Score!
Got everything but the wood and bolts, but will get that soon enough. Now for the silly question. How does the rear cross member, or roll pan, connect to the bedsides? My old bed was a basket case, and was poorly brazed together and bondo'd over to look like one piece. I don't know if it should be bolted together, spot welded, or if the rear bolts that go down through the bedside, and through the wood into the cross member is the only attachment? Any help?
(edit)
I'd guess Ford did them pretty much the same for years. Most panels and even some of the stake pocket connections are rivets. The rear crossmember is a special treat. I spot (plug) welded those (special joiner) connectors to the rear stake pockets, keeping them at 90* to the pockets, then clamped the stake pockets to the bed sides and welded the connector to the rear roll/cross member. Then welded the stake pocket to the bed side. Also can weld the top of the xmember to the bedside. Easier to see and do than describe.
I rebuilt my 48 box twice (rear ended after the first go-round)
Last edited by mtflat; Oct 20, 2003 at 05:58 PM.
Another question on this I left out of original post: The new sheet metal is "paint grip" steel, and with the zinc coating on it they suggest treating it as galvanized metal when it comes to cleaning/prepping/painting. How different should this metal be treated? Never tried to paint galvanized metal so they befuddled me on that one.






