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I have come to understand Ford never made the middle support rails as a separate part meaning they only came attached to bed or bed sections. I'm thinking to make my own but missing one key detail or details. basically I can't find anywhere that actually gives the size, most importantly the height of the support. I see a Dorman kit that you need to weld to the bed. I'm actually going to attempt to make a wood bed so I really just want to make like square tubing over the rails and then mount the bed boards to it so something similar - still some planning and trial and error to go but I'd like to figure out the height of the support so I can figure out if the idea is even feasible.
You are talking about the crossways supports, like floor joists are to a floor. They each bolt directly to the frame ... and the frame has "undulations". If your floor is already removed, you can use a long straight edge from the two ends and simply measure the drop to the frame top. If the floor is still in place, roll under there on your creeper and simply measure up to the floor, carry pen and paper. I made some years ago to build a wooden deck for a trailer I built on the frame of a '79 that was wrecked in front, I did not run cross members on the highest part of the frame "undulations" up over the rear axle. I used 4 cross supports made from some channel iron.
I measured the one near the upper shock mount today, in the rain. It was 3" tall and the bed floor is above the top of the frame rail. Say the red is the top of the frame. Green is cross members. Watch out and allow for anything that is higher than the frame rail top, like maybe a gas tank top.
Awesome - thanks for the tips - I have some of the floor so I'll see what I can measure - I think some is already gerry-rigged so maybe it'll be a best guess. In my 73, pretty sure the gas tank is in the rails but below - I'll double check that for sure.
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