I am pretty sure mine doesnt have a lift, though that would be sweet!

while we are BS'n about beds... I have a dumb question...

If I am going to keep this bed, what function does that middle rib ont he outside of the bed sides preform? is it just a reinforcing rib to add strength to the bed sides? If I keep this bed, I think I will loose that part of the bed decoration!
the tailgate, I assume that a std tailgate isnt going to work on this animal? I have three tailgates in the garage, my luck is that none will fit this truck.

 

sundown,do you not have a hole in the box edge for the pocket?
i have a hole for a third stake on my box.
you are right the tailgate is wider on these boxes,if you dont have a gate that could be a problem,seems to me these are not easy to find in any kind of good shape.
i thing these would look pretty good with the running boards sitting just off the pavement,but im not sure how to get my front down.i only have about 4 inches between my front springs and the frame and i have no interest in removing my straight axle.when i get a 9 inch for the back i will take out a bunch of the springs there and im sure this will drop the back big time,just not sure of the front.
does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

Nope, the top of the bed doesn't have a hole for the stake to fit in but that rib is there anyway. maybe someone filled it in the past?

I thik the guy said something about the tailgate but I wasn't paying any attention as I was knew I had three in the garage and I was salivating at my good fortune... LOL whooops better give him a call and see what he said! Otherwise I will just have to make my own and I dont want to do that!

on the front axle situation, me, I would look into drop shackles to get the front end down some and I personally would probably pull some of the springs and deny I ever did it to anyones face, LOL. Its kind of a no no to pull leaf on the front, you could run into a bump steer issue from what I have heard. If you really wanted to keep the front end like factory, I'd really look into a drop axle, though I know you dont want to go through that.

 

Here are a couple of pics of mine. The tailgate is different than the half ton and so is the front panel. The center stake pocket is just that, a stake pocket. Yours might be filled in. My original bed was cut off just behind the rear fenders. I bought a '53 F-250 just for the bed alone. These beds and bed parts aren't easy to come by, at least around where I live. Well I can't seem to get the picture on here but if you look at my Gallery, you'll see it.

 

wow,fowl1 thats a very nice truck.
i just bought my truck in june,its still not on the road,but i did get to drive it for the frist time last weekend.it was only around the parking lot at work,on brakes and didnt get out of 1st gear,scared the crap out of me but istill cant get the grin off my face.

 

Thanks for the compliment. There is always work to be done as you will find out, but these things are fun to work on. I think we have probably all taken our trucks out, be it just around the lot or whatever, before they were really road worthy. And it is scary.