ok, so i have a 1976 frame 4x4 and i have a new bed for it (8' long bed 4x4 for a 8 ' long bed 2wd) the frame for my 4x4 is narrower than a 2wd frame. the width of the holes for mounts is about 31" wide on my 4x4 and 35" on the 2wd. Plus the supports that go width wise are at different measurement apart than my 4x4 box. i was wondering if anyone else has done this swap before? what is the best way of doing this swap? may need to do some shimming, re locating of holes, brackets off side of frame like the cab is mounted maybe? i am about to start getting into this lil project and thought i would check with you guys before i do this which may turn out to be the hard way. the box i have found is in really good shape and has the side compartment built in so i really dont want to get another box for this truck because of this problem i have.

 

What year is the box that you are wanting to putting on?

 

Drill new holes and bolt it down. The end.

 

this is how you put on a truck box boys

 

yeah its a lil tougher than that. have you even done this swap before? i was hoping to hear from someone who was a lil more informed and didn't finish his thought with "the end" like you. but thanks anyways. and i'm not really to sure as to the year of the box. i do know it has the full chrome package on the tailgate so maybe that tells you something with the years they did that and it has the side cargo box that opens on the passenger side.

 

I didn't mean to sound rude about it, but if you do a search, that's the answer you will get. You set the bed on and drill new holes.

 

heres the tailgate

 

i actually did do a search on here about bed swapping from a narrow frame 4x4 to a wide frame 2wd and it seemed like the other guys had some issues with it setting it up right to work for them.

 

heres the underside

 

this is my brother( 73 ford guy) helping get it in place while i just hang back and take the pics

 

I didn't think that the supports are different between the years, but the width of the mounting holes are. Anyway, I haven't put my bed on yet to see how everything lines up, but I did re-drill the holes, welded a piece of pipe for a spacer in the supports all at the 31" width and wherever it lines up on the framerails after I get it on and lined up, I figured I'd just drill down into the framerail if need be for different holes in the frame. The major thing is to get the width right in the supports, create the spacer in the holes and go from there.

This gives you the idea that I did. Yeah, I don't have the "square", but it'll work.

 

I did mine in a similiar way. I set the bed on the frame, move it around till I liked the alignment with the cab and frame the marked the underside of the bed through the holes in the frame. Then I took the bed off, cut out around my marks large enough to insert the spacers made of 3/4" id tube and welded them in. After that I drilled 1/2" holes through the top and pounded the factory carriage bolts in to make the top holes square.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=191493&.jpg

Hey 79f, tell 'im it goes on facing the other way around. ;)

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Cool. :)

Fordworth and Buck... that's what we were wanting to hear! :)

A guy gets ideas seeing/hearing other's ideas.

Pounding the square heads through or my idea of filing out round holes to make 'em square
is an "easy improvement" over Buck's method (IMO!) because he's already gone and done it
and worked-out some of the thinking and logistics for me.

"building on other's work/thinking as if it's an early version of my own"
So... you get to "do it better the next time" ...or something like that. :)

BTDT :)
And even made it look like I knew what I was doing.
...when I wouldn't have otherwise.

"it's easy when you know how" -my cowboy buddy that's done much!

"if thinking didn't take time... then a masters-level chess game would only take a couple seconds" -Alvin

Alvin in AZ

 

off topic but isn't that a CS or SCS bed. so it wouldn't fit on that truck, right? I thought that the wheel set-back lengths are different than a regular bed.

 

Sure looks like a standard long bed with a contractor box to me.