[Snake72]

Thank you. The front panel nuts are inside the bed, read many stories on guys scratching the cab with bolts facing out.

My aftermarket tailgate blows. Body lines don't match up with bedsides very well, can't shut tailgate without it pushing down and flexing rear cross sill. Have tried to adjust the hinges up and out to gain clearance but just wont clear. Sloppy trunion joint, weak flimsy metal. May try to rework my original tailgate. Its all close and would work for a beater driver, but the fit is not satisfactory.

On the plus side the bed wood is coming along nicely. I first squared the bed and test fit everything prior to drilling holes and made some relief cuts and other minor changes to the bed flanges that the bolts go through. Then did about 20 test pieces for color and finish to find my formula. What I did first is oil the boards with teak oil to somewhat seal the wood so the stain would not make everything one uniform color. I let the oil sit for maybe 5 mins then wiped off excess and let dry several days. Then using minwax dark walnut thinned 50% I applied that quickly and wiped off quickly. Let dry. What this accomplished was to darken the white sapwood to match the gray/brown heartwood without completely blending and loosing the natural highlights and lowlights. Then started top coating with Epifanes gloss spar varnish....which is AWESOME stuff... 5 coats on right now waiting 24 hours between coats with sanding between coats. Followed directions to the letter. Tonight I will start 2-4 coats of Epifanes matte finish which does not require sanding between coats. These products build very well but thinning is necessary otherwise its like painting on thick honey.

I got my new unpolished stainless strips in yesterday so I threw them on quick over my lunch break. Still too shiny for me, may take red scuff pad to them to dull them up a little and match the matte wood finish. We'll see.