Box Install

[hogfarm]

Well I am almost ready to put the box back on my 54 Chevy.I have a problem. when I took off the bed I could notreach the nuts under the frame,so I cut the heads off and pulled the box,with wood still installed.Now it is time to put box on and I cant see how I am going to get to the hold down nuts.Do I need to put box on with no wood installed? that would be very hard to do,gas tank is in the way and there would be a lot of bolts to tighten from under the truck,can I drill a large hole to get socket in from bottom

[_Ogre]

i'm sure there's ten different ways to install the bed, i did this
first, i bolted the sills on the frame and routed recesses for the bolt heads, this hides the big bolts
fully assembled the bed with the 2 outer boards bolted in, dropped the tank, bolted on the sills and placed the bed on
then i laid the bed wood in and started drilling and bolting, my son in law did all the under bed stuff

the gas tank should be installed to drop out from under the truck
otherwise you'll need to pull the bed to work on the gas gauge or in my case the fuel pump
i can pull my tank in an hour if it's not full

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by hogfarm

Well I am almost ready to put the box back on my 54 Chevy.I have a problem. when I took off the bed I could notreach the nuts under the frame,so I cut the heads off and pulled the box,with wood still installed.Now it is time to put box on and I cant see how I am going to get to the hold down nuts.Do I need to put box on with no wood installed? that would be very hard to do,gas tank is in the way and there would be a lot of bolts to tighten from under the truck,can I drill a large hole to get socket in from bottom

well my friend, I've had the same problem with my 56 truck, so I took out the gas tank. Mine is bolted in from underneath with straps that hold it up to the frame. after removing the tank, I was able to reach and tighten all bolts. good luck.

[hogfarm]

Taking the tank out would be hard,I have deciced to manfacture some square blocks drilled and tapped 3/8" then weld them in,Since I will not be able to tighten the carrage bolts I have located (not easy to find) some 3/8"x4" button head socket bolts,they can be installed from the top with the wood in bed

[_Ogre]

otherwise you'll need to pull the bed to work on the gas gauge or in my case the fuel pump

you've been warned

any tank that slides in the frame can be bolted under the frame

[OrrieG]

Hopefully you will always be driving in town. I designed all my stuff to be field dropped replaced in the boonies with standard hand tools. Over 25 years of off road use hunting, fishing and camping in the sticks I had my share of red neck repairs to get back to the city.

[hogfarm]

I was looking at the gas tank yesterday and even if it was bloted to the bottom of the frame,I could not get it out from bottom,could not get to the bolts.In all my years I have never had an issue with gas tank failure.I get an idea on how to do things,but they might change 10 times before it gets done