You're right, that's not that noticeable and looks great to me. So I pick up a set of 53-56 boards. Is that all I need as I can use the existing mounts? By "force" the boards higher, how was this done? Do the boards conform enough to meet the higher mount or did you need drastic bending and heat to force the up there? I think this is my selected option but want to know any specifics. Thanks for the pics

 

I didn't have that problem with my bed, so I looked up some pictures. It seems it depends on what year it came off of as some are quite a bit higher, though it looked like some are only an inch or so different.

Goatjacket, I think you'll be able to tell how it will fit by using a level or something long and perfectly straight. put it on the bottom of the front running board and see where it ends up on the rear fenders. Hopefully it's dead on. If it's a little lower you could install it and just leave the fender up a bit until such time as that gap bothered you enough to relocate the fenders.

Another thought is if the vertical piece of the running board under the bed (between the fender and cab) is gapped would be to adjust the cross beams on the underside and lower the whole bed. Or make a longer piece above it to fit and paint that.

But I think that's getting heavy into the work when you just want to enjoy the truck. I'd start with trying out the fenders and if they don't fit completely perfectly, enjoy them for a while then when you're in the mood to deal with it adjust what you need to to line things up.


As far as raising the running boards up at one end if you need, I would try loosely bolting one end, get things where you want it (use clamps to loosely hold things in place), then use a spacer on the brackets however need be. A wood wedge will work for a couple years, a piece of drilled out metal would be a longer lasting solution. Using heat on the running boards to warp them upwards is very tricky and super easy to warp and twist the boards, it's also a pain with those grooves and it can look funny real quick. If they get messed the work to fix them is to the point most people would just toss them.