '52, 1300 look like Curt? (your profile)

That end mill vidio is interesting, are you a CNC machinist??? That would take me a whole evening to do that on my Bridgeport, and even then it would be a pain to set it up.

Denny G

In Canada a 1300 is a 3100. No clutch head screws and a unique oil bath cleaner are about the only differences.

That endmill video was from a vendor wanting me to buy it and it's pretty quick considering that demo is in 4140. Here's a bit of my latest playtime though:

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2894594490023244788yPmkEX

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2880217280023244788bgSYZa

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2341258950023244788qQnLWV

Curt and Denny:

Thank you so much for the measurements. I will see how the template measures against your specs when I receive it. I'll keep you posted.

Curt - you have a very nice truck. I'm sure you receive compliments everywhere you go. I hope that my truck is as nice once I complete it.

Thanks again...

Ernie

I never new that, and here I thought I caught ya in a typo.

Ah ha, I thought so, a machinist, I just took a look at your profile. Was that just a CNC mill or a full machining center?? 4140 WOW I thought for sure that was a chunk of 6061 the way the chips were flying out of there.
My nephew owned a shop with three machining centers, one CNC mill and a CNC lathe plus all the other machine shop equipment and when he desolved it a couple of years ago I tried talking him into keeping one of the machining centers. I wanted to put it in my barn and use it to make some reproduction parts. There would have been almost no overhead and being retired myself I work cheap. He decided he needed the money now more than in the future so that idea went south. I ran/programed CMM's at the last job for about 12years and have a machine shop/welding fabrication backgrougn so figured the transition to the CMM would have been easy. Oh well, maybe in the next life.
Take care.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Thanks Ernie and good luck.
Denny,
Unfortunately for many the price of all machine tools is dropping rapidly. Keep an eye on e-bay and you might find a small mill with a conversational control that might keep you entertained. There are also all kinds of "contract programmers" who will take your print and generate code for you to run on your machine. Don't wait for the next life!