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I have a 1956 f100 long bed (yes, I like long beds), and the running boards are shot. Too many rust holes and too banged up to patch. I’m looking at new ones, and I’m finding that the long bed running boards cost about TWICE what the short bed ones cost.
So my question is, would it be simple enough just to cut and lengthen the short bed running boards? Does anybody know if they’re just longer, or if the differences are more complicated than that? I can patch bolt holes, if pre-drilled, it’s worth it to me to save $300+ for an extra 8 inches of steel.
The space between the back of the cab and the front of the rear fender is larger.
Don't give up on your old boards. There are guys here that have patched holes in old boards. One of them should be along soon.
Another option is to buy new plain long boards, without the ribs.
Actually the plain ones are all can find, and run about $645. My thought was to get plain short bed boards, extend them, and then add stainless/aluminum strips.
Patching may still be an option, but bending up patches to fit the ribs on all the holes, and straightening out the existing steel is going to be a whole lot of work.
Any other thoughts? I’m hoping the difference is just a length issue and not a multi-dimensional or total shape difference. I can lengthen running boards if I need to.
I have more answers, if anybody else finds this useful:
I went ahead and ordered the short bed running boards. They cost about $250, as opposed to $645 for the long bed. The difference will buy me a lot of welding wire! (And I’m going to need it).
Sure enough, they were exactly 8” short in the space right behind the cab and next to the bed. So I sliced them and fabbed up an 8” panel:
Piece of cake so far. But then came the test fit. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that the long bed is also wider. Turns out, the wide part of the running board by the bed is 10” wide on my original and 12.5” wide on the short bed version. My next step is to slice 2.5” out. I’m getting lots of practice on my body work! More pics to come.
