The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Dare I even ask...

Bare with me here guys... So two days before I picked up my truck, the previous owner sold the bed sides. The floor was just a piece of sheetmetal that someone laid down and put literally 8 small 1/2in welds to hold down, and that was it.

So now I'm left with no bed. BUT I do have the rear fenders. So since I'm trying to do this truck by spending as little money as possible, I was thinking of using some treated lumber or cedar that I have laying around to make a bed floor, and possibly even wood bed sides, then mount the fenders to them. I hate to go this route, but I'm getting married in August and then probably having kids within the next year or so, and since I had to buy a new daily driver a few months ago, I now have a car payment.

Sorry if my idea offends the purists out there, but I'd rather have something as a bed as opposed to not have the truck on the road.

And oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this truck has dually adpaters, so it has dual rear wheels, and I like the look of it, so I'm going to keep them.

Ideas? Thoughts? Should I just leave now and never come back? hahaha

First off, if the seller sold the sides after you made your deal, I hope you deducted a few hundred from what you paid him. None of my business, but my 2 cents.

To your question: At this point since it sounds like you have wood working skills,I would consider just building a flat bed body and set the fenders aside for later use.

Drew P, we had not made our deal yet. He actually called me over to help him disassemble the bed because he was going to redo the truck. So I came over, busted out my grinder, and went to work. The bedfloor had to be cut out, as did the horribly made inner fenders and alot of the bolts had to be cut because the PO put welds on them. And did I forget to mention that the bed wasn't bolted down? It was WELDED to crappy crossmembers made from who knows what then welded to the frame. They must have bolted up the bedsides, THEN put the sheetmetal in as a floor, then got underneath it and welded the floor to the frame.

So after all the cutting and grinding and getting intimate with the truck, I fell in love with it. Then I didn't talk to my buddy for few days, called him up, and he made the deal. But by that time the bedsides were gone.

As far as the fenders, I'm cooking up an idea in my head as to how to use them. I did a google search and found one or two all wood beds with fenders, they looked good.

And hot darn Ghostrider, you're my new best friend because of that link. Thank you very much. I've been trying to imagine in my head what it would look like, and that's very similar to my ideas.

And I should probably point out that I'm obviously not trying to make this a show truck and am leaving the old farm logo on the door. And I also have very little if any money to spend for this thing. I know enough people to where I can ask around and find most things I need for either free or dirt cheap. I did look for some new used bedsides, but just couldn't afford them. So one day when I was at my mothers house, I was staring at all the pressure treated lumber left over from a deck they had built years ago, and that's when the hamster started running in the wheel and the ideas started flowing.

Ghostrider, that is a trick setup. I wonder if that truck came as a cab/chassis and the wood bed was added when it was new??? Anyway, great idea!

I would guess that is the GMC equivalent of the Chevrolet Model 3103 (cab/chassis w/rear fenders but no bed). There is and example of this version in the 47,48,49,51,and 54 Chevrolet Salesman Data Books so it must have been pretty common for people/companies to construct their own beds. Go for it another truck on the road and being enjoyed is always a good thing, good luck!

Brad, any idea of where I can locate pics of the trucks you mentioned? And I figure with my knowledge of woodworking and the about 4 dozen clamps I have between me and my father, that I can probably just rough something up and clamp it all together before I make a final decision. So we shall see...

BUT, I have to do the lower cowl panels and a wiring harness and do a rebuild kit on the 283 that's in there before I get to the bed...

BUT,something also tells me that one day when I'm slightly bored I'll end up rough cutting some boards and start clamping when I should be doing other things. haha

If you send me a pm I will scan and send you the picture from the data books I have all the years referenced.

Brad, PM sent.

I love the look of Rob Englishes GMC Huckster. If I didn't have bedsides, that's exactly what I would build.

One thing to keep in mind however, is that pressure treated wood eats steel. That's why deck screws are so expensive, they have a coating to protect the steel screw. I built wood frame steel buildings (pole barns) for a couple years, and anywhere we used pressure treated wood, we used stainless steel screws.

I guess my point is, you might want to line the edge of the fender where it meets the wood with a strip of rubber or something

TwoTone, thanks for the advice. I am sad to say that the 52 is now gone. It had to be sold due to unfortunate circumstances. However, I picked up a 49 3100 the other day, and it doesnt have a bed either! So I may need to make a bed for this one too!