Getting to the point where i need to fab mounts for my 8' F3 bed, as the only reminents of the originals is some rotted wood scraps stuck between the frame and spring brackets.

However, i'm not certain what to do. My original thought was to simply lay box tube across the frame with rubber padding on the frame, and drill to suit. However the original bed supports are drilled in such a way that these tubes would rest on the axle kickup, and rivets, which rapidly complicates things.

Instead of the expensive wood floor, i'm going to cheap out and go with cut daimond plate instead, so matching a repro set of bed strips isn't a problem (if such a thing even exists for an F3). I'm sure i could trim the box tube to suit the kickup, but going directly over rivets is less swell.

Has anyone delt with this before, and know of a better way of mounting the bed? And does anyone have any reference photos of the stock wooden supports, as i can't find much reference for them beyond their legacy of deep pitting in my frame.

 

Here's a link to the reproduction crossmembers. Perhaps this will help. Ford Box Parts

 

Hi Steve, I've done both.

On the '51 F2 my original bed frame was rotted out so I had a local welder make a set of tubular cross members and then a 3/16" diamond plate (single-piece) floor welded in.
He did a great job for reasonable money and the floor was super solid and painted body color. No regrets although it did not have the wood floor look. Having someone who knows how to operate a welder and fabricate parts was key. I could not have done it myself.

On the '49 f3 I was able to salvage the bed lower supports so I went the route of getting the full wood cross-members and plank floor. It was expensive and time consuming. Took a full week and a whole garage bay just to put all the coats of urethane down. Then you have to futz and finagle the location holes to match & line everything up. I bet I had 30+ hours into prepping and installing the wood floor. Takes two people to do it. Horkey's and Dennis Carpenter parts were of decent quality. No one place sells everything you will need to do a wood floor. I bought the bolts locally. You'll need lots of bolts and have to cut many of them since those floors require different sizes. I could not find a good source of info on how many of each size bolt is needed for an F2/F3. Just gotta buy some that are longer and cut them as needed.
But the wood floor with stainless trim strips looks pretty good in the end.

Both required shimming the bed frame to the truck frame with custom cut shims. I used Delrin blocks on the diamond plate floor and wooden composite shims from Home Depot on the oak floor.

Both are very sturdy options.
Tom

 

Bruce Horkey had everything needed to do the complete floor and support system and knows exactly how it is done and very helpful. That was 25 years ago and it is still good and solid although it has lost its luster.
Ed
near Philadelphia

 

Hi steve, I made wooden crossmembers several years ago for my f3 based on dimensions I found on this forum from stu, "truckdog 62563" . They were spot on. You can search thru his threads to find them i think. There are 6 crossmembers, 4 are 2 1/2" thick and the 2 over the rear axle are narrower. You should have 6 holes in your frame where they bolt thru the frame . There are 6 bed strips and 7 bed boards, 1" thick for express bed. Probably about48-5/16" carriage bolts 4" long. I used dry clear ash from the sawmill and he charged me about $26 to cut them. I was able to cUT them to length, notch , and drill them with circular saw, coping saw, and battery drill. I did not sand them like the store bought ones cause mine's sure not a show truck. Did them in a couple afternoons which included several naps. You can buy them as mentioned. I'm guessing they are over $600 by now. As always, it all depends on what you have more of-- time or money. Whichever way you go, have fun! Larry

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. Still thinking box tube is the way to go. The frame is heavily pitted where the old wood supports rested, and frankly, i'm cheap.

However really I was hoping for some photos of similar installations so I can see some ideas on how to get around getting the box tube to co-operate with the rivets. My current thought is to simply buy box tube and cut the bottom off on the centermost tubes to clear the frame kickup and crossmember rivets, but I lack the tools to do so very cleanly (a dremel particularly) and i fear this would drastically wear out the rubber pad, so was hoping there's a better solution. Steel channel would be easier to modify with my crude tools but i fear it simply wouldn't be strong enough where the flange is cut