64 Step side bed help needed.

[Green77bus]

Hello,
My husband and I just bought a 64 short bed Step side c10, this winter we are looking at putting a wood bed back in it. The previous owner had a piece of plywood screwed down for the bed. We have the front and back sill's but that is all we have. I am wondering how many of the reinforcement sills are required for a short bed and how many of the sills that are screwed to the frame are required. We looked at a couple of similar trucks and they all seem to be set up different. Any help would be great. Plan on ordering up the stuff soon so that as soon as snow starts to fly and it is off the road until spring we can take the bed off and get started. Thanks for any information that you can send my way. We will post pictures once we get going working on it.

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by Green77bus

Hello,
My husband and I just bought a 64 short bed Step side c10, this winter we are looking at putting a wood bed back in it. The previous owner had a piece of plywood screwed down for the bed. We have the front and back sill's but that is all we have. I am wondering how many of the reinforcement sills are required for a short bed and how many of the sills that are screwed to the frame are required. We looked at a couple of similar trucks and they all seem to be set up different. Any help would be great. Plan on ordering up the stuff soon so that as soon as snow starts to fly and it is off the road until spring we can take the bed off and get started. Thanks for any information that you can send my way. We will post pictures once we get going working on it.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. You can order any part you need from vendors like LMC Trucks or others.

[Lugnutz65]

a few more.

[Captainfab]

For bed parts I would recommend Mar-K. Their parts are made in the USA.

[Green77bus]

Thank You Lugnutz65 that is exactly what I needed. I have seen the beds many different ways and this is one of them but I was not quite sure what was right or wrong. The pictures help a ton. Now I know what I need to order to get started on the bed. Did you go with the parts from Mar-K for your bed? I know there are some parts places that you can order from and some are better than others. Would love to know who you used for parts.
Erin

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by Green77bus

Thank You Lugnutz65 that is exactly what I needed. I have seen the beds many different ways and this is one of them but I was not quite sure what was right or wrong. The pictures help a ton. Now I know what I need to order to get started on the bed. Did you go with the parts from Mar-K for your bed? I know there are some parts places that you can order from and some are better than others. Would love to know who you used for parts.
Erin

I cut my own wood. Yellow pine from Home Depot. Mar-K was mentioned by CaptainFab and they are a good vendor with high quality parts. Never heard anyone regret buying Mar-K parts.

My original bed cross rails were in good shape. I bought new bed side strips and welded them to the bed side. The other option is to bolt them on, but I had the tools to weld them and I like to learn new stuff.

Once all the pieces were ready to assemble, I built the bed using jack stands and a creeper so I would be sure it went together as planned. Probably overkill but it didn't take too long. I then took it apart and started the installation on the truck frame.

Mar-K tested several different ways to preserve the wood against weather. Test Results Article LINK HERE. Test Update LINK HERE. If you want a bed that looks nice like polished furniture, then you will likely keep the truck out of the weather anyway. If your truck bed will see the weather like mine will, then they got the best results using POR-15 (or KBS Coatings) rust preservative sealer over the wood followed by 2 - 3 coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Satin Black exterior paint.

I used KBS Coatings RustSeal which is the same stuff as POR-15. Shop eBay for the best prices on those products. I let it dry and put several coats of Behr Premium Outdoor Paint on top. These trucks came with a black wood bed originally.

[Lugnutz65]

more pics where I spot welded the bed side rails. I used Cleco fasteners to hold the rails in place while welding.

[Green77bus]

Thank you for all of the information it will be very helpful. We are planning on doing the boards ourselves. Not sure what kind of wood just yet, we were thinking of a dark reddish tinged oak. Our truck is flat black and thought the colors would go good together. Although pine seems like a nice alternative and that it what it originally came with. Still got some thinking to do before we get the wood but at least now I can order the bed parts, now that I know what we need. Thank you so much for the information. Look forward to showing off our truck soon.

[Green77bus]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

I cut my own wood. Yellow pine from Home Depot. Mar-K was mentioned by CaptainFab and they are a good vendor with high quality parts. Never heard anyone regret buying Mar-K parts.

My original bed cross rails were in good shape. I bought new bed side strips and welded them to the bed side. The other option is to bolt them on, but I had the tools to weld them and I like to learn new stuff.

Once all the pieces were ready to assemble, I built the bed using jack stands and a creeper so I would be sure it went together as planned. Probably overkill but it didn't take too long. I then took it apart and started the installation on the truck frame.

Mar-K tested several different ways to preserve the wood against weather. Test Results Article LINK HERE. Test Update LINK HERE. If you want a bed that looks nice like polished furniture, then you will likely keep the truck out of the weather anyway. If your truck bed will see the weather like mine will, then they got the best results using POR-15 (or KBS Coatings) rust preservative sealer over the wood followed by 2 - 3 coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Satin Black exterior paint.

I used KBS Coatings RustSeal which is the same stuff as POR-15. Shop eBay for the best prices on those products. I let it dry and put several coats of Behr Premium Outdoor Paint on top. These trucks came with a black wood bed originally.

Ok so I just went to price out wood today at Lowes and the local Hard wood place and if I go through lowes for Pine it will be about 80.00 for the wood, I also checked it out at the hard wood dealer and it was 181. for the pine, 164. for red oak and 212. for hickory so now it is going to be decision time as for what to use. I wanted to try the pine from Lowes but I am wondering if it will be hard to get straight boards. How was it when you got the boards for your bed? Thanks for all of the information it has been very helpful and now I am excited to start the bed after seeing how yours turned out.

[Lugnutz65]

I was able to find straight boards after sorting through many in the pile. Be careful and don't assume they are all the same width. There was some variation. I ripped some boards on my table saw and cut some too narrow because they were not all the same width at the start. As they say, measure twice and cut once.

[Green77bus]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

I was able to find straight boards after sorting through many in the pile. Be careful and don't assume they are all the same width. There was some variation. I ripped some boards on my table saw and cut some too narrow because they were not all the same width at the start. As they say, measure twice and cut once.

Always measure twice cut once. Did you get your dimensions for the wood for the bed from www.classicheartbeat.com? That is the only place that I found instructions for making wood for the bed with all of the dimensions.
Thanks

[Lugnutz65]

Dig around on THIS website for bed wood dimensions and other tips.

[Green77bus]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

Dig around on THIS website for bed wood dimensions and other tips.

Great Thanks!

[Chevy Fleetside]

I used birch a long time ago. If you click on my photobucket link you will find a picture on page 6. I also bought the wood from Home Depot back in the day and used my tape measure to cut it. I guess that is what carpenters do.