Bed Repair for Ol John Lee

[Sharps40]

Finally, got an excuse to pull the bed wood, and is it ever punky. In addition, about half the bolts that actually secure the bed to the frame are missing. So, replaceing them with bolts as I go. Some are temporary and get replaced with the right zinc coated steel carriage bolts when the wood goes back on. But, the wood install waits till 20 June. Dad will be here and I hope to have everything prepped so we can mill the pine, paint it and bolt up the bed. Might have to have him knock some rust off that steel for black paint too...seems that was my main job growing up...pay back sucks!!!!!!

For now, strips and angle strips for the bed side are on the way....with the first of the wood pulled, the rest of the bolts are easily snipped with lock cutters. None of the strips are salvagable. Breaking the spot welds on the bedside angle strips is clean and easy, two or three blows with a cold steel chisel (screwdriver for me) and hammer and it pulls out clean leaving a nice hole in the bed side. These will be measured, marked and transfered to the new bedside strips for replacement with bolts. (I don't weld). The head of the bed is pretty well rotted out so the existing shelf the wood rests on will be cut away and replaced with a painted piece of angle aluminum or steel also bolted in. Finally, two of the cross ties have a bit of rot but a simple fix for the next 20 years will be sistering a section of steel or aluminum strap with a bend to tie the cross pieces to the bedside. All in all, it should tighten the bed back up really snug and eliminate most of the squeeks and drumming.

Last decision is pine painted black as original or oak. I guess I need to make a trip to the wood store.

Boy, that suspension that Bigten did over sure looks good from above too.

[Sharps40]

Prolly tread on some pureists toes tonight. So, before any restoration guru decides to jerk a knot in my bunghole....reiterating, Ol John Lee came out of a garage after a 5 year sit. I'm third owner. This is the second county John Lee has been titled in in near 48 years. He's ever been a working NC truck.

This is not a restoration...I traded three rifles for Ol John Lee in order to have a reliable daily driver, the reasonably good condition and great reliability is a huge plus. I started with the intent to keep Ol John Lee in his working clothing as long as possible. As such, this is no restoration. I am working toward reliable, safe and near original aged but safe condition as possible...not quite a rat rod, just reliable middle aged. Its likely if there ever is a frame off restoration, it'll be some future owner.

Nuff said, so when you see the next few photos of bed removal and clean up, remember, every truck needs a good bed (this one was punked out), minor repairs suitable for repairing the back to sturdy condition will be made (but not with welding, since the metal sides and front will eventually need replaced and there is no money for such a big job right now), the bed will be safe as 4 of the missing hold down bolts are replaced.
[hr]
After pulling the passenger side bed side angle strip, (drill out bolt heads, cut spot welds with cold steel chisel), I simply slipped the bolt cutters in under the rest of the bolts and in 30 minutes had the rotted wood and rotted skid strips out and on the floor. I'll hang onto the punked out wood for now as it will serve as patterns when I finally choose the wood...I am still leaning toward yellow pine painted black like this base model came out to the showroom with in 1964. I started a fire with the grinder early, poured my tea down on it and switched back to the drill....no sense in burnin down the house.



The wood out and the frame is pretty straight and in reasonably good condition. The bed sides and header are okay, the header being in the worst shape.



Here is the passenger side of the header. As you can see, rust ate away the lower shelf where the bed wood and skid strips bolt on. For this fix, I'll simply trim the rotted metal and install either an aluminum or steel angle bar painted....black of course. Really all this angle does is keep the wood from curling up with time, so not a super lot of strength needed and a good piece of angle bolted onto the header will stiffin it up nicely. Overall, the repair will be virtually unnoticeable and should serve for many years to come.



As for the bed mounting...the forward four bed to frame bolts were loose, the wood was punked and rotted, nothing to grab onto and you could shift the bed by hand. Out back? The four bed to frame bolts were completly missing. So, in the rear pockets, I installed a bolt on each side with lock washer. These will stay in place. The other six bed to frame bolts are temporary and will be replaced with proper zinc plated carriage bolts when the wood and skid strips go back in.



