Good decision! Jag

 

Ron, I'm not sure if the math works out quite that way. Are you saying you have the wood pushed all the way back, under the cap, and the bedstrips stick out past the front edge of the wood? If so, changing the back end rabbet won't make any difference, the bedstrips are located (front to back) by the bolts in the cross-sills, not by the wood. The bedstrips will be in the same place. Something isn't adding up here.

 

Albuq is right. You should not need to trim the rails. Jag

 

Let me confuse this just a little more. I agree with you for the most part Albuq, but you have to verify location of bolt holes in the bedstrips. I'm not ready to proclaim they are all the same. I base that on looking at truck beds in person and in mags. I have no idea which is correct but we could ascertain that from a stock truck. I have seen some that get closer to the front bed panel than mine do. Mine crowd the rear end cap bad. I believe my bed is exactly the correct length. It could be my rear sill holes. I don't know for sure. The whole works is aftermarket. And BTW, my bedstrips are 1/8" shorter than Rons.

I'm with Ron on altering the rear rabbet. I'm inclined to suggest 1 1/8 rather than 1 1/16 though. Pushing the clearances under an 1/8" is pushing your luck. It might be perfect for your truck, and screw the next guy over. Not our intent of course. We need a schematic that works almost perfect, almost everytime. If somebody wants micrometer clearances, they need to do the work to dial it in exactly for their truck. Right??? Or not???

 

The trucks with the longer beds are also wider the same setup will not work.

 

id give bruce horkey woodworking in windom minnesota a call he makes bed wood kits and he should be able to clear up the confusion. hope this helps julie
ps cant find his catalog right now or i would add a phone number

 

OK, changed the board end rabbet to 1-1/8".

 

Hi George & All,
Nice drawings!!! I was wondering if anyone knew the width of the wood & if you could add that info to your drawing. The reason that I am asking is that I have diamond plate in the back of mine & have no idea of the needed width.
Thanks & Regards,
Jon

 

I just measured the two front bolts on my '52's bed (the ones that aren't shown on the drawing, that hold the front cross-sill to the frame): they are 2-1/4" back from the front edge (centerline). They are not counterbored (but could be), and are also 5/8" diameter. This distance is determined by the cross-sill, which should be the same on all trucks that use it (i.e., the sill has holes that locate the front of the bed, and the bolts thru to the frame, so there should not be any variation).

 

Forgetting the overall board dimensions was pretty stupid - DOAH!!! That's fixed.

Ross, the 2-1/4" dimension for the two front bolts - is that from the front of the bed wood, or measured from the sheet metal? If I want to add that to the drawing, I need measurements referenced to the bed wood. On the same subject, where are those two bolts side-to-side? Again, referenced to the bed wood. Are they centered on the outside boards?

 

Albuq F-1,

You are correct. Dang it. Thanks for hitting me upside the head with your 2x4.

The only way a wider end cap would solve the problem would require it to be notched at all the strip ends. Doesn't sound like much fun to me. Back to the drawing board!

Ron C

 

George, the dimension is from the end of the board. The bolts are in line with the other two on the same boards (same offset to edge).

Ron, I'm real curious why the discrepancy on your bed... Can you measure from the inside of the front of the bed to the back of the rear for us? From what you're saying I would expect it to be 78-1/2" or so. I don't see how that could be, tho! Also, have you tried flipping your bedstrips, mine looked "almost right" the wrong way. My bedstrips end 1/4" shy of the front end of the wood, and actually tuck under the rear cap an 1/8" or so.

 

OK,

- Front two holes and dimensions added
- Alternate tapered rabbets for water shedding added
- Application years changed to 1950-1972

Still hoping to get the long bed wood dimensions from one of you intrepid F-250 owners or anybody else that has a long bed.

 

George-
I visited Earl's World and viewed the bedwood drawing. I didn't see a width dimension on the wood. Did I miss it?

 

Yeah, it's in a note on the left. I tried putting it in as a regular dimension (as in a CAD drawing), but since the boards are not all the same (holes, rabbets, etc.), I figured I would have to include it on each board, or at least each different type of board. It got to be too congested so I put it in the note on the left. Maybe I should rethink that?