Helllo, I have a question about the hardware that attaches the rear cross member to the bed sides - my truck is a '53 1/2 ton. There are three bolts on each side that pass throught the stake pocket and throught the cross member that is sandwiched inside the bottom of the stake pocket. These bolts also attach the tail light brackets. If I put three bolts (say 5/16 x 3") and start to tighten them then they just squeeze and bend the bottom of the stake pockets and as a result they squeeze and bend the ends of the cross member together. It seems that maybe there's supposed to be someting inside the cross member to help it retain its shape - something for the sheet metal to squeeze against. I thought of getting some sort of rigid spacers - something like lengths of pipe that just fit the inside distance between the front and rear edges of the cross member - that the bolts could pass through and then help the sheet metal retain their shape. Does anyone know if there are some original pieces that I need - something I'm missing? Maybe someone has improvised on a solution? thanks, Caleb
Caleb, i'm not sure about this because my truck is in a thousand pieces right now, but is it possible that the rear sill is attached to the stake pocket using a shorter bolt that does not go all of the way through to the other side of the stake pocket? Somebody with a "put together" truck needs to let us know.
I think you'll find you need short bolts that only go thru two layers of sheet metal, bolt heads on outside and nuts inside the stake pocket, thats how my 50' was put together, ________ FORD VERSAILLES PICTURE
