I'm mocking up my 53 pick up since I bought it in pieces. My question is about the bed. Looking at the truck from the side the bed seems to angle down toward the cab. I have new cab mounts and new bed mounts/with blocks. I have tried to find a good pic of some trucks to see if this is normal but it seems like all the pics I find are skewed from the front. This is driving me nuts, Please Help!! Thanks Jesse
Jesse, when you're mocking it up, did you remember about the crossmember that goes on the front part of the bed. If you don't have that, it would definitely cause it to angle down. Oh, and BTW, welcome to the forum.
Your right Jesse, there aren't many straight from the side pictures. I dug through some of mine and came up with four that might help. We usually bolt down the rear and then make whatever block is needed to put under the front so the bed looks right. Use cypress blocks if you can find that wood, it's immune to water. The red and silver truck is a 47-53 bed on a 54 truck so all it's mounting is custom made.
yes Yes, I had to buy and new front sill and a new end gate, they were both rusted pretty bad. In my mind the bed and the back of the cab should be a 90 degree angle, or at least the running boards should be on a parallel plane to the bed rails. Is this not so? I know the back of the cab is kindof rounded out, but it should at least seem like a 90. Opps! after posting this is saw that Coilover had sent some pics and info to confirm my suspensions. I'll experiment with block heights and let you know,THANKS.
I found that a 2x4 layed flat seems to measure up perfectly on the 53 I am assembling. The bed wood blocks with the kit are way too thick.
Thanks, I'll give 2" blocks a try and post what I find out. So, I guess what I'm getting is that the stock set up did slant the bed towards the front, for what ever reason.
Bed time I just added shims and took away shims then started bolting things together. A small washer under the rear of the runing boards. Shifted the fenders a little. One thing affects somthing else. I wanted my runing board to be parr. with the bed rail. I ended up getting close enough. that and my patience ran out.
Thanks Richie, If I can get as close as you have I'll be satisfied. I haven't had a chance to mess with it yet. I'll post pics when I do. Any more comments are welcome.
