Fixing up an older pickup truck, part 6

The last post I wrote about this project was about 10 days ago. I should have written this post several days ago, but I just wasn't in the mood to do it until now. In the last post, I wrote about getting the truck frames painted. You can read about that here.
https://steemit.com/car-repair/@amberyooper/fixing-up-an-older-pickup-truck-part-5

The last picture from that post showed the start of working on the pressure treated 4X4s that I'm using for the cross beams for the flat bed that I'm putting on the old pickup truck. As I said, I had to cut 3 inches off each 4X4 to allow for the 2X6 that will go on the ends of the 4X4s for the sides. That keeps the total width of the bed right at 6 feet.

Once I had the 4X4s cut to length, I had to mark the locations for drilling the holes for the bolts that will hold the 4X4s on the frame.

Once I had the 4X4s marked for the holes, I brought my drill press out of the basement and set it up so that I could use it to drill the necessary holes. I wanted to use the drill press so that I could get the holes drilled as straight as possible, something I find more difficult to do with a hand drill. I started by drilling large diameter shallow holes for the bolt head and washer to sit into.

The results were pretty good.

From there, I drilled the holes for the bolts to pass through. I drilled 1/2 inch diameter holes for the bolts.

I couldn't drill the holes all the way through the 4X4 using the drill press because the drill press spindle doesn't have enough travel to run the drill bit all the way through. I had to drill the rest of the way through with the drill bit in the hand drill, using the existing hole as a guide for the rest of the hole.

On 1 of the 4X4s, I had to add a piece of 2X4 onto the 4X4 to raise the 4X4 enough to clear the fuel tank. The frame drops in that area and had to be compensated for. Drilling the holes through the extra length wasn't too much of a problem with the hand drill once I had the holes started.

Once I had all the holes drilled, I put the bolts through the holes to prepare for mounting the 4X4s on the frame. I had cut rubber pads for the 4X4s to cushion them from the frame, and also to attempt to protect the paint from being damaged by the 4X4s.

Once I had the bolts in the 4X4s, the next step was to put them on the truck. I used existing holes in the frame that had been used by the bolts that held the original box on the frame. I used stainless steel bolts, washers, and lock nuts so that they wouldn't rust from the effects of the pressure treated wood, or the weather.

The 4X4 closest to the cab was the hardest one to get the nuts tightened up on, the space for getting the tools into was very limited. I also had to cut a notch in the 2X4 to clear the gas tank filler tube.

Once I had all the 4X4s tightened down, I was ready to start on the rest of the supports for the flat bed. However, the weather turned colder the day after I got the 4X4s on, so I haven't gotten anymore done on the project since then. I need to put the back bumper back onto the frame, and I need to figure out where and how to mount a set of tail lights on the truck. I will use a set of trailer lights, and mount a separate backup light. I don't know how much more, if any, that I will get done on the truck before the snow covers everything up. We don't have snow on the ground yet, but it won't be much longer now. I can still get some things done in the snow, but I'll have to have a lot of ambition to go out to work on the truck in the cold.

That's all I have for this post, thanks for stopping by to check it out!