Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

In the momentary meantime, I cut the grooves in the boards for the bed on the table saw at work:

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...3s-672x378.jpg

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

This is exactly how i tackled mine also. Do not get me wrong... there were days i was like, this is done, i am done..... but a couple days later.... i am right back out there and attacking it. I will tell you this, after you get all that done, the feeling of accomplishment will out weigh your overwhelming feelings you had. SkinnyG damn my friend this is looking awesome!!!! Great job!!

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Your sons render is cool! gives it that cool look and kinda like a comic book look in a real world setting. i like it.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Two wrongs might make a right.

In cutting the bed wood, I accidentally grooved the outer boards that the bed sides sit on. They are apparently not supposed to be grooved at all.

Except when I placed the new angle strips, I accounted for the groove I was going to put in. So it's probably going to be ok.

We'll see.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Was intending to work on the hood today, but instead I placed all the freshly grooved bed boards in to see how they looked, and discovered I mis-estimated board spacing by 1/32" per side, and need to trim the end boards some more. No matter.

Then I fired up the heat gun and scraped undercoating off the bed crossmembers, and fully welded the risers so I can do hidden bed-to-frame fasteners.

And my hands and wrists have been killing me lately, so it looks like I'm not going to get much done this weekend.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Grrr.

I ordered Trex decking from my local Home Depot. The three 20' lengths arrived, except the forklift operator drove over them, chipping one and breaking another.

They ordered me two more 12' board to replace the two board lengths I needed, except while I said "non-grooved" what they ordered was "grooved." Didn't think it mattered.

But guess what - it does. The "grooved" Trex is thicker by about 1/16". Which means the boards I placed at the ends are too thick, and I'll have to re-cut the 1/8" part of the grooves on the rest of the boards, as I referenced the end boards to make the last cuts, and the rest of the boards are thinner, so those cuts aren't deep enough.

And of course, nobody is at the "special order desk" until Monday. Grrr.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Dang....

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

I cut the thicker "grooved" Trex board down about 1/16" by setting the table blade height to "scary" and trying to avoid finger contact as I pushed the thicker boards through.

Just as a reference: Trex Select comes in 5.5" widths. I used seven boards at full width, and the end boards were cut to 3.5" wide. This seemed to work fine, but you may want to do your own measurement.

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...48-672x378.jpg

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...71-672x378.jpg

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Well i want to go this route, so if you do not mind i may ask you some questions when i get to that point..... should only be months away.... lol

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

I'm having second thoughts about how I did the end board widths. I cut them so they did not go past the bolts. I think they should go past the bolts to better support the sides.

It looks like I should have cut the end boards at 4".

Which I -had- done, and then second-guessed myself.

Guess I'm ordering another board....

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

2nd round is always better 90% of the time ;)

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

This is 3rd time around.

Just called Home Depot, and GUESS WHAT HAS JUST BEEN DISCONTINUED.

Nice. :(

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

So the 3.5's it is. Don't sweat it.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

How large of a gap between the bed side and the edge of the board is acceptable? I currently have them against the bed side bolt; the bolt does not go through any board.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Ahh.....

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Whew.

A different hardware store in town, that had told me in person back in December that they do not carry composite deck boards, actually carries composite deck boards. And actually had two 20' lengths of Trex Winchester.

When I had asked one dude at the order desk, another piped up that Winchester is discontinued, and they had none. My dude said they list two in the computer. The yard guy couldn't find them, so I went in to get reimbursed, but my order guy took me to the secret stash of composite.

What a schmozzle.

I will post up the confirmed widths for the end boards in a while.

A contributer to this mess is that I did not notice that the angle strips do not fit in grooves on the end boards, but rather fit on top. That is not how I installed the angle strips - I set them to be at the same height as all the rest of the skid strips.

I'll need to adjust how I groove the end boards to fit how I mounted the angle strips.

Issues, issues, issues.

I should probably take up drinking.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

LoL. After the work will be my suggestion.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

SCOTI - do the skid strip 1/4" round portions actually touch the bottom of the wood grooves, or do they hover and the flat "bolt" section only touches it's wood groove "step"? Or both?

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

On my old stuff (OE wood) the rounded edge touches. I believe most 'new' pre-cut wood doesn't. I recall Mar-k providing dimensions for those attempting to cut their own that gave a range of depth for the groove depending on how 'high' off the wood you wanted the strips.

