Stepside Bed Question
 

Ive done bed wood in my 65 fleet, but Iam wanting to do it now on my 74 stepside. Question is..are the bottom side pieces spot welded to the sides? I removed all the wood except the 2 side pieces of wood because the "L" shaped side metal seems attached.

Re: Stepside Bed Question
 

These are the pieces Iam asking about.

Re: Stepside Bed Question
 

Looking at the page in the Illustration catalog, looks like it is part of the bedside. I have no experience with stepsides, other than admiring some nicely restored ones.

Looking closely it appears there is two spot welds, or two bolts bolting it to the side panel.

Re: Stepside Bed Question
 

I just finished doing my bed and the angle strips are spot welded to the bed sides. To remove the boards on either side, you need to unholy the bedsides from the crossmembers and lift them off. If you also need to replace the steel, I believe there is a good how-to on mar-k's website. It involves drilling out the spot welds and welding the new angle strips in.
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Re: Stepside Bed Question
 

You can replace the wood without removing the spot welded angle strip. You have to destroy the original wood to get it out. Cut notches in the new wood where the bolts go through the angle strip and the wood will slip right in. You can't see the notches when it's installed. Here is a picture of mine that I recently did.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...psbfd57570.jpg

Re: Stepside Bed Question
 

Thanks for the replies. I guess either leave them in or drill out all the spot welds to replace them like this..I prefer the look with ALL the stainless .

Re: Stepside Bed Question
 

They are spot welded about every three inches, so that is a lot of drilling.