Well i'm to the point that I need to coat my bed wood with something. I purchased clear lacquer with a high temp hardner. Is this the best to use? I have my red wood planks cut and grooved, sanded and waiting a warm day to paint. What advise do you have? You all seem to be sharp when it comes to know-how. Thanks.... The BOOPS dad Correction, It's RED OAK
go to www.mar-k.com they make bed parts for all kinds of older trucks. On their site, they show 10 different "finishes" that they have tested. Very informative.
Mar-k wow, the did do a lot of research, lots of info. this is a great help and will answer some of my question, Thanks. The laquer that I bought is a automotive grade and the company who made it highly recomended it for this use (but I guess they would since they want to sell the product). Im not settled on it for sure. Just wanted to hear what you more experienced truckers ran into. The BOOPS dad
Bed Wood Finish HMmmmmm.... For work or for show , nothing beats good old black paint , lots of it , thinned out so it really soaks into the wood . Whatever you do , be sure to paint all the wood _before_ you assemble the bed ! it is critical to long life to get the sides of the planks well coated with the stuff you use . If it's not U.V. proof , it'll crack and look terrible in a few years no matter what .
I seem to recall tubular spacers inside the rear cross sill to prevent it from collapsing... (You'll have to excuse me, my truck was dismantled about 5 years ago when a bunch of friends came over for "disassembly day"... BAD IDEA... Now I have had to research where every part on my truck goes, LOL as I try to reassemble it) I'll look it up in my Assembly Manual but I don't recall too much detail on the box in that book. I'll get back to you if I find anything concrete on the subject. 52 Chebby
Hey 52 Chebby, welcome to the site. I feel bad for you for two reasons. #1, you probably got duped into buying the '47-54 truck factory assembly manual. They should have named it THE 1954 TRUCK FACTORY ASSEMBLY MANUAL because that's all it is. If you'll look at the diagrams/pictures, they are all for '54's and nothing else. But, you know what, they are better than nothing. I love mine, but i have a '50. #2, it's easier to dismantle one than it is to put one back together. Been there, doing that. My advise to you: ask a thousand questions on this forum. These guys are the best in the world in giving solid advise and knowing exactly where you are coming from. My biggest challegne has been finding all of the parts for mine. It is spread over 43 acres of my parents property! When i do find it all, you can bet that you'll see a whole lot of questions about how it all fits, what goes where, what size bolts attach this, that and the other. Don't be afraid to ask, because every question you ask is one that i don't have too.
Assymbly Manual you too got one of those, I was more confused after I got it than before and I tore mine down by myself,,, well... the Booptser helped... Alot. I purchased the bed assymbly book from cp. it is filled with all the info I needed. I wish I knew about it before I spent the BIG bucks on the factory manual. My bed is coming together great, the bed redwood looks great with the clear laquer on it. It is all natural (no stain) and the clear brings out the red grain which looks beautiful. Hope it holds that look, don't think the Boop will carry anything in the back anyway accept AIR. She is a site to see (the bed I mean) the strips are the same metalic candy apple red as the truck. Now if I can get the four bolts that hold it down without making a mistake, I will be happy we need to post lots of pictures that will help the next person with their install of parts... or is that already out there and I just don't know it. The Boopsters dad
Bed pictures I'll get some pics up in a few days, got to convert my pics because the size is so large the cp site want take em. i too think this pooter thing will pass. I built and repaired these things for 15 years for a living and over the past four years I have tried to avoid them like the plague... until I found the cp site.............. I HAVE BEEN REVIVED........... I DON'T MIND TOUCHING ONE AS MUCH. the BOOPS dad
PLEASE a lot of pics, because I'm building my own bed from scratch. Sides, front, back, bottom, everything. This will be a big challenge, but I feel pretty comfortable doing it. I guess we'll see how it turns out.
There are two different bed rebuilding booklets out there and I highly recommend buying them both . I have a '49 and I found pretty much all I needed in the chassis assembly manual , it has early AD illustrations in the right hand drive sections , I don't feel duped at all . Those red bed strips sound pretty nice ! maybe trophy time ? .
