So here are some pics of the mods we made to the bed:
I had a full, unassembled aftermarket '47-'53 long bed that I purchased because the price was right, but I liked the look of the '55 bed I had out in the barn, so I combined the two out of nessecity.
The front panel of the 55 bed was damaged, and using the S-10 frame required that I raise the bed floor up. This is what we came up with:
We used the '47-'53 front panel and tailgate because they're shorter than the '54-'55 are. To mount the front of the bed to the S-10 frame I built stanchions on the frame and used a reproduction rear cross sill I had. I welded it to the front panel where I wanted it, welded the panel to the bed, located the bed exactly where I wanted it and built the stanchions. My bed floor was raised by about 6.25" to clear the rails, creating a gap inside the tailgate, so the shorter tailgate made this gap much smaller.
The older style tailgate required the older style hinges, and I wanted to clean up the rear of the bed anyways, so I added caps to the end of the rails, made a rear pan to blend the tailgate to the bed better, replaced the bent metal where the tailgate mounts with 1/8" plate and mounted the older hinges for the tailgate with hidden nuts. You can also see the new support I welded in for the bed wood.
Posted via Mobile Device
Here's a side pic of the rear.
