The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed How to assemble 1954 truck bed

I have a 1954 chevrolet truck and wondering abot the proper spacing and mounting of the cross sills. The truck was mostly complete when I started the resoration process however the bed and fenders were not attached. I have all new wood, angle strips,bed strips,fenders and cross sills. I saved the original sides because repro ones are just flat metal, so now I need to know where I can find information on how to assemble it all before painting. Any help in finding illistrations and/or information would be appreciated--thanks--Mike

Check out this site.
http://www.mar-k.com/installation_hints.aspx

Here are some pictures that may help.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/sets/72157631884205225/

Locate the holes in the frame. This will be where the cross supports go. Then if your side angle strips are welded to the bed sides the cross supports bolt to those. If you have to drill the offset cam bed mounting bolts you will need to measure based on parts measured above. If you have to weld the angle strips on to the bed side the position is critical. Either k mark or people here will need to tell you the dimensions.

I have all the locations figured out and understand that the 2nd cross sill does not have a bed to frame connection. Mar-K sent a pad for this cross sill but without a bolted connection, it seems the pad would just slip out over time.

It seems like the 2nd cross sill would logically bolt to the frame, but I'm clearly wrong about that assumption. Can anyone shed some light on how the 2nd cross sill sits on the frame?

Just bolts like this as shown in my earlier post. It just sits a small distance above the rail and only touches when a bed is fully loaded.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/8130479153/in/set-72157631884205225

Took a picture of my 54 and the 2nd brace does indeed just sit on the pad. They have not moved since I installed new pads in 2006. Hope the picture helps. Bed mounting pad brace 2

Brad / Greg

This does help. My original cross sills were too rusted to re-use so I got replacements from Mar-K. The brackets / plates from Mar-K are loose and not crimped on the cross sill so I guess I'll have to weld the plates to the cross sill at the point above the frame. Mar-K suggests welding these plates as an option but don't see how they would not shift over time without either a through-bolt connection or welding.

I guess I will either weld the plate to the 2nd cross sill or perhaps eliminate the plate altogether.