Originally Posted by ferguson777

Ax,

It's the tail gate handle assy that I need (if I stay manual) as mine is all rusted up. the rods from each latch assy join onto the handle assy in the center of the tailgate.

That website doesn't list that part. I'll be stopping in at my GM dealer and my favourite parts store sometime in the next few days.

It's interesting though that for the first time since the mid-70s, the Cdn $ is worth slighty more than the US $, so except for freight, etc, it would actually be cheaper to buy it in the US......

Thanks though.

Originally Posted by ferguson777

Danger – Dark Side project discussion. Light Siders be warned.

As mentioned in a couple of places recently in this forum, I’ve decided to go the psudo-fleetside or combination route for the bed on my 54. That is, use a fleetside box in a step side manner. In the belief /knowledge that others are doing the same, I’ve started this thread to enable anyone that’s interested to offer advise or ask questions. (I’ve also started a gallery for this project as well)

After looking at Rangers, S10s and various other beds, I decided upon using a mid- 90s ch*vy box from a Silverado or Sierra. While all specific alternatives mentioned here seem to fit the critical requirements –

- center of wheel well approx. 40 inches from front of box.
- floor of bed about 19 inches from bed top
- side profile is similar to 54 cab profile

the full sized Chevy short box has a couple more pluses that the others don’t. I found the lines of the S10 box very pleasing, but the design or feature detail near the bottom (the lower qtr panel – in front of and behind the wheel well) is raised or protrudes out from the body. This is pretty much common on almost all truck beds EXCEPT the Silverado/Sierra from the mid-90s. On this bed, the design is recessed into the side wall of the bed. This will make it very simple to fill it and therefore end up with a smooth outer side wall – matching the side profile of the 54 cab.

Much of this is subjective - a matter of personal taste, so if you disagree with anything I am saying, no problem.

If you grab the short box or the box used on the extended cabs, you’ll have a 6.5 ft box, which is perfect for this project.

BTW – I looked at the semi-stepside bed that ch*vy used in the mid 90s and while I feel it looks beautiful on a 55-57 Ch*vy pick up, I don’t feel the fenders work on a 53-56 Ford……

My measurements tell me that to have approx. 7 inches of stock fender on each side, I need to cut the box down to a maximum width of 60 inches. BTW – this will give me a floor width on the inside of the bed of about 48 inches – within an inch of the stock bed inside width.

At this point (the morning of 11/12/06) the box has been cut down and welded back together. We’re bringing it home today to (hopefully) drop in place.

After that, I’ll play around with it at home for a month or two;

- fitting patches for the stake pockets
- fitting patches for those feature/detail recesses discussed above
- fitting a patch in place of the gas filler door
- trimming back the stock wheel well lip
- replacing the wheel tubs and patching the floor
- deciding whether to fit smooth inner side walls
- figuring how to finish off the inner edges to accept a wood floor

Cutting the box down was fairly easy. Only took us about 4 hours. All that other stuff including scribing the stock fenders to be cut, will take some time though…….

Originally Posted by AXracer

But since he used a GM bed, fleetside would be proper...
Welcome back ND, you've been missed!