[omodified]

I met Piedmont Traction at the body shop today and we started assembling the bed. In order to do this, I had to bring the cross sills, bed wood and the bed hardware. For all of this, I again went with Mar-K. I plan to use stainless hardware for final assembly but for mockup I will use a cheaper zinc plated kit.










Front panel is attached to the bedsides.










Wheel tubs installed.





Rear crossmember, bed wood and reinforcement crossmembers installed. Up onto the stand.









Next up is test fitting the tailgate. Before I can mount it, I have to install the trunnions. I found these trunnions on Ebay a while back. I think they are sold on the board too. They are stainless/delrin and make the tailgate super quiet when opening/closing. I had to tweak on the tailgate a little so it would accept the new trunnions.








Last thing for the night, installing the tailgate hinges. I found some a few years back that were early takeoffs. Gotta love the campers for leaving us with such nice parts. These were in great shape and after nickel plating, they look brand new. Will be back tomorrow to hand the tailgate.