26 IH Bed design

Everything is cut and fitted, now the work begins. I tore it all apart to sand, stain (a light tint of grey for weather) and clear coat.

The tricky part I had was to get the tailgate locking mechanism to align up with the angle iron, I ended up cutting a hole through the steel and placing the hoop bracket behind the angle so I could put a Carriage bolt through the side steel.

I heated and bent my own side brace brackets, could not purchase the parts. You can buy the complete box for Ford, they don't sell the brackets separately. I will search out west this summer for an old wagon, should be able to get the antique corner brackets.

Cleaned, primed and painted all the hardware. I taped all the bolts on a line and painted them.

All the wood is now stained and two coats of clear. I plugged the holes in the cross member boards from the old bed, now it really has character.

All I have left to do on the box is; re-sand the boards, reassemble the box, and clear it one more time. Should be good to withstand most of our Canadian conditions.

Beautiful!

(looks like the facility could use a paint booth/room)

We do have a paint booth, its too small for all the wood to fit in. I did the staining and clear coating on the weekend, there's no activity at that time so I didn't have to worry about the saw dust.

Well, she is all done, ready to install.

I am really pleased with the slight weathering look I got with the sunlight bleach stain.

The Teflon washers were to ensure the nuts didn't tear off the paint on the brackets, they were the thinnest the fastener supplier had in stock, I am ordering thinner ones so they wont be seen.

Better than fine furniture!

Dean

Wow Fantastic.

Will be using some of your ideas and sizes when I build the one for the 1918.

Where you have got the clear tubing on the handles have you considered shrink tubing like this.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1M-2mm-50mm-Tube ... 27fa307c03

Trevor

I haven't looked too far into it yet, everyone suggested I put the chain in a clear hose, so I did. I'm not too fond of the heavy clear hose.

I put the box on today and fitted the Apron, Running board and Fender on the drivers side, a little welding and a bracket left to make.

The inner side of the fender will get a plate that's matched to the outer side, welded and fastened to the frame with a bracket, this way it wont sit directly on the wood box

Sorry Trevor, misread your last posting, the reason the hose is on the handle is so no one runs into it and cuts them selves. I'm going to have to come up with a long term solution. I'm afraid that kids will get it in the eye, they stick out past the tailgate.

I painted all the parts and installed, looks really good to me. I put 2 coats of grey Tremclad paint on the cab and hood to see if I like the grey, I think it suits the truck.

Well that's all I'm going to do to the truck this year, I want to drive it for the year. Next winter I'm going to tear it into a million pieces and restore the complete unit, should only take me about 10 years. haha