hi,
Hi, Im starting to assemble the 1950 f1 new bed kit I purchased. but am struggling w/ the best way to do so. Has anyone used bolts and 3M panel bond to assemble thier bed? i think it would be a slick idea, especially for the front panel to side panel connection, Im just concerened w/ using it on the rear sill to side panel conection.Im not sure there is enough surface area on the rear sill? I just like the idea that it seals those flanges as it squeezes out.
MY other option i suppose is to use the weldable primer, and then plug weld the rear sill, BUT ive never enjoyed using the weldable primer product, ive never like the welds ( i myself) produce when using it.
OR.... do i just weld the entire thing together w/ nothing covering all the flanged seams..seam seal what i can reach, paint it and forget it?!?! I keep telling myself im overthinking this project for the simple fact that thier are tons of seams that have been just spot welded together thruout this bed. Nothing is within those seams. thoughts?? r

 

Three thoughts:
1. If bolts alone was good enough for stock, why not just bolt it together now?
2. What you cannot appreciate now is that someday you may have reason to disassemble it. Bolts let you do that. Adhesive and welding do not.
3. Remember the KISS method and keep it simple.

 

This is what I am dealing with right now. The PO welded the bed together and now I have to replace all the wood and redo the whole thing. The idea of cutting all this apart and risking ruining pieces is going to be time consuming. I will be bolting it together when I put it all together.

 

i agree w/ all uve just said.. but i was/am under the impression that the rear crossmember/sill was always welded in?? isnt it? im MORE then happy to just bolt the whole thing together, if thats good enough? that means i could paint the whole thing in pieces and then BOLT it together. Again i assumed the rearest crossmember was to be welded????
thanks r

 

You might be right, but mine is welded ALL around. I am thinking of making some brackets for underneath to tie it all together so it can be unbolted later for whatever reason.

 

Here is an article about it. They didn't weld the rear crossmember. Only thing welded was the stake pockets. If you look close, there is a bracket bolting the rear crossmember on.

Truck Sheet Metal Hammer And Dolly Photo

There is also a 2nd article about installing the wood once the sheetmetal is all in place.

 

fat,
thanks for the link, i do see the bracket ur speaking of, and yes that gets bolted to the rear sill/crossmember. BUT what do they do to connect the stakepocket to the rear sill/crossmember? the area they drilled out the countless spotwelds. i havent found an article anywhere that actually covers this? from what i gather and see especially w/in this article that area was spotwelded from the factory.

 

I'll add my 2 cents.

I've taken apart a few 48-52 beds and from my memory, all of them were welded at the rear crossmemeber. I remember either having to drill out the spot welds or grinding them.

If it was me, I'd bolt everything, then square it and weld on the rear crossmember.

 

ill take all the 2 cents i can get!!.. thanks for the reply, im driving myself crazy w/ what the right thing to do is!!?? more or less spent the last day and a half looking at this bed assembly sitting up on sawhorses.. if im going to weld the rear crossmember on, i might as glue and bolt the front together..and get the benifit of the glue sealing up the seams...OR again will the panelbond and bolts be strong enough for the rear crossmember as well... someone out there must have recently put one of these beds together ??? im getting close to saying the heck w/ it and welding it together, and then hopefully get paint in as many of the nooks and crannies and possible??

 

I can't imagine the panel bond not being sufficient. If applied right that stuff is really strong. The door hinges on the late model chevy trucks are not bolted or welded, only glued and I have never seen one come loose.
Just my opinion.

 

Every rear bed panel I have removed has been tack welded (not spot welded) and some take a bit of chiseling to get apart. Another area that was always tacked was the tailgate hinge pivots. The front panel was, on the F-100s, riveted on. Everything else was bolted. I think that tack welding the rear sill might help in new assembly as I am sure that the tailgate pivots should be tacked because the 1/4" bolts are capable of crushing the tube, and the tail lights also are held by the same bolts. When remoing a tailgate, the bolts usually break off.easily which shows that they were probably overtightened and stretched. I would not use panel bond, but there are places that some silicone would help which are around the bottom of the finished bed with the wood strips in place. The tailgate needs to carefully align with the bed sides and they usually need to be bent a bit and the tailgate hinge pivots carefully adjusted. At this point, tacking the pivots would be smart. Now if Ford, or the assembler would have used a bolt on the inside of each end of the tube on the bed side and a 5/16 capscrew, tacking would not be neccessary.........How about the silly way Ford installed the license plate mount on the left side tail light? It hides the last 1 1/2 inches of the license plate which in most states is not a broblem, but in California with all their digits, it would hide one. Lots of room for improvement in places........

Alan

 

thanks for the replies, after overthinking this project and wasting 2 days on it, ive decided to just weld the rear sill/crossmember in place. My biggest issue was rust w/in the flange area being an issue down the road, yet there are so many areas on this bed assembly that are already spot welded together from the factory. Areas that will rust at the same point any of the places im going to simply weld together. so therfore i think i will weld the sill in and maybe even the front bed panel..making all plug welds that will be easy to finish off. If u really think about it and look at one of these beds , how do u get paint on any of the critical areas? the entire inside of the stake posts, the inside of the rolled panel edge ect... short of dipping the entire bed i dont see an answer. unless someone has other ideas i think its the only realystic thing for me to do.. weld it together..paint it the best i can, maybe even tip the bed over and dribble DP down and w/in all these seams.
thanks for the replies..... r