1940 Pickup Bed Assembly

[kirkf]

I'm working on piecing together the bed for my 1940 Pickup Project.
Its a difficult task when you don't have an existing bed to work from.

The bed subframe is comprised of two side sub-rails that attach to the bed sides, two metal cross sub-rails and two wooden cross braces.

I've been working out the position of the side sub-rails by assembling it in position on the truck to try and figure out where they go.

At the rear of the truck, it looks like bed side position gets determined mostly by the rear stake pockets. The stake pocket has to form a curve with the rear bed roll pan (The U-Shaped piece at the back of the bed, below the tailgate)

At the front of the bed, there are two lower sub panels.
The position of the rail to the side panel, would depend on how much of a gap there is supposed to be between the subpanel and the running boards.

Hopefully the attached pictures make it clear what I'm trying to do.
(Basically lock down exactly where to attach the side sub-rails to the bed sides.)

In the attached pictures you can see I have a strip of wood as a spacer to hold the filler panel above the running board, but this would mean the side sub-rail is not even to the bed side along its length

Ford must have had a drawing that indicated the position the sub-rail attached to the bed side?

What should the gap be between the side filler panel and the running boards?


Any info anyone has on their assembly would really be appreciated.

Kirk

 

[Karl Wescott]

Looks like you are pretty close.


Do you have the inner reinforcing brackets that go inside the rear crossmember/stakepockets?


On originals I have dissected there is a 90 degree angle bracket that mounts inside the stake pockets to act as a stop in the event you actually use stakes, these are not supplied with the repro stakepockets.

 

[mercman from oz]

 

[kirkf]

Karl,

I have these reinforcing brackets that sit in the ends of the rear cross member / roll pan and insert into the bottoms of the stake pockets.

Kirk

 

[Dec211975]

I bought my box from Mac Hill and asked for a factory floor tour when I picked up the panels. I would start by having the reinforced brackets welded into your rear stake pocket brace (at the U shaped rear cross member)
I followed how Mac Hill's assembled their box I bought my box with the stake pockets installed the u shaped support's were pre-installed.

I started by assembling the the Box frame installing the two cross members and measuring diagonally to insure the side frames were square. After making sure everything was square I weld the two cross members to the side rails ( I would not be to concerned about the wooden cross members at this point but you could test fit to make sure everything looks ok).

Mac hills would then put the the box subframe upside down on an assembly bench (I did it on the floor)
Support the sub frame with some jack stands, then put the box side next to the subframe with the box rolls down ( the box will be upside down when working on it) bolt the side rails to the rear U-shaped cross brace, at this point measure the height from the table or floor to what will be the top of the cross member when assembled, this measurement will be taken at the rear of the box by the cross member, record that dimension and transfer it to the front of the box so it is the same height as the rear previously taken measurement. (You may want to mark the box sides with a Sharpe where it intersects the subframe at the measurement you got at the back of the box) Clamp the Side rails to the box sides in the front. I mig welded my box to the side rails to do this I took a Sharpe and marked the location for 1/4 to 5/16 in holes drilled along the subframe
I drilled holes thru the subframe were it touches the box sides, since the subframe does not touch the box in the wheel area it is important to lay out the hole locations instead of drilling randomly. Disassemble the box from the subframe and drill the holes in the subframe for plug welding to the box. (I drilled my holes about every 4 to 6 inches) after deburing the holes you just drilled, again line up the subframe to the box sides with the subframe and the box upside down with the rear of the cross member bolted to the rear U-shaped cross member with the front of the subframe clamped to the front of the box, using a number of welding clamps keep the box sides clamped to the sub-rails. At his point I clamped a copper plate to the outside of the box over the pre drilled holes in the subframe ( don't drill holes in the box sheet metal) turning the Mig welder up so it had good penetration I plug welded the subframe to the Box sides clamping the copper plate to the box sides as I moved around to prevent the sheet metal from warping. You probably want to drill several holes in the rear cross member so you can plug weld the rear cross member to the supports that were previously welded into the stake pocket supports.

I hope this makes sense.
Regards,
Brian