Guys - I need some help. On my thread called Bed Bolts we've been cussing and discussing what bolts are actually supposed to be used. I got confused between my own thread and my web site, so spent some time today trying to get my head around it, and have only gotten even more confused. So, I need help!

I need to explain what my confusion is, but before I lose your attention let me ask some questions. And, to answer them I'd like you to turn to my web page on body mounts and go to the Illustrations tab where you will find an illustration and a table showing what info I need:

1. For any of you that have access to your truck, what are your measurements for:
   • Regular Cab Short Bed (Note: I think the short-bed frame is the same for both the Styleside and Flareside beds, and all I need is the hole spacing for the bed.)
   • Extended Cab (Note: This should just be the front-to-rear cab mount measurement as I think all others will be the same.)
   • Crew Cab (Note: This should just be the front-to-rear cab mount measurement as I think all others will be the same.)
2. What bolt holes are used for:
   • Short Styleside
   • Flareside

Now, let me try to explain my confusion. If you'll click on the Ford Part Numbers tab you'll see excerpts from the catalog for each of the body mount holes in the frame. And the implication is that each and every hole was filled. But, that is not the case as it varied by the bed as well as the year of the truck. For instance, I suspect that location 8 was used for Flaresides and 9 for Stylesides. Further, that part of the catalog doesn't show a 1/2-13 bolt in #9, but just an oval-head metric screw that I know is for the Flareside. And on top of that we know that the 1980 - 84 Stylesides used 8 bolts and the 85 - 86's used 6 bolts to hold the bed on, but you can't prove that via that part of the catalog. (You can with other illustrations, as shown in the thread, and which I will include on my web site.)

So, I want to understand what each bolt hole was used for in the various bed combinations and then I will note that in my catalog as well as on the web site.

Thanks in advance!

 

Stylesides (body style 99): Illustration Section 000 .. Page 61.

 

Yes, I have that illustration in the thread mentioned above. And I'll be adding it to my web page as I get my head around things inre the body fasteners.

Speaking of those fasteners, Ford seems to have pulled a "fast one" on these. On the page you mentioned it gives all of them an "N" preface, which I think you said means they are metric. But, in the Standard and Utility parts catalog they give lengths like 76.2mm, which just happens to translate to 3.0000 inches. And that's exactly the length of my 1/2-13 bed bolts.

So, did they start the Bullnose era with 1/2-13 bolts and change to metric? Or did they just give the good old SAE bolts a metric definition?

 

I should be able to get some of the measurements from my Flare Side as the bed is not on the frame.
Only issue I may have is other holes have been drilled in the frame to use 2x2 cross braches.
Dave ----

 

Maybe you can measure the holes in the bed?

 

thats the DIN standart for these bolts

hardy

 

If I had one then I would not need to try and use the style side bed floor.
I will get out to the hot garage and see what I can get for measurements.
Dave - - - -

 

Ok. Thanks.

 

Hey Gary,
'85 Reg Cab SB
Inside face of front box panel - 2" (bolt C)
C - B 44 3/4" cc
B - A 31 7/16" cc

And just for S&G, 35" cc between left and right

 

Kurt - Thanks a bunch, but..... There are a couple of problems with your measurements.
First, you measured from the inside face of the bed/box to the front bolt, which is C. But, I measured from the rear cab mount. However, it looks like the front bolt on the Styleside bed, which I assume is what you have from your picture, is the same distance from the rear cab mount bolt as on a long-bed truck: 6 1/2". So, I think we are good there.

But, you took bolt-to-bolt measurements, meaning C/B and B/A, and I took bolt-hole to bolt-hole measurements. So, I'm not sure how to translate. In other words, which holes in the frame are your bolts in? So, could you slide under and count the holes back from the rear cab bolt, and tell me which hole your bed bolts are in? I think that will clear this up.

And, thanks again.

 

My cab is mounted to a crossmember. This crossmember is attached to the frame rail with two rivets. There are no additional holes between the rearmost rivet and the forward most bed bolt.
My dims are noted as cc ( centerline to centerline)

 

Thanks, but I'm asking about holes all the way back on the frame, not just between the crossmember and the front bed bolt. I ask because Ford shows 9 bolt locations in the one drawing, and then references them in the parts list of fasteners. So I need to know what holes you have, how far back they are, and which are used to bolt the cab on.

 

There are no holes between the back edge of the crossmember that supports the cab mount and the first bed bolt. As seen in this photo


The hole that you can see in the bottom right corner is not in alignment and therefore should not play in to this discussion? However, it is 2 3/8" back from my first bed bolt. It is 1/2" towards the outside of the rail from the bed bolt.

This photo is of the same two holes above, just angled back a bit to shoe the front edge of my next crossmember.



Sliding back further, this photo shows the back edge of that crossmember. Notice the two holes. The one closest the the crossmember is much smaller and looks like it would receive a rivet? The other hole is interesting as it sits directly below a bed support rail. More on this in a bit.





This is a view of the frame between the front bed bolt (not visible) and the middle bed bolt. NOTE: there are no holes!



The next two photos show from the middle bed bolt/ support channel towards thr rear frame crossmember. There is one small hole that I did not measure as it is too small to be either a bed bolt hole or a rivet hole.






And finally, this last photo is of the rear frame crossmember and last bed bolt. The bed bolt is 1 1/8" from the end of the rail and the other hole is 1" beyond that.




In my next post, I'll get into that mysterious unused rail hole and the bed support channel that sits above it.

 

This is the kind of stuff that I need. Thank you!

The catalog says there are 9 holes on the top of the frame. And it doesn't say they are all the same size nor in the same alignment. So, starting with the rear cab hole as #3, and forgetting the small hole, do you count 9?

 

In my last post, there is a photo of a hole in the frame rail and a bed support channel that sits directly above it. Looking at things from below one woul think that a bolt fell out and you need to replace it.




So, you stand back up and take a peek into your bed and find that there are indentations in the ribbing of the bed floor, similar to the other indentations where there are bed bolts installed . . . But no hole drilled in the bed to receive the bolt that you thought was missing.





If you go back to the Ford drawings on Gary's site you'll see that some years used 4 bolts to mount the bed and other years used only 3. My truck is an '85 so only uses 3.