Point being... I imagine it depends on the manufacturer, age, &/or personal likes.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Ok. I can roll with that. Thanks!

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Just read the whole thing. Fantastic work, please keep it up!

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Ok. By my math, it looks like if you're using 5.5" Trex composite boards, you will need SEVEN boards 5-1/2" wide, and TWO boards 4-5/16" wide.

This should work with the 1/2" gap between boards, and 1/16" gap either side of the skid strips.

Film at 11.

I'll confirm when I'm good and ready to run everything through the table saw.... again.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

So.... I recall the 1/2" gap between boards is to allow the space for wood expansion w/moisture cycling right? With the Trex, I'm curious if that can be minimized since a composite board shouldn't have such issues?

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Mar-K says the 1/16" gap between the wood groove and the skid strip is critical.

Trex instructions still require gaps, at ends and at widths because they still expand.

I cut the boards at 77" length instead of wood's 77-1/8", because the composite will expand in every direction, whereas wood will change less in length and more in width. Some say the composite expands more than wood. Some folks here just cut them up like wood, installed them like wood, and they work fine.

The 1/2" between the boards is really only 1/16" of movement until the grooves hit the skid strips, so you're not talking a lot of width change really. I imagine you could close the gap, but it wouldn't make a difference (other then you'd need another skid strip and another board to fill the collectively reduced gap).

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Gotcha. I looked into the Trex initially because I wanted something that would not distort like wood can/does w/the moisture cycling issue. Once I found the width/thickness options were limited, I decided to just use wood. My '64 had what appeared to be the original wood still in place. A couple of the short board fore/aft of the wheel tubs & one full length board were split in half; the rest is in decent shape for being >50yrs old.

I figured advanced coating on some new wood should see it through MY expiration date @ this point.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

I re-cut two new end boards on the tablesaw today, to the new measurements and grooved to fit. No picture because it doesn't really look any different. Well, the end board look different, but they will look no different once installed.

Still irked that this board is discontinued. At least I have two spare boards I will store somewhere.

Hopefully get back at it Saturday.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Saturdays are going to be less productive, as the kids have a 3-hour shin-dig smack at mid-day - takes a big chunk out of doing something useful with the day. Not enjoying that, but it's good for the kids.

Much happier with the fitment of the new end boards. No pic, because it looks no different.

Also corrected irregularities in the drip rail edge. Nothing magical there.

Also cut some scrap steel to fab up the panhard rod. I have what will be the tabs at the trailing arm end cut out, but not finished. I'll see how far I get tomorrow.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

SkinnyG - You are talking about the Trex boards you used in the bed, correct?

i am really seriously looking into this. My only issue is when i was looking at them they show a groove cut into each edge. is this same type of boards you used? I was just wondering in reference to how you cut in the cuts needed for the metal strips that hold down the wood.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Trex comes in grooved and NOT grooved. I bought NOT grooved.

I cut the boards for the skid strips with a table saw, following the dimensions at GMCPauls. It will eat your table saw blade, or you can spend $80 for a Diablo Composite blade.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Panhard mounts tacked in:

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...3s-672x378.jpg

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...4s-672x378.jpg

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...7s-672x378.jpg

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...5s-672x378.jpg

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...6s-672x378.jpg

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

nice work. I like the adjustability.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

It's not much adjustability - the roll center is largely dictated by where it mounts to the 2" block on the right. I'm reasonably sure this will be ride height, but I might be wrong - so being able to move the panhard according to final ride height is good.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Aw.... this is did not know or see. Thanks, and thanks for all the info here.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Finished the panhard, but I'm not happy with the side-to-side motion of the bar, with the front-to-rear motion of the truck arms. Looks like binding to me. So I'm going to cut it down and go spherical rod ends.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

SkinnyG

What year / model fuel tank did you order -
I have a 62 suburban that looks to be a good fit

Thanks

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

GM18B from Rock Auto, '92 S10 Blazer. It's somewhat tall; I have a 4" raised bed floor.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Scraping undercoating off in anticipation of hood repair:

https://www.gwellwood.com/wordpress/...9s-672x378.jpg

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

I saw a video where they filled the floorboard up with dry ice. After the floorboard froze, they chipped the undercoating off in hard frozen chunks. I'm going to try that someday.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

I'm using a heat gun, it's coming up pretty easy. Gooey, but easy.

Re: SkinnyG's '61 Apache
 

Yep i have to do this soon... not excited about it... lol