Bed too high? What did I do wrong?

[stomper]

I just assembled my bed for the first time and the bed does not line up with the cab. It appears to me the bed is about 1” too high. Where did I go wrong?
Details:
I am assembling factory SWB fleet sides with the rest of the bed components coming from a long bed.
Installed new poly cab mounts that appear to be correct – the front sheet metal looks right.
Blue tape at body lines for reference.
Pix:

[LockDoc]

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Did you use pads between the bed and the bed mounting brackets?

LockDoc

[stomper]

No pads. Metal on metal.

[LockDoc]

-
OK.

I think your tape is a little misleading. You should use the body line back toward the door for lining it up, not the end of the tape. Have the cab corners been replaced?

LockDoc

[windmill]

i dont know but,, does the chrome on the back of the cab line up with the top of bed?

[scrapmetalart]

old cab mounts?

[PHAT TONY]

Metal vs wood box floors?

[jocko]

If I were a betting man, I'd say the rear bed mount on the passenger side is too low (or needs a spacer - or pad, etc).

All of them need a pad - metal on metal not good. But unless it's currently perfectly level side to side (ref Windmill's email) then I'm guessing adding a little spacer (or slightly thicker spacer than the rest) in the passenger side rear mount would help the height problem and fix the vertical gap problem (it is big at the top and tight at the bottom, indicating the rear of the bed is too low or the fron of the bed is too high). I'd look at the fwd drivers side mount and make sure it's not bent (up) somehow. Looks ok in the pic (if that's it) except for the missing pad.

Could monkey with the rubber mounting spacers for the cab, but raising the cab to align would exacerbate the vertical gap problem, so I'd try to approach it from the bed if possible.

[stomper]

Hey guys thanks for all the replys late on a Sunday!!

More pix:

[stomper]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

-
OK.

I think your tape is a little misleading. You should use the body line back toward the door for lining it up, not the end of the tape. Have the cab corners been replaced?

LockDoc

Yea it is. See new pix with tape gone. Original cab corners

Originally Posted by windmill

i dont know but,, does the chrome on the back of the cab line up with the top of bed?

See pic added. It's level enough for me.

Originally Posted by scrapmetalart

old cab mounts?

Replaced those and I think I got it right?

Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

Metal vs wood box floors?

I did a forum search and read they were different heights. These all measure about 2-1/4". Came off the LWB donor that was an original wood floor truck and I'm sure never apart.

Originally Posted by jocko

If I were a betting man, I'd say the rear bed mount on the passenger side is too low (or needs a spacer - or pad, etc).

All of them need a pad - metal on metal not good. But unless it's currently perfectly level side to side (ref Windmill's email) then I'm guessing adding a little spacer (or slightly thicker spacer than the rest) in the passenger side rear mount would help the height problem and fix the vertical gap problem (it is big at the top and tight at the bottom, indicating the rear of the bed is too low or the fron of the bed is too high). I'd look at the fwd drivers side mount and make sure it's not bent (up) somehow. Looks ok in the pic (if that's it) except for the missing pad.

Could monkey with the rubber mounting spacers for the cab, but raising the cab to align would exacerbate the vertical gap problem, so I'd try to approach it from the bed if possible.

I thought about raising the back to tip the box down in front but the front is bolted down solid. There's no room to lower the front.

Yes gap seems tight at the bottom and bigger at the top.

I'd prefer not to raise the cab unless I made a mistake installing the new cab bushings.

[67ChevyRedneck]

What cross braces are you using? I can't tell from the pics, but I went out and measured mine.

My stepside with a wood bed has 2-1/8" thick cross braces, and the steel fleetside bed floor I have has a hair over 3" thick cross braces. If you say you're about an inch high... it makes sense to me that you may have used the fleetside bed mounts? If you swap from a steel to a wood floor you need to use cross braces for the wood bed, the front bed panel is different, and even the "roll pan" looking piece that finishes off the back of the bed has to be unbolted, cut out, and swapped.

EDIT: You posted while I was typing mine out and missed your last post. That answers that, should be the right ones.

[stomper]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

What cross braces are you using? I can't tell from the pics, but I went out and measured mine.

My stepside with a wood bed has 2-1/8" thick cross braces, and the steel fleetside bed floor I have has a hair over 3" thick cross braces. If you say you're about an inch high... it makes sense to me that you may have used the fleetside bed mounts? If you swap from a steel to a wood floor you need to use cross braces for the wood bed, the front bed panel is different, and even the "roll pan" looking piece that finishes off the back of the bed has to be unbolted, cut out, and swapped.

EDIT: You posted while I was typing mine out and missed your last post. That answers that, should be the right ones.

Thanks for measuring yours. Here's a pic I just took for good measue.

[WAAF]

is the bed side where it meets the wood floor bracket correct.. it being over the wood..
if it was on the underside of the wood it drop the sides 3/4" and fix some of that tight gap.. I haven't seen a wood bed so I might be way off base..

[stsalvage]

the guy with the 1964--66 chevy truck is right you don't want to run metal on metal every time you hit a bump it will make noise and bang I've uses the square rubber cushions on the under bed tabs trust me every your bolt loosen up you will hate the sound

[screamin_c10]

Found this statement: "Wood bottom bed strips are different than the steel bottom ones are. The height is different and the way they mount are different. The tall wood bottom sills are 2 3/8" tall, and the tall steel bottom ones are 3 1/4" tall. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com" in this thread..... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?p=627553

Hope it helps you out....

Bill

[special-K]

Originally Posted by screamin_c10

Found this statement: "Wood bottom bed strips are different than the steel bottom ones are. The height is different and the way they mount are different. The tall wood bottom sills are 2 3/8" tall, and the tall steel bottom ones are 3 1/4" tall. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com" in this thread..... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?p=627553

Hope it helps you out....

Bill

But,he is using the 2 3/8" wood floor supports. So,that's not it.

This is a factory short bed frame? If it's a shortened C/20 the rear cab mounts on frame are lower and require a different cushion.

[screamin_c10]

That's what I get for answering tech questions during a 12 hour graveyard shift LOL

[cdowns]

when you were down to a bare naked frame did you measure the frame to see if it was straight after 40years of use

[DANTIP]

In the first photo, it looks like the rear of the bed may be a little low. If so, it would make the front high and the gap near the cab corner and bed would be narrow while the gap near the top of the bed and the rear of the cab wider. Hard to tell from photos.

[JORGIE95961]

Dude ive seen alot, im aen alot of this, shim the cab

[superchevy]

cab bushings

[Hart_Rod]

The "rear" of the bed needs to come up 1/4" and then shim up the rear cab mounts to make it match....

[trucks72]

Shim your cab up. Some of the new bushing you buy are not the same as GM. They are a litle thinner. Not all of them are this way but some. You will need to shim front and back some to get the gap of the cab and bed the same. As for the rubber on the under the bed. If you do that go as thin as possible. GM never did that from the factory.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by windmill

does the chrome on the back of the cab line up with the top of bed?

Mine's about 1 1/2" from top of the bed to bottom of the chrome strip.

[PHAT TONY]

Originally Posted by trucks72

Shim your cab up. Some of the new bushing you buy are not the same as GM. They are a litle thinner. Not all of them are this way but some. You will need to shim front and back some to get the gap of the cab and bed the same. As for the rubber on the under the bed. If you do that go as thin as possible. GM never did that from the factory.

The pic of the new cab mounts looks to me that the rubber is a little shorter than I've seen before.