Lower right is another bed to frame pocket with a new bolt, nut and washer installed. Center is a temporary bolt in the bed side which secures the rear fender strut. I'll be driving Ol John Lee for a few weeks w/o a bed, no sense in having the fenders and brackets wagging in the wind. I'll eventually reinstall an original style phillips bolt with nut and washer. Each of the little holes is a spot weld...the bedside is rusted thru at each and every spot weld. Must have something to do with the change in temper of the metal or just metal fatigue from vibration. No worries, my cold steel chisel (thank goodness for stanley flat tip screwdrivers, best cheep cold steel chisel ever) popped each one out neatly. I'll simple drill out each for a bolt/nut/washer when I reinstall the left and right side angle strips...the angle strips bolt thru the bed wood and stiffen the bedsides considerably....can't weld and the holes are perfectally positioned, so.....



And after some light clean up of the metal and heavily rusted spots, some primer and a bit of black paint to seal up the steel for at least a few more years.



I'll keep going on this job as soon as the angle strips get here. Dad arrives on 20 June, he's in for a suprise cause I'm gonna put him to work painting metal and milling wood for the bed. Then, I'm gonna help him install the new bed. It'll make a nice Father/Son project for a couple days while he's here to visit.

[Sharps40]

So, two more drills that were in the flood burned up....thats it, I'm out of drills. Hells bells, lucky the last on burned up on the last hole and it was only sheetmetal work, nothing in the way of difficult. But I'd begun to think differntly as I broke 2 #29 bits for the rivits and dulled a 1/4" bit (I think it was dull to start with, I don't care that I got it out of the package 5 minutes before) but, all the non structural repairs are done and the bed is essentially ready for Dad to arrive on the 20th and help me with that Son and Father bed replacement project he knows nothing about!

Fortunatly, all the structural members of Ol John Lees bed are in fine froghair shape. Each secure point is relatively rust free with thick metal and plenty of residual strength after near 48 years outside with basically wet wood sitting on it all the time.

The non structural cross ties and bed header left a bit to be desired. Still plenty of metal but a few places where rot ate out the bolt holes past the normal size washers to be used. The ties I am repairing are the three floating members that serve to stiffen the bed left to right and keep it from warping/waiving.

Borrowing from carpentry, I sister in some strap aluminium. It will be plenty strong as the member itself is not compromised...just needs a bit of extra metal to drill a right size hole for the bed wood bolts to grab on to. Once the pairs of outside bed wood bolts/nuts are installed, the aluminum will form a sandwich and be more than strong enough to hold the wood down and function correctly to keep the entire bed from developing a waive from left to right.





In the lower photo you can see the predrilled angle iron that I used to repair the bed header. Plenty of predrilled holes and guess what? They basically line up where the need to for the skid strips to tie in. I had plenty of good metal left in the bed header just above the old shelf so left it in place to guide and position the new angle iron shelf. Primed and painted the back of the new angle iron and installed 3 1/4" bolts with fender and lock washers on the back side to spread the load up and out into the stronger metal above the shelf. I'm pleased with the result. Here's a shot I remembered to take before gettin all the dark grey primer on the front side.



Here is a couple shots after the paint is applied. I think the good news is it will be plenty strong to hold the ends of the skid strips in place and it stiffens up the header again. The best news is it will virtually disappear once the wood and skid strips are installed. Sturdy, serviceable and will be just fine in the long haul.

[Sharps40]

Bed components arrived today. Seven skid strips, 2 bedside angle strips and all the necessary bolts, nuts and washers.

Nice straight, heavy gage bed side angle strips. Zinc coated so no rust. All the holes are prepunched for the carriage head bolts. The gauge of the metal is a bit thicker than the rusted mess I pulled off. I suppose that means the new ones are bout the right thickness. Plenty stiff anyways. Here they are fresh out of the package from LMC. So far, everything I've gotten from LMC has been fine quality...some of it imported but available, fast, decent and it all fits and works.



And a bit of the smell of Rustoleum dark auto primer. This stuff goes on great, is wet sandable and the dark color really coats faster and more evenly than light grey. I suspect it'd be great for panel repair, really showing off the waves and pits since its dark. A bit harder to topcoat with black though, can be difficult for my myopic vision to see just where paint ends and primer begins...just need good strong light to make a decent job of it.



I think I'll save painting the 7 skid strips for Dad when he arrives. He deserves a chance to snort paint too. Sides, then I can grump at him for laying it on too thick or gettin a run or a bug or missin a spot...kinda brings back fond memories of my youth wrenching with him on the family 1937 Dodge 4 door sedan.

With luck, some black paint on these tomorrow and then using a stick of wood or three, jig them up and bolt them to the bed sides.

[Sharps40]

I think bolts are good on the angle strips for now, its sort of a theme whith old trucks, mechanical fastners everywhere and not a lot of spot welding till you look at the roof to cab junctions.

