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I think you're onto something. My M1028 also had the tubes. I will try and find the old bolts today when I'm there.
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CUCV Bed Bolts and LMC
- Thread starter Crider281
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cucvrus
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I am going to run a sale on Genuine CUCV bed bolts. (with crush tubes) I mounted truck bodies to frame for the past 29 years. I used grade 8 grade 5 and sizes varied. Mostly 5/8" U bolts. Back in the day Toyota used to make a dually 1 ton cab chassis and it received a 12 ft cargo body. They were mounted to the frame with M10 bolts only 8 of them. Never had one break. All I am saying is I have used grade 5 1/2" carriage bolts on CUCV's and serrated flange nuts. I would think that the bolt is much stronger then the sheet metal floor. If you look at an M1028 floor assembly bottom side it has reinforcements in the cross members and the crush tubes to allow for the extra top heavy weight. The 4 front bolts are thru both frame flanges and equipped with crush bolts. Building truck bodies we also add shear plates to the side of the frame and attach it to bodies as an option. That adds even greater strength. But grade 5 1/2" carriage bolts X 8 to hold a pick up is more then enough. An M1010 is only held on with 1/2" bolts. It has a reinforcement welded at the front frame to minimize the flex at the front of the body to the cab. That and they added (welded) a 1 foot formed steel frame extension to the rear of the stock GM pick frame. The body is held on with 1/2" bolts. Ironically trucks are still mounted on hard wood and U bolted. many of the fleet cutaway vans with 16FT cargo bodies are mounted on the same body pucks as the cab. These pucks are supplied by the chassis manufacturer. But that only happens on the smaller trucks. But still using wood seems a bit antiquated. Have a Great Day. Keep your bed bolts tight. And you may want to remove them and check them. They could be corroded down to a 1/4" at some places. Never to late to look.
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Did not find the bolts. I discarded them, but they should be lingering around somewhere... Should have measured them...
Did find the tubes, here's a picture of them.
Did find the tubes, here's a picture of them.
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ehuppert
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If you can shear grade 5 bed bolts off you are way way way past screwed!
Clamp load is apx 9000 lbs on grade 5 1/2" bolts... Varying figures on shear, so i won't post them so as not to!
With that said, some of the rusty factory bolts are probably degraded to the point they're way weaker than 5's!!!
Clamp load is apx 9000 lbs on grade 5 1/2" bolts... Varying figures on shear, so i won't post them so as not to!
With that said, some of the rusty factory bolts are probably degraded to the point they're way weaker than 5's!!!
Iceman3005
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I did a 3 inch body lift, had the same problem with bolts for bed. I just used a threaded connector and some threaded rod under the bed.
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Swfb
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I can check the lenght this week.
The square on top of the bolt is 19mm
The square on top of the bolt is 19mm
cucvrus
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Very nice. I think a few of them are due for retirement. They are not up to spec.
You might not think it matters, but when a Heavy load with a high CG is secured to the bed, the forces on the cheap bolts might be enough for a few of them to fail in a turn, etc.
Cascade failure is a possibility.
You gotta love cascading failures. Seems to be the story of my life and experience with anything that is wearing out. Up to and including myself. It cascades. I like that. I have dealt with a lot of cascading failures on CUCV's. Poorly orchestrated modifications are the root cause in most instances of cascading. Sounds meaning full. I am still confident that a grade 5 1/2" bolt properly tightened will out strength the thin sheet metal that used to form the floor and cross members of the CUCV cargo bed. Have a Great Day.
You might not think it matters, but when a Heavy load with a high CG is secured to the bed, the forces on the cheap bolts might be enough for a few of them to fail in a turn, etc.
Cascade failure is a possibility.
You gotta love cascading failures. Seems to be the story of my life and experience with anything that is wearing out. Up to and including myself. It cascades. I like that. I have dealt with a lot of cascading failures on CUCV's. Poorly orchestrated modifications are the root cause in most instances of cascading. Sounds meaning full. I am still confident that a grade 5 1/2" bolt properly tightened will out strength the thin sheet metal that used to form the floor and cross members of the CUCV cargo bed. Have a Great Day.
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MarcusOReallyus
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ridenby
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Go to Lowes, look in the bolt section, get some galvanized carriage bolts.
Crider281
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That's what I ended up doing, they had some 12" which should work ok. The square part is much smaller, but it's only grabbing so much of the sheet-metal anyways. I'll be putting the bed back on this week (just finished doing some exhaust work).
cucvrus
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Put a 5/8" grade flat washers on that bolt topside and you will be stronger then new. Thanks for the update. Have a Great Day.
Crider281
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Well, truck seems to be back in action. Put the bed back on last night and used the 4 12" carriage bolts/Washers I got from Lowes. They worked perfectly. Installed the rear shorter bolts, but somehow misplaced one so I left the spare tire off until I can run back to the hardware store to grab a short one.
All in all this truck has been kinda sitting since March. So to recap, new radiator, new fuel tank/sending unit, new soft lines to hard lines, new fuel pump (didn't need this), mostly new bed bolts, new exhaust from LMC (95% a bolt on, slight tweaking and routing) and new Duratracs.
Ok, ready for snow duty now.
All in all this truck has been kinda sitting since March. So to recap, new radiator, new fuel tank/sending unit, new soft lines to hard lines, new fuel pump (didn't need this), mostly new bed bolts, new exhaust from LMC (95% a bolt on, slight tweaking and routing) and new Duratracs.
Ok, ready for snow duty now.
cucvrus
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Just try to keep the load under 50K lbs and the bed will stay on. I used to drive a loader and run a car crusher. I carried Chevy trucks by the cab roof and door frame many times. It will hold. Thanks for the report. Keep it rolling. Nice day outside in PA. Using it while it lasts.