The bed is on, but I've run into a couple technical difficulties...

[Jimal]

After a lot of work and a little drama I've got Frankenbed at least sitting on my truck. The problem is, I've run into a couple technical difficulties.

The first I've found discussions on in the forum, which is that the filler for the rear-mounted gas tank comes out directly under one of the crossmembers.



Assuming that the tank wasn't installed backwards by the P.O. and that the filler is supposed to be on the driver's side, what are my work arounds? Can I flip the tank so that the filler is on the passenger side?

The other issue is the front most mount on the frame, or more to the point the lack of said mount.



The weird thing is, I see no evidence of there having been a mount there previous. Is there a piece available for that from the aftermarket, or am I fabricating something?

[jhrusk]

There should be a mount that was riveted to the frame at the front also should be another one shot 11 inches back from the first one

[kerber63]

The brackets welded to the bottoms of the cross-sills in the pictures are not factory. For some reason, the PO has removed the factory perches from the frame and fabbed his own.

[Jimal]

Originally Posted by kerber63

The brackets welded to the bottoms of the cross-sills in the pictures are not factory. For some reason, the PO has removed the factory perches from the frame and fabbed his own.

The cross sills are my work. I built the bed from parts and those came from Mar-K. Obviously something was there, but there is no evidence of anything bring riveted in that area of the frame. The PO had a newer bed on the truck but I bought it without a bed.

[Captainfab]

Things don't look quite right.......is this a '73+ frame? I see that the rear cab mount is bolted on instead of riveted on and it looks too high. The newer frame would explain the 'body lift' and the lack of a front bed mounting bracket.

[Jimal]

That is a good question Captain. I've never considered that possibility, but when I bought the truck I asked the the seller said it was the "original" frame. The truck had a '73 era bumper on it, but he had fabricated something to make it fit to the frame. I was able to bolt a '65 bumper straight on. The truck also had a '73 vintage stepside bed at some point in its life, but it was mounted using plates crudely welded to the frame.

This is my first GM truck of any kind, and my first ever exposure to this vintage of K10. I know it is a bit of a mongrel, which is fine by me (I didn't want a show truck). How would I be able to identify the frame as something newer?

[duallyjams]

reference pic

[60-66]

The cross sills in the first post are what Stepsides used, with that bracket hanging down, James posted the fleetside version. Look behind the body mount in this picture and you can see the cross sill with that bracket.

[Jimal]

Big clarification. I looked again where this frame mount should be and this time I actually felt around since with the bed in place it isn't a good angle to see. There are holes where a mount should be. I'm working on the assumption that this is a '65 era frame. Now I need to get those mounts somewhere and figure out what to do with the gas tank. I don't want to put the filler in the bed.

[Jimal]

These brackets seem pretty straight forward, so I picked up some metal and a few Grade 8 bolts last night at my local Tractor Supply. I've already made up a template so as soon as I get some free time I'll make them up. The gas tank filler location might be the sticky wicket. I'll have to see if there is enough wiggle room with the mounting to move everything ahead a couple inches.

[Jimal]

I took another look at the gas tank issue, and loosed things up to see if there was enough wiggle room to move the tank forward. There isn't; at least not without taking everything apart and reinventing the wheel. After researching the options on here before some poking and measuring and eyeing things up, I've come up with two possible solutions.

1. Relocated the filler forward on the side of the tank.



The challenges with this option are that I'm not going into a flat area on the tank, and I would still have to drill a hole in my nice step fender with the spare tire well. I'm not sure I want to do that.

2. Relocate the filler tube to the back of the tank.



This is the option I'm leaning toward. The way the tank is mounted, if I cut a half circle out of that crossmember I can get a filler tube right at the very top of the tank, and it will come out behind the license plate. This is basically a variation of the '69 Camaro tank installation that has been documented here.

Either way I'm going to need to find someone to do the work or figure out how to do it myself. There aren't too many gas tank and radiator repair places in my area anymore.