Angle strips for bedsides installed today. The jig to establish the proper height is a section of the original bedside wood. I'll mill a new piece to slip under but for now, lay on the wood, lay on the angle strip, mark the backside of the angle strip from the existing spot weld holes and drill. I'm using 1/4" grade 5 bolts, nuts, fender and lock washers for this install. Plenty of strength, at least as much as the original spot welds and removeable down the road when it comes time to do some repair work on the bed sides, header and tail gate. I also drilled the holes just a bit oversize so I'll have some wiggle room to line up all the angle strip to bed bolts later on this month.

Here is the left side install.



And here about half way through the right side install.



Now I can't leave the box painted with rough edges from the first coat of primer so, a tape line is established using the embossing in the header and the bed sides. When done, I'll have a relatively straight paint line. I want to keep the black color low in the bed so its not such an obvious repair when looking at the truck. Kinda let them old blue coveralls shine when I'm standing back looking at the truck and can see into the top half of the bed area.



A coat of primer next and then some black paint to top it off. I'll get back here when the paint is dry and the tape is off with some final pictures of todays work.
[hr]
This part of the job is done. Decent paint job, relatively straight lines, paint low in the box, everything protected for several more years. Next up is an exhaust heat shield to protect the bed wood from drying out and I need to sister in a strip of aluminum betwen the bed side connector back at the tailgate. 3 of the 9 bolt holes are a bit ate out so a sandwitch of metal underneath will give all the bed wood bolts and equal bite when bolted in.

[Sharps40]

Its been about 5 months and 3900 miles with Ol John Lee now. Immediate mechanical issues have been addressed and the start/run/stop performance is about as fine as anyone could ask for. The only other mechanicals I forsee in the next 6 to 10 months are radiator, exhaust and front suspension, new brake lines.

For now, I'm focusing on some useability and looks issues. I'm installing the new bed wood this month with Dad and the windshield visors now to replace the old ones that are long lost. While at it, I've buffed all the glass inside and out with plastic polishing compound. Except for a nick here and there and some scoreing from the wiper blade tips over the years the glass is back to crystal clear and just fine shape for daily driving. I also buffed up the dash with the plastic polish and an old blue scrubbie sponge. Now its relatively clean, the doors, roof and pillers look grubby and in need of clean up attention. Another day perhaps.

But, the subject of this post is the $2.75 One hour Waterless and Low Effort Wash/Buff/Wax and Seal treatment. Borrowing from Dad and Grandpap (who used kerosene vice the product Dad and I choose) I figured to spend some time removing the 47+ years of greasy finger prints, bugs and most expecially, the chalky white paint dust that is forever tempting the grandmonsters to draw funny faces on the doors with their fingers.

As you can see, in about 5 minutes I have a significant improvement in the looks of the back of Ol John Lees cab and roof, Clean glass I can see through and one less place for kids to finger paint on....



A single product and two rags. Spray on a liberal coat of WD40. Rub off the chalk and grease and bugs with a terry rag in a circular motion. Wait a couple minutes while coating adjacent area....wipe off the buffed area with a dry clean terry cloth. Pretty significant difference over the entire truck.



Here in about 40 minutes the entire cab is done top to bottom and as the pic shows, lots better than the untouched bed and fenders.



And 20 minutes after that, the entire truck is wiped clean. I've tried to remove chalk with buffing compounds, its a mighty bit of work as the pads really clog. And, since there is no plan to repaint, an solvent/oil like WD40 does a marvelous job of floating most of the muck off the surface. It'll prolly take another time or two of spray and wipe to get all the chalk off but thats fine. In the meantime, Ol John Lee looks snazzy and smells like Chick Magnet. I'll do like Dad and Grandpa always said, park it in the sun, it'll dry out nice and look good for more than a few washes. Less time waxing and washing, more time driving and enjoying.

[Sharps40]

Ol John Lee is a base model truck. He came from the factory blue with a black painted bed and not much else beyond a good small block V8 Made in Flint MI on 5 May 1964. His body and running gear were assembled in Baltimore MD sometime in 1964, maybe mid to end of the year as he was the 26082nd truck to come off the Chevy line that year. So there have been some basics that were never installed. He came with no rear view mirror, no right side rear view (though in both cases, holes are drilled, plugged and backing plates were welded in on the line). Neither did he come with back up lights or a switch. The wipers are single speed. The heater is the base model, reach under the dash to switch from heat to defrost. There was only one windshield visor, drivers side, and it is long lost. And the tranmission is the base 3 speed, unsyncronized first gear....with a 3.73/1 final drive in the pumkin....

