Difference between 35 and 37 pickup beds

[Scott H in Wheaton]

I'm working on a 36 pickup. Needed to replace the well-rotted and overly-dented bed. I was able to find a little trailer in Wisconsin that was made from an old Model A front axle and a pickup bed. The guy said it was a 35, but turns out it is for a 37.
It fits just fine. Its a little bit longer, around 4" or 6 ", but uses the same frame mounting holes.
Other minor difference is the bed has a little reinforcement bracket, as if Ford was intending to put a stake pocket in the middle of each side.
Another difference is the location of the fuel filler neck. It stays in the same place, but because the bed is longer the filler is centered more nicely in the panel behind the fender.
This is a 35/36 bed (NOT the one I bought):
(pic of 37 to follow)

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Here is the little bracket under the bed side rail:

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Here is the location of the filler. Notice how much more room there is between the filler and the rear body line.

 

[cmbrucew]

Scott H
You surely know how to apply the paint. I like to put it on till it starts to run, then put a little under to hold it up.
Looks good.
Bruce

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Thanks Bruce. Not a '36 color but at least its still Ford...Wimbledon White

 

[CSArno]

My paint gets tired from running so much...

 

[Heard]

Yep. Here is the filler neck on my '35.

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[36Bill]

Some '36 pickups have the center brace, mine does.

Bill

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Some '36 pickups have the center brace, mine does.

Bill

So maybe not on a 35 but they included it for 36 and 37?
Or maybe it was a mid-year running change and they started doing it on late '36 in preparation for the 37 revised longer bed?

 

[36Bill]

Look on the 35-37 social group pictures and some have them and some don't. Maybe Lawson knows?

 

[Don Rogers]

A while back I looked this subject up at The Benson Ford Archives per the request of Lawson. Here is a summary of what I found:

50-830001 Drawing
Shows special bracket over rear fender on outside of pickup bed
Added between 5/21/36 and 6/22/36
Engineering change E 2152, 8348

Also, 8/7/36 Service letter from Edgewater N.J. indicates that “reinforcement added to side panel of 67-830 pickup body”

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Thanks Don!

 

[Karl Wescott]

That same (or almost the same) brace was carried forward through into 1950.

 

[36Bill]

Thanks Don, that helps date my truck.

 

[Lawson Cox]

A while back I looked this subject up at The Benson Ford Archives per the request of Lawson. Here is a summary of what I found:

50-830001 Drawing
Shows special bracket over rear fender on outside of pickup bed
Added between 5/21/36 and 6/22/36
Engineering change E 2152, 8348

Also, 8/7/36 Service letter from Edgewater N.J. indicates that “reinforcement added to side panel of 67-830 pickup body”

Thanks for the comments Don. I am still not up to snuff from surgery/age.
Wasn't there a comment in those records about the thickness of the metal sides of the bed being reduced at the same time?

 

[Don Rogers]

Lawson, I did not see anything about that, or if I did, I didn't take any notes about it.

Don

 

[Lawson Cox]

Don: I hope this works. Rapidly losing my computer skills.


Generally speaking the bed on the 35 and 36 pickups are the same except in a very few incidents which will be pointed out below. Apparently the way the bed sides and metal floor pan was riveted together was no big issue. Your authors have seen beds where the rivets are bucked from inside the bed, and also seen beds where the rivets were bucked from the outside of the side panels. This appeared to have been left up to the particular production crews.Rivets were bucked with a round bucking tool, not a cross hatch one.

All through out the 35 production year, and into about mid year production in 1936, the sides of the pickup bed, just above the fender, were plain except for the stiffener beads stamped into the bed side.

Body change letter #114, dated 4-17-36, shows the 67-830 Pickup box has been lightened by changing from #16 gauge metal to #18 gauge. The supports in side panels (stake pockets) are now welded instead of riveted for production.

On factory drawing 50-831111, dated 5/21/36 there is a hand drawn sketch of a bracket added to the bed side, just above the fender, apparently as a stiffener of the side panel. On a later drawing dated 6/22/36, and subsequent drawings, the bracket is “officially” a part of the pickup bed.

Pictured below is a pretty much original 36 pickup, Belonging to Scott Congelton of Midway, KY with a “bug” on the original back glass dated 5-36, which establishes thatthis brace was first incorporated as part of the bed side in May or June, 1936. (Picture omitted)

Therefore it appears that the bracket was added between May and June, 1936, perhaps to strengthen the now thinner side panels. This bracket remained through the balance of the production year and was carried forward for several years.

Lawson

 

[Adam/Mill Valley CA]

Lawson, that sounds suspiciously like a quote from the long-awaited '35-'36 pickup book?

Adam

 

[cmbrucew]

Adam
That is a myth.
There is no such thing.
Bruce

 

[flat-v8]

Here's my '36 PU bed, or is it a '37? Who knows, but it is a good one with original steel floor!