Thanks Howard. I haven't done much to Betsy lately, so this should get me back into the swing of things pretty heavily.

 

These are before I picked it up.

 

Wow, nice looking bed. It will look fantastic on Betsy.
I can't wait to see your progress on it.

 

Thanks Joe.

I'm more than a little excited myself. I spent a bit of money on the bed I currently have. And quite a bit of time "making" my current script plate from Abe's '47 hood piece. I had fun doing that, and it turned out okay.

But this will mean removing most of what I've already done. I guess the script from Abe will be a wall hanging when I replace the bed.

I have no idea how long it will take me to modify the script bed to fit. I don't own a welder yet...

The overall length of the bed is 98" which includes the frame and the stake pockets sticking out the front. A 9 foot bed for the F4 is 109" long, so I would need to lengthen it 11". The overall width on this bed is 79.5" and an F4 bed is 87". So to be accurate, I'll need to widen it 7.5". The jury is still out on that. I still have to fit the truck and car in the garage.

 

That bed looks good. If it is at least as wide as the overall width of your rear tires, I would leave the width alone. A good steel sales shop would be able to duplicate the side rail material from sheet on a press brake to make the extensions you need. The back panel on my bed was so badly bent up that I had one broke from sheet steel, it looks and fit good. I did have to cut my Ford script out and weld it in the new panel.

 

Thanks Mark. That's what I'm planning to do, get the material shaped on a brake and weld it in.

 

My buddy who welded in my shoulder harness brackets turned me on to this place in Los Angeles. Looks like they will custom make anything I will need.

Pocket Rails for Flatbed Trucks and Trailers

After I get the bed home, I'll take some measurements and see if their standard rails will work.

 

I got the script bed for Betsy today from Art. He's a really nice man, and has 3 cute kids. We made three stops to get all the pieces, but we strapped it all down to my utility trailer and got it home without incident.



This bed is in really good shape for coming off a 48 F3. I cleaned it up a bit and removed the mud caked on the passenger side. I found a couple of minor dents after removing the dirt, so I straightened them out the best I could.



It's not perfect, but neither am I...



Then I replaced the 3rd brace which had been removed for some reason. I don't know if it's backwards or forwards, but it's back in there...



And, in case anyone is wondering why the script is yellow: the whole bed was yellow at some point. I discovered that layer as I was removing some surface rust.

Can one of you tell me why the two "end caps" on either side of the script that cover the wood beams are different?

 

Very nice looking bed, nice score!

Didn't you ask this in another thread. You asked why wood was missing on the back part of the frame. I think the answer there was that it offered extra support because the spare tire needed the space.
But that doesn't sound right because you tire carrier is lower. Well shoot, now I want to know the real story.

 

On the F-2/3 bed the spare tire isn't carried below in the traditional position. It's tucked in above the frame rails between the wood supports. I'm still trying to document the whole thing myself because I'll be getting a similar bed from Josh in a couple months. Here's the drawings of the 7.5' F-2/3 bed compared to the 9' bed normally used on an F-4. Stu

 

OK, I guess that makes sense. One side has the board end covered, but on the other side the board is shorter, and doesn't extend to the back.

Art gave me the original boards as well. But they were rotted and I threw them away. One was about 7 feet long and the other was about 4 feet long. I guess that would allow the spare tire to swing down.

Thanks guys.

 

Don't you have the hanging spare tire holder? I lose track drooling over all these trucks.
If so, what route do you think you will go for the spare tire?

 

Looks like a great place to start to bed down Betsy. You'll need to build a couple cross members.

 

Joe, I have one of those 8' beds all intact if you need some reference pics.

I was going to use it on my COE, but to lengthen and widen it seemed like a lot of work, so I went a different route.

 

Does your bed have the spare hanging hardware? I'd appreciate detailed pics of how that all goes together? Stu