Pickup Bed (early)

Charles Reese

Charles Reese

Well-known member
My research notes have the following information re: pickup bed. However, I did not note my sources. Can anyone validate the following .. and dates?

* early beds had only 3 links in the chain
* some beds had 2 wood ‘spacers’ (3/8” x 3/4 ” x 7”) between the bed and cab, held in place with 2 round head wood screws each. If this is so, what is their location on the front panel? Were they installed prior to painting?
 
Charles,

In " some beds had 2 wood ' spacers' ", I found some info in Restoring the Model "A"
Pickup book, page 16 ( a not-so-informative book ). It shows the holes in the back
of the bed.

I have a question for you, in your post last month about the door trim pieces,
the large curved part and the oval escutcheon, which vendor had them ( A&L ),
I didn't find them in the JS. Any help?

Thanks, Dudley
 
out of the country at the moment so dont have access to catalogs but i suspect A&L ... great quality and i tried to support them whenever i can ... i understand Jr may be carrying on the business.... would really hate to see the hobby lose this valuable resource

i see them on pix of several original unrestored cars
 
charles.. the early roadster pickups were built on phaeton subrails and the extended past the cab and the bed mounted on them....The subrails of the early beds did not mount on the 2'' X 4'' wood...the rails were shaped like the phaeton subrails....tail lite bracket mounted under bed on steel crossmember...
 
yes sir, mine has the extended subrails as you describe ..
my question is about the possibilty of small strips of wood bolted to the front of the bed as spacers between the bed and the cab, likely to prevent rattling.
 

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Does anyone have a copy of the "Restoring the Model "A" Pickup book by Mack Hill?
I would appreciate a scan of page 16 showing holes in the back of the bed .. this may answer my question.
 
I have scanned page 16 as you requested. I hope it turns out. Don/WI
 

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Charles,

Looking threw the debris field in the back 40, I found the back of the bed panel
I have has the 4 holes. The holes are NOT square on the vertical( off camber ),or
side to side( from the second stiffener rib ), but still shows the length an width of the
wood on the back side. Do you need the sizes?

Let me know, Dudley
 
back1.jpg
back2.jpg
back3.jpg


Charles,

Hope this helps. The bolt holes were( I think ) a " J " drill size.
The spread between the holes, 4.25 on one, the other 3.875.
The wood, 1-1.125 x 8 , going off the stain.

The best hole looks " punched " NOT drilled, the bolt hole spread makes me suspicious.
What do you have on yours???

Dudley
 
interesting to me is the significant difference in the location of the screw holes relative to the 'ribs' in the panel. note how much closer the holes are to the second rib in the photo in Mack Hils' book on restoring the pickup (attached) while yours seem to be centered between the ribs. my panel had numerous small gauge 'bullet' holes that I welded up and finished before i heard about the possibility of these original holes/wood bumper strips & i was naive enough that i failed to take 'before' photos.

my understanding is that a "J" drill is .277 inches (slightly larger than 1/4")

i assume the wood was held in place with a round heard 'screw' through this hole as opposed to a bolt as the bolt would rub on the cab.

anyone have any info as to when this 'bumper' arrangement may have been started/discontinued.

i note that the wood in my bed is about 2" longer than the blueprint dimensions shown in Henry's Lady (pg 112) ... a lesson i learned the hard way.
 

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just noticed your comment re: spread between the holes being different ... wouldn't this suggest that they were not punched during the original stamping.
 
Charles,

I, like you, question the holes and the location. Something else interesting is your
enlargement of the photo in #13. When enlarged, using the courser(sp), the finger,
(as a ruler)the holes aren't square or evenly spaced.

On closer inspection of my panel, the holes were drilled from the cab side, which
tells me the bed was not on the truck.

You would think with 600 plus views somebody else has something to say, maybe
Doug or Marco.

Dudley
 
I went into my frozen shop this morning and snapped this photo and took some measurments. The distance between the holes varies, 4 15/16" between holes on one side, 4 3/4" on the other side. Also looks to be drilled from the cab side of the panel. There was no wood on the bed panel when I got it.

It would seem to indicate that someone "free-handed" the holes with a drill and then installed the strips with wood screws.

PickupBedHoles.jpg
 
thanks for your effort on my behalf! I owe you a bottle of NyQuil :o

hard to tell in the photo, but the screw holes seem to be rather large considering how little wood they would have held.
 
Yes, there isn't much room between the cab and bed on my pickup. I don't think the wood piece could have been more than 1/2" thick.
 
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