How to Replace the Truck Bed Wood on a 72 Chevy

Installing a wood bed in a classic Chevy is a fairly simple restoration project.

Chevy trucks are an American icon. One feature of classic trucks that has been done away with in their modern counterparts is the wooden bed floor. The beautiful detailing in a chrome and wood floor is a great finishing touch for a 72 Chevy. Almost forty years later car and truck restoration has become big enough business for reproduction bed replacement kits to be a readily available commodity, short-cutting the wood work.

Things You'll Need

• Impact gun
• Hammer
• Pry bar
• Chevy wood bed kit
• Replacement bolts

Instructions

Fleet Side Chevy

1. Remove the old bed wood. Loosen the nuts on the bolt strips underneath the truck with an impact gun. Tap the bolts up through the wood with a hammer and pull them out the top side with pliers. Lift the bolt strips and pry the old wood up with a flat pry bar.

2. Cut the two outside boards with a hammer and chisel, driving the chisel down through the boards along the angle iron strip at the side of the bed. The bolts in 1967 and newer Chevy trucks along the angle strips are welded in and are best left in place. Chip the remaining wood from underneath the angle with the chisel and hammer.

3. Match up the new outside wood strips with the metal angle strips and mark the locations of the bolts. Notch the side strips to fit around the bolts with a jig saw, notching in each location ¼ inch wide and 1 inch from the edge of the board. Slide the edge boards under the angle strips.

4. Position the remaining boards across the bed, tight up against the back of the cab. Use the width of board in each location that matches up to the bolt spacing. Align the chrome bolt strips between the wood boards, fitting the turned down edges into the grooves in the board edges.

5. Drop new bolts down through the chrome bolt strips and run a washer and nut up onto each from underneath the truck. Use the impact gun to tighten them up.

Step Side Chevy

1. Remove the original boards. Loosen and remove the nuts from each bolt and tap them up through the boards. Pull them out on the top side with pliers and pry the old boards from the bed with a flat pry bar.

2. Install the round cut short pieces in the four corners of the bed first, to fit around the wheel hubs, two pieces in each corner. Fit the first long piece with its cutout fitted neatly against the hub on each side of the truck bed.

3. Position the remaining bed boards to fit with the bolt patterns in the bed. Fit the chrome bolt strips between the boards, fitting the down turned edges of the chrome strips into the grooves in the edges of the board.

4. Install new bolts through each hole in the chrome bolt strips. Thread a washer and nut onto each bolt and tighten each by hand. Tighten the nuts the rest of the way and snug them down with the impact gun. Be careful not to over tighten, to prevent dimpling the chrome strips.

References

• Mar-K: Frequently Asked Questions, Chevy Truck Beds
• Custom Classic Trucks: 1950 Chevy Pickup Wood Bed Install