Uncle Howard's 1946 Chevy Truck

[ATVYP]

I've been hard at work. I'll write a better explanation later, but here is some pics.

[ATVYP]

As I day thumbed through hoards of car and truck magazines, I had a thought about tilting the bed, but it seemed more like a far-fetched dream than a real possibility. But as I considered showing off the C4 IRS, and mounting the battery on the frame rail and the boost on the frame behind the cab, it seemed more practical than just dream.

I started by notching a 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 slot in the bed support rails and laid a modified square tubing that I capped the ends. I did not want it too look cheesy, but my goal has always been to appear factory as possible. After some homework and thinking, I also wanted to adjust it any way possible. What I came up with is found in the pics below.

To tilt the bed, I am working on purchasing gas-filled springs to lift. The electric actuators are neat, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much money. It is not a very heavy bed, but I want to lift it safely, and secure it safely too. I looked through oodles of forums checking for other good ideas for tilting beds, but I was really surprised how few well documented articles I could find, especially conceding hinges. I've seen many that I did not like at all, but all the ones that appeared good didn't have viewable pictures of the right stuff.

If anyone is wondering why the back half of the bracket is sticking off the frame, I am planning to replace the rear crossmember that the bracket will mount to. I hope to start on that next week.

If you have any ideas of how to make my design better, or other forums that I missed, feel free to send them my way. Thanks.