I'm thinking of installing a 3/4" plywood bed (temporarily) in my '50 F2 and I'm not sure how it's supposed to be done (the bed was floorless and wasn't attached when I got it)

are there supposed to be crossmembers under it that mines missing??

any help would be appreciated (pics would be great)

thanks in advance for any help I can get!!

 

I redid the bed for my 1952 F2 with 5/4 6" treated deck planks. There are cross members that go across, made out of wood. Two near the wheels are different than the rest. They are thinner and have a metal plate on top of them. I didn't take pictures when I was doing it unfortunately.

 

forgive my ignorance but what/where do the crossmembers mount to, what size wood should I use, etc
the original owner had the planking already milled up and it's still in the box but I'm confused how to actaully mount the bed itself

the books I have aren't very clear (at least to me)

thanks

 

I hope this picture helps. It is the only one I found that I have of the box without the wood. I replaced all of the wood in my box using the rotted wood from my original box as a pattern. My replacement box had a piece of 1/4" floor plate welded in. The two cross braces that are over the axle have groved angle notches, about 3/8" or so, toward the center of the truck to accept slope of the frame rails and have the metal pieces on top. The tops of the braces are even and are bolted to the angle iron that runs along the side of the bed. The second from last brace in the picture is covered by a piece of angle that shouldn't be there but it was there when I got the box so I just put the wooden brace under it. If I remember right the original boards were 1 1/2" thick, I could only find white ash in 1 3/8", but it turned out fine. The cross members were about 2" square.

I worked from the center out and used a scrap piece of paneling to make patterns for the two side boards. It gets a little tricky around the wheel wells because of the angles.

BTW I used white ash, very hard to cut but it has wide grain and loves great. I cut 1/2" groves in the bottom about a 1/2" apart to releave any warping and sprayed undercoating from a can to help protect it from the bottom. I has stayed straight for over fives years.

 

thanks for the pic Bob, I'm still a little confused but we have a cruise night tomorrow night & I'm going to see if therre are any 48-50 f's there.
maybe an owner will let me crawl around underneath and check it out (I just may be over engineering it in my head and not getting how simple it is)

thanks everyone!!!!!!

 

Hey Toonman,

I am just north of Milwaukee, only about 1 1/2 hours from you. If you every get a chance stop by and take a look at my setup. Just do it before the snow flies, my baby takes a long winters nap after October and until March.(I don't want to start thinking about it )

 

I used deck planking, but I didn't replace the metal strips. My bed is stripless because it's a working truck, not a show truck. The original boards were 10" I believe and grooved to accept the metal strips. The boards were about 3/4" apart and the metal strips covered the gap, and were bolted into the cross members. I made the cross members out of treated 2 x 4's cut down and notched at the ends to make them flush with the side angles. There are 6 or 8, I can't remember, large bolts that go through into the frame, and they have large countersunk washers.

 

went to cruise night last night and to my suprise, not a single 48-50 F anything (there was a '53, but the guy had it slammed so far down I couldn't get my fat head under it t check it out) the search goes on!!!!

Bob
I may just take you up on that offer sometime, My mother lives in Monroe and my brother in law lives in Madison......maybe some day I can take a quick (well not quick) detour on the way

2speed
thanks for the tip on using metal cross members and deck planking.....

 

Any time toonman, just drop me a message before heading out

 

well, I'm a moron....I decided to open up the box of wood planks the previous owner told me he had....and lo and behold, it's not the planks but the wood crossmembers..........so now I know how it goes together, Yipeee!!!!!!!!!
bobj49f2 you said you used undercoating in a can to paint the crossmembers.
do you think an exterior grade house paint would be any good, I have a lot of 5 gallon buckets leftover from halloween projects (I got them for $2.oo a pail from sherwin williams)

 

I used the spray can undercoating because I wanted something that would soak into the wood and I figured the stuff is used to undercoat cars so it should work under the wood. I don't know about the paint, I think it might peel and need recoating every so often, but I don't know that for sure. Plus, I just hosed on the under coating and didn't have to use a bruch to get into every nook, and cranny and the groves I cut into the bottom.