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I have a new bed with raised bed sides for my 1949 and new wood bed kit. Have any of you also put the polished angle bed strips in one. If you have how did you put them in and bolt them down. I have read that you bolt them where the angle strip is already there but that is on the original bed. Pictures wood be very helpful.
I had to put the angled bed strips on my 54 in 1999 because the good used bed I found and used had rust problems on the original bed side angles. My body man welded them to the bed side and then when I put the wood in just used bolts as one would if the bed side angles were good. In other words the angle strips come with holes in the correct spots.
I still have the angled side strips that I purchased over 20 years ago when I was doing the wood bed. I decided then not to use them because even though my original bed sides look good to the naked eye, they are not perfectly straight. Installing the side strips would definitely highlight that aspect. cooler
The aftermarket bed I got from mid west didn't come with any holes and the front hole and rear hole lines up with the stake pockets. So getting a nut on the back side is a no go. I am thinking I will just put them on the shelf and not use them and just live with the small gap in some of it. You would think the price of these beds they would get them square and the frame square too
Here is a pic of my 54 F100 bed with the painted angle strips used to cover rusted out areas and to provide more strength and stability to the bed sides.
Abe and bls49, Thanks for the pictures. I am going to look again and see if I can drill some holes through the bed frame and mount them down like in your picture Abe
I put the bed wood that I have worked on and pre fitted too many times to count back in the bed yesterday. The bed angle bed strips are just sitting there but the rest of it is bolted down. There is no way to use carriage bolts in the pre punched holes do to the way the 49 bed frame is made and if I turned the holes to the side the two edge holes will line up with the stake pockets on each end of the bed. I may just use polished stainless wood screws with stainless washers to hold the strip down to the wood. Not sure yet. The strips are not made for a 49 and since they are polished stainless welding them in is not going to happen. I also need to cut them a little shorter.