So, for long term useability and cause GoodWife Sharps dictated "Make it So"...I went to the junk yard and scavenged two windshield visor brackets from a 1965 deluxe model. A couple of the replacement factory cardboard style visiors, in matching gold/beige and both sides of the cab now have much needed sunblockers.

All four holes were already drilled for the driver side visor, it was a simple bolt up installation, slip on the visor and finally a place to hang the garage door opener.

The passenger side, had the holes dimpled next to the spot welds holding on the backer plate...the inner skin of the roof is quite thin and the backer makes sure the sheet metal screws have enought to bite into for a snug install.

Here I drilled out the first dimple, (can't really see any of them in the pic but they are there, at least the other two were not right on a spot weld) and what a bugger, it was right on the backer spot weld....started with small bits and worked my way up till I had a hole diameter that allowed the screw to cut threads through that super hard spot welded area. Good golly, them spot welds are hard compared to the other dimples, not on spot welds.



The factory center hole on the driver side is 1 1/4" diameter to fit in the visor mechanism. A bimetal hole saw, run slow, and in about 3 or 5 rotations, a nice clean hole of the proper size. Careful not to push to hard and dent or pierce the roof!



Double checking, fit up the visor with the first screw snugged down, mark the other two holes with a sharpie and......



Drill em out now I know the right drill size, next size up from 9/64" but not quite....so work the screws in and out a bit to tap the treads. The screws are original Chevy and a darn sight tougher than anything at the hardware store, squeeks cutting into the thick backer but I am quite satisified, modern screws woulda twisted off in the holes. Not so the old stuff, made right, lasts long. A pleasure.



A couple shots of the install, new visors, new rear view mirror, Crazy Frog on the dash rockin to mono sound and holdin on to two small 8 point horns...me and Crazy are thinking how to mount the horns as part of a rifle rack.




[hr]
Just because you don't have a bed dosn't mean you can't haul cargo. John Lees first offical load under new managment is his bed....the decision is in, its pine, painted black just like original.



I have to make a few adjustments to the bed, the angle brackets are in and having eyeballed the bed postion, the bed is crooked by about 1/4" on the passenger side. Loosening the bolts will allow for the adjustment, the thru holes in the bed to frame brackets are all slotted to allow the bed to slide around a bit and get everything lined up. Here is the pile. Wood to be milled, primed and top coated with rustoleum bed paint. (Yep, it works on primed wood, I asked em.) All I need to get yet is some sheet metal so when I put in the other two cross braces I can mount a heat shield to keep some of the heat off my new bed underside.



Just waiting for Dad to roll in on the 20th. He still don't know about the project. Should be fun, I'm really looking forward to it, its always good to spend time with Pops, hunting, building furnature, sittin by the fire, fishin......

[Sharps40]

Getting some of the hard work out of the way before Dad shows up. Mostly I need to realign the bed a bit, just a squooch but its heavy and if needed I have a strapping young grandson to assist. Dad would help but I don't want him hurt. He's recovered a bit from a broken back at 70 years old and now at nearly 73, he still pushes it but I gotta mitigate the Wrath of Momma. So, get this out of the way and focus on some work with Dad that we can do with minimal grunting and risk.

All the pine needs rabbits and dados milled in it...each edge is first milled just a whisker over 5/8" wide and just under 1/4" deep. This will eventually establish a lip for the skid strips to latch on to. The second cut is a groove for the edge of the skid strip to fall into, its a bit under 3/8" wide and 3/8" deep. The opposite side of the bed side strips also needs a groove 1/8" deep and 1.5" wide to slip up under the bed side angle strips. As you can see in the photo, the wood is all milled at this point and temporarily placed under the angle strip to mark the holes for the carrage bolts. Each hole is drilled 7/16" diameter, same as the factory holes.





And the final layup of 2 coats of primer. Bed skid strips are 77" long and the wood is trimed to 76 7/8" with the space in the bed being 77 1/8". Room for expansion, no worries.



I'll blacken up these strips of wood this week with the lightly textured Rustoleum bed coating and work on an install and final alignment of the bed to the frame.

