So, I've made some headway. I've added some photos of my new smoothie tail gate, running board mods and tail light brackets to my gallery (Randy's 56).

I've got more body work to do. There are more parts to install. What you think of it?

 

Randy, nice progress. I like modifications that are hard to notice unless you know what you are looking at (if that makes any sense). How are you holding the gate closed?? Latches on the inside? The tail light holders are very nice. I like the clean look. I'm not sure if it is the angle of your picture of the gate but I think I would have centered the letters from top to bottom as well. Not knocking anything though. It looks very good.

I think the things that make a truck look good are the subtle mods that also end up taking the most time to do or thinking to come up with another way to make it happen.

Good progress!! How about some more photos?

Kevin

 

Kecky - The gate is held by a throw-bolt door-style (custom) latch that mounts on the aft face of the post socket and is hidden behind the gate. It will be solenoid operated with the actuator cable running down thru the post socket to the solenoid under the bed. There are also door poppers and gas shocks to snub the gate swing down. It works pretty slick and the controlled way it lowers is pretty cool too.
I haven't seen anybody else do something like this, so I just had to try it. The sleeper mods are supposed to be subtle. I put the embossed letters in the gate to fool the less initiated into thinking it was stock. The letters are centered in the total height of the bed, rather than just the gate. A lower sill will be added below the gate hinge line that will flow everything to the bumper smoothly. Then the position of the letters will make more sense.
More photos soon of the latch mechanisms, lower sill, hard tonneau, etc. I have some time off and an aggressive schedule for the Christmas holiday.

 

Nice... good luck installing the other parts

 

Randy nice looking work, I like the outer bed side panel, Did you make the panels ? How thick are they ?
Mike

 

Mike - I designed the sheet metal and had it made at a local shop. I measured many times and paid once. Everything fit up perfect. I left 1/16 excess material where I was going to weld and grind seams flush or fit seams to the gate. It is all just simple shear and brake work, so it was pretty inexpensive. The sides are a common flat pattern, just formed into left/right hands. There are only 3 bends per part. The bed sides are 16 guage (.060) steel and attach to the outer faces of the post sockets.
Before I final weld the new sides on, I'll be adding weld nuts 2 places at each bed corner for cargo tie-down points and 2 places for the cable gate restraints. Then the outer wall will cover all that.
I was surprised that the left and right side of the bed were so close to each other. I expected more work fitting the parts.
When I update my gallery with the finished pictures, I'll include more detail photos of the parts and the assembly.

 

Randy Jack,

I love the pics of the new mods...especially the tailgate. The truck looks great.

TC

 

Yo Randy, just perusing Roscoes gallery. Don't know how I missed this thread, but what a killer idea on the double wall bed. You must be a genius. Had I seen this, I could have saved 1900 c-notes as my stocker was just needing a fix like this. Went with pro's pick. Oh well. Plus you get the " wide fenders" kinda sorta as a bonus. Mongo likeeeee............ E.L.

 

Nice job on the bed mods...

Vern

 

Hey guys Ive been over to randy's and seen this bed in person. The dual wall is an awsome idea . First you get rid of all those ugly little dents in your side walls. second you get room for 2" wider tires. Then you get a super strong bed. No wobbling with dual sides! As soon as i saw it i had to have it! Randy I really think you have something here you should think about making a kit and selling it. At the very least you should sell the plans on ebay or something.

 

Nice work Randy. I'll have to drop by and check this out. Racked them up. Hey Keith is Randy a pool shark?

 

Ed - Yes, I am a pool shark. Bring your wallet or your first-born.

Keith - Thanks for the help and comments.

Learpilot - Check out my new gallery on Running Board Mods. It answers your question about how I did the exhaust cutout lip.

 

RJ

Was there a previous thread on this? It must be fairly subtle because I really don't notice a huge difference. (I'm referring to the double walled bed). Kind of curious what exactly you did.

 

Excellent progress! Keep truckin

 

Fenders -

If there was another thread, I didn't see it. I started this thread back in December. Maybe that's what you remember.

Actually, I'm pleased that you don't notice the difference right away. That was part of the idea. I wanted the uninitiated (not you! ) to think Henry made some this way. That's why the old gate's embossed FORD letters were inset into the new smoothie tailgate.

But the big change is adding the second wall outside the bed. I did it primarily to clean up the bed lines. I love the roundy fat look of the effie, but the choppy square bed never seemed to go with those great lines. Adding the walls also widens the whole rear of the truck by 4.0 inches and pushes the fenders out over fat tires (P295's). The look of the back end now is really cool. It seems to squat lower, wider, fatter and is all smooth and flows much better. With the further smoothing I have in mind for the cab, I think it will look pretty swell. At least I hope so. Otherwise, I will have screwed up a perfectly good truck. (And some will think so anyway).

I'll be adding a new album to my gallery devoted to just the bed mods when it's all in primer to try to document the steps and parts involved. The short of it is: new outer walls, smoothie gate, solenoid gate latches with snubbers (so the gate lowers nice and slow), a new plywood bed floor, filling in post socket holes and the notches at the forward cupper corners, etc. I am also going to add a hard tonneau that I designed. And I'm hoping to get everything in paint by early May.

And...I start on the final welding this weekend!!!

Film at eleven...