stepside bed question

[1983stepside]

imbuilding a 1983 chevy stepside 2wd, and i have a question about its bed, i want to bolt the bed down with out the bolts being visable through the wood on the floor, and i cant seem to figure out a way to do it, that wont cost a lot or be real hard to do, i was thinking some how welding the bed bolts to the bed some how, so all i need to do is tightned the nuts and not have to hold on to the head of the bolt, but i dont like how there visable through the wood from the factory, thats why im wanting to do this, any pics would be great if someone has already done this, thanks

[69byrd]

You can get wood kits with hidden bolts.  These are a little bit high though.  If you are gonna cut and plane your own wood, you could take a router and rout out the area where the bolt head is.

http://www.mar-k.com/lateGMbed_kits.pdf

This is an older truck but it is the same thing that your looking for.
http://www.mar-k.com/customer_s_trucks_chevy_17.html

[69byrd]

Heres a pic of a 82

[nucknoel89]

Couldn't you stick the blots in the holes in that crossmember that connects the bedsides, then weld the top end in there and grind the head off?  Does that make sense to anyone?

[Captkaos]

weld nuts to the crossmember and bolt it from the bottom.

[1983stepside]

ok thanks for all the iinput, i thought of buying a bed wood kit but there real expensvie, i found on another thread a guy got a sheet of 3/4inch oak plywood cut it to length and in to 12 inch wide sections and used that instead, there will only be 4 planks instead of the 7 but, i like it alot more, and he used the stainless steel strips to hold the floor down, so capt if i just welded nuts to where the bolts are supose to go i could just bolt it down from under the truck, would i have to raise the floor any so the bolts didnt hit the underside thanks again you guys

[Captkaos]

yeah you can do it.  Just welt a nut to the bottom of the crossmember and get a shorter bolt.