[Sharps40]

A day and a wake up and Dad will be here. I'm just back from the Great Cheese State (WI) and the last of the really hard work is done. I loosened all the bolts securing the bed to the frame and got it lined up pretty well. Well enough to get the cross bucks in place and drill the holes for the wooden edge pieces. All the bolts lined up and a bit of wrenching and the bed is square and snug. The hard work is completed, the rest of it, Dad and I can handle together...though I suspect I'll do a lot of the underside torqueing. I'm gonna have Dad on Fetch/Carry, Paint Brigade, Parts Placement and Overall Supervision. It'll be a good day spent together capped with a ride to the corner store for a cigar and a coke. Sorta like the old days but then it was a walk to the corner store for Penny Candy and a Coke.



And here is the heat shield installed just over the hump in the exhaust. This was a rather cracked and brittle section of the original bed wood. Nothing fancy, just some light galvanized sheet metal riveted into the position this optional "accessory" would have been had it been installed when new. I suppose I oughta find a good pipe smith here local to bend up a new exhaust, that one in the picture is looking pretty frail and that old glass pack muffler is more than a bit annoying at speed.

[Sharps40]

Today was the big day. Dads 73rd Birthday and Ol John Lee's bed reinstall. Here it is all laid out. Bed wood, milled and grooved and all the bed strips primed and painted. All the necessary bolts, nuts and washers, just about 300 + total pieces of wood, metal and fasteners to get Ol John Lee back in ship shape for hauling cargo or chicks (don't tell Mom or Good Wife!).





At this point we've measured, marked and drilled for the bed to frame hold down bolts and started loos fitting of the driverside of the bed. So far so good, most all the bolts line up, those that don't drop in need only a bit of tweeking to get to a fit. In any event, the center board eventually met the edge of the center hold down hole, so we knew we were tracking square and it would all fit on the right side too.




[hr]
Well, back later with rest of the pics. Imgur just crapped out again.
[hr]
Well, Imgur just crapped out....back later with pics of the rest of the job.

Last board going in...tightening bolts as we go...



From the top side, almost done, a few bolts to install on the header strip.


[hr]
A few shots of the underside. Looks pretty good from here too, even with dirty glasses.






[hr]
And finished....a place for the spare tire and a well deserved smoke break.





Me and Dad, Mechanics? Maybe. Tired and ready for Tacos? You bet!

[glos55]

Great pictures!!! except for the last 2....just kidding!! Nice job on the bed. The WD40 sure made a difference!

[1963c-10]

Sharps40...i have an underbed tire holder off my 63 if your interested. Canget that tire out of the back to preserve all that hard work you've just done. Were only 30min away.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

Sharps40...i have an underbed tire holder off my 63 if your interested. Canget that tire out of the back to preserve all that hard work you've just done. Were only 30min away.

Thanks, yep I need it. Lemmie measure tire clearance to the installed tow hitch. If spare will fit with the hitch, I'll take it. Out hunting a bit so I'll measure today/tomorrow and PM ya. Meet up might be late next week then. I work at Bragg, could meet ya easy location, Guns Plus in Spring Lake. I'll let ya know soonest.

[1963c-10]

I know where guns plus is. Maybe 15min from my work. Im on the hope mills /fayetteville border, but have no problem meeting you. I had this one on my 63 short stepside and removed it when i did the fender mounted spare. My old 63 had a tow hitch and the spare fit under the bed just fine.

[derail]

From the time stamp on the posts, you must be a really fast typer! Looks like your dad even drew a little blood. Looks good. Keep it up.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by derail

From the time stamp on the posts, you must be a really fast typer! Looks like your dad even drew a little blood. Looks good. Keep it up.

I have been keeping a record over on NC Gun Owners and NC Hunt and Fish....just discovered this site and after reading/lurking for a month or so decided to join up and post up. Good site and a bit more focused on trucks than my favority firearms/hunting sites. Figured I'd grab selected portions of the threads there and share em here. Ol John Lee is a work in progress.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

I know where guns plus is. Maybe 15min from my work. Im on the hope mills /fayetteville border, but have no problem meeting you. I had this one on my 63 short stepside and removed it when i did the fender mounted spare. My old 63 had a tow hitch and the spare fit under the bed just fine.

I'll get in touch with you next week. Looks like the clearance left to right on the hitch is fine and the just shy of 28" diameter tire should clear the panhard bar and the front of the hitch with about an inch to spare. I even found the original hanger bolt, broken off in the drivers frame rail, unencumbered by the hitch assembly. So, should be a go. Will send ya a PM too. Thanks.

[likaroc13]

nice job! and what better way than to share it with your dad ....i also love the colorful commentary, lol...reminds me why I like being from the good ole South