Go to this website Hey Kevin check out www.chevytrucks.org and go to Jeff Nelson's "member site". He's got some good info on bed dimensions, etc. And he lives in Paducah. Heck, he might be your dad's neighbor.
Hey thanks Ken for the link. I don't recognize the guy but the name sounds familiar. His site definately brings back memories of home. If you click on the truck clubs part to the left. I know a lot of the trucks that are pictured there. The sad part is that they show the river tin street rod club. Dad used to be a member of that club and they treated him very badly. So now I can't wait until mine is done so I can proudly win best of show and show them what my dad and I are capable of. If you can't tell there is a little bitterness toward them. . I'm a little nervous of how the bed will turn out, but what's the worst that can happen, start over again.
Finished wood coat Well these are the finished boards, again, they are red oak cut right here in east texas, plained, cut, and finished by ME and the Boop. What do you think? We ended up using automotive grade laquer after sanding with 80, 220, then 400 grit. We put on 12 coats because we wanted a deep shine but more importantly the grain kept soaking up the laquer, hence 12 coats. the lines you see are shadows from the canopy where the boards were finished, I only use the best facilaties to work in, this one set me back about 125.00 at tractor supply. Man, I wish I had a shop with a concret floor. Notice the floor is a board over the sand in my drive. I do have a garage on the house but it was build back when cars were only 2 feet wide I guess because when I get my vehicle in it there is not room for me also.
Looking good. Now it's ready for some good ol' black paint. Just joking. That's gonna look awesome in that red truck.
Sweeeeeeet ! that's going to look choice . Wood is often like that , soaking up increidble amounts of treatment , you gotta just keep layering it on untill it stops soaking it up .
Ahhhh, to be to the point where you're installing the bed... Awesome job you two! Since I'm a Kanzan, I think I'll try hedge- but what am I taking about that's a few years before I'm to that point.
Board width variation OK, this is more technical than I ususally get but here goes. I went to the Mar-K web site and found all the dimensions for a 47 bed. There were also instructions for ensuring that you cut your bed wood the proper width if there had been modifications. Well, my cross members were made by a local metal shop to match the rusted originals. They are made well but, when I measured I got the following (this is using the Mar-K method of measuring holes C to C then doing some math to get the finished width): Mine starting from driver's side 3 5/16, 4 3/4, 5 1/4, 5 1/4, 6 1/4, 5 1/4, 5 1/4, 4 3/4, 3 5/16 Mar-K standard: 4 1/4, 5, 5 1/2, 5 1/2, 6 3/8, 5 1/2, 5 1/2, 5, 4 1/4 I'm thinking it would be best to go with the standard. Especially since I am not sure about the outside boards on each side. My numbers are way off, relativly speaking, from the Mar-K numbers. I have to have my boards made since my bed is 9 feet so I am responsible for delivering the dimensions to the wood shop. Worse comes to worse, if I cut them to Mar-K standard and they are wrong for my truck I can cut them to 3/4 ton or half ton length and sell them. Have you all seen any problems in variations when you cut your wood to standard? Also, according to the Mar-K site, you do not groove the outside edge of the outside boards. They just slide under the angle strip. I have noticed that a lot of folks do grovve the outside edge. What is the consensus?
Don't worry- Be happy! I guess the bolts that go between the boards are 3/8"? The only thing you need to know is the overall width of the bed. (Outside wood to outside wood) I wouldn't bet my life savings on it, but I'm thinking it would be the same overall width as your metal pieces were/are. I'll check mine this afternoon and let you know unless someone's already posted this. Other than that, all youz gots to do is subtract 3/16 off of the width of the outside boards and 3/8" off of the field boards. If you had, say 5 1/4" between two bolt holes, the board would need to be 4 7/8". Find out if the type of wood you're using likes to travel. Some woods really like to swell up when wet. To keep any buckling from going on, you might want to plane a 1/16th off each edge once cut. This will give your boards a little breathing room. The other thing is, make sure the grain of the wood- when you're looking at the ends- is "frowning". If it looks like a smile , that's what you wood could do. I think grooving the outside boards on both edges would just give you an option as to grain pattern layout. The left could go to the right, the right could go on the left... Before you put the strips on and bolt it down, you can lay it out and make sure the grain patterns are okey dokey.
