I am putting in a new bed in the 51. I have located everything I need except the 4 bolts needed to secure the bed to the frame in s/s. What do the rest of you do when putting in a new bed? ? ? They have the 4 countersunk washers in s/s but not the bolts. I'm using the polished s/s strips. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance ! ! !

 

I have some left over from my 54 install. Do you know the size for your model? Jag

 

Sacramento Vintage Ford has them.

 

There are plenty of places selling them, but if you aren't going for a 100-point restoration, you may be better off getting SS Torx-head or Allen-head bolts. The square socket heads on the stock bolts are a pain.

 

I have four SS bolts/nuts and the inset collars. They are large. I think that they are about 7/16" by 4 inches long. You can have them if they'll help. Jag

 

ACE Hardware has a large supply of SS bolts,washers and nuts for different applications. Have a great day, chuck

 

try the banner to the left: Hot Rod's Classic Truck Parts
Rod is a great help. They are truly a mom and pop type of place. He will help you with whatever part you need. 1-800-236-0046
Check out their catalog online: hotrodstrucks.com or click on the banner/link

good luck

 

I found that anything I need in stainless is available at most large marine supply outlets. A whole lot cheaper than the rod shops and suppliers as well! usually have to polish them yourself but so what!

 

Jag,

The length of these bolts is 3 3/4". They are not for the strips but they go right thru the wood in 4 places with countersunk washers. The s/s washers they have but not the bed bolts. They do not go a thru sq. hole. They are angled for a counter sunk washer.

Thanks to the rest for the info. I'm stopping by Dennis carpenters end of the week to pick up the other things.

 

Gary, It sounds like they may be the ones I have. If you check with a supplier they will be able to confirm if yours are the same as the ones used on 53-56 beds. They are a semi-flat head that are tappered on the bottom edge where they meet the flat washer. (Similar to the head on a wood screw) PM me your address and they're yours. Jag

 

This is a stock (repro) bolt head. The underside of the head is a "tulip" shape. You can see even in this lousy picture that the square recess isn't perfectly square. SS is hard to work.

 

Ross, mine look like that except instead of a square hole, they have a slot for a regular screw driver. Also, they have a slight crown to them where as yours looks to be completely flat. Jag

 

The nice thing about SS bolts is that they should never rust then the off square robertson top should not be a real issue until your driver slips out when installing the bolt, scratches the SS strips and puts a gouge in the wood....as Borat would say ....dats niace

Also why pay for 100 point resto bolts if the rest of the truck don't match??

 

I can tell you've done this before!

Of all the places on the truck where they could have used a carriage bolt to good effect, it eludes me why they didn't do it here. There is no way to tighten these when you're working alone at midnite...

 

The bad thing about stainless steel is some companies are selling low grade.
Theres a loop hole there where a low grade stainless has regular steel in it. Thats why you see stainless steel gas grills rusting in spots.
If you go in and ask what grade of stainless it is no one will know what your talking about. I had a guy at a metal spinning company tell me this recently.
We were at my buds cookout and his new grill had rust on it. He then told me about the grades of stainless steel. I was all WTF?
Thats just some info IM throwing out there.