Bed Strips & Crossmembers
1956 C3-PW6-126
Second Series Bed (Later Style)

C-Channel1 Click for larger image
Bed C-Channel 1 (front of bed) - The bed attaches to the frame, with bolts passing through this channel to brackets which are riveted to the outside surfaces of the frame rails. Rubber1 pads rest between the lower leg of the channel and the frame brackets. Reinforcing tubes are welded between the legs of this channel and the mounting bolts pass through these. The legs of this channel extend towards the rear of the truck. Along with the mounting holes positioned out wide to correspond with the frame bracket hole locations, another distinguishing characteristic of this channel is that the bottom leg is notched for clearance to access the bolts that attach the bed strips to it.

C-Channel2 Click for larger image
Bed C-Channel 2 - There are no bed mounting bolts that pass through this channel. It only attaches with bolts to the bed strips. There are no reinforcing tubes welded between the legs of this channel. The legs of this channel extend towards the front of the truck. Round rubber pads rest between this channel and the frame rails. The pads are manufactured with a nipple that pass through holes in the bottom leg of the channel that act to hold them in place. See pad picutres on Todd Somer's page. There is no clearance notch in the bottom leg of this channel.

Hat-Channel1 Click for larger image
Bed Hat-Channel 1 - Bed mounting bolts pass through this channel to holes in the top legs of the frame rails. The channel has extension loops welded onto the underside that reach down to the frame rails. These extension loops are reinforced with tubing through which the mounting bolts pass. Rubber1 pads rest between these extension loops and the frame rails. This Hat-Channel #1 is situated so that the leg closest to the rear of the truck bolts to the inner fender well. Bed strip bolts fasten to the leg closest to the rear of the truck.

Hat-Channel2 Click for larger image
Bed Hat-Channel 2 - There are no bed mounting bolts that pass through this channel. This channel has extension loops welded onto the underside that reach down to the frame rails, but there are no tubing reinforcements within them. Round rubber pads rest between this channel and the frame rails. The pads are manufactured with a nipple that pass through holes in the bottom leg of the channel that act to hold them in place. See pad picutres on Todd Somer's page. This Hat-Channel #2 is situated so that the leg closest to the front of the truck bolts to the inner fender well. Bed strip bolts fasten to the leg closest to the front of the truck.

C-Channel3 Click for larger image
Bed C-Channel 3 - Bed mounting bolts pass through this channel to holes in the top legs of the frame rails. Rubber1 pads rest between the lower leg of the channel and the frame rails. Reinforcing tubes are welded between the legs of this channel and the mounting bolts pass through these. The legs of this channel extend towards the rear of the truck. The mounting holes of this channel are positioned inward in order to correspond with the holes in the frame rails. There is no clearance notch in the bottom leg of this channel.

6 Bolts are used (2 for each - C-Channel 1 & 3, Hat-Channel 1) - (½" - 20 x 5¼") - 1½" heads, 3" washer w/square hole to fit the carriage bolt.

Bed2 Click for larger image
Rear Valence - This is not a crossmember like the other channels but instead is made from sheet metal shaped to form a end cap or valence. The ends of the bed strips bolt to the front edge (just barely visible in the picture). The valence in the picture is the piece with the peeling red paint located above the non-stock rear bumper.



Bed1 Click for larger image
There are seven center bed strips 93 3/4" long that function to hold the bed wood in place. The outermost bolt holes are located 5/8" in from the edge of the channels. These are used to fasten the edge strips (not pictured) to the channels and to the lip of the bed sides. The position of the 7 center bed strips from left to right as measured from the left edge of the channel to the center of each bolt hole is as follows:

        10",   15 5/8",   21 1/4",    26 7/8",  32 1/2",   38 1/8",   43 3/4"

From front to rear the bed strips are bolted to the respective crossmember, measured from the front edge
of the bed strip to the center of each bolt hole as described in the Bed Strip column in the below table.

Channel Dimension Bed Strip
Bolt Location
(front to rear)
C-Channel 1:Bolted to Frame Bracket2-3/4"H x 2"W x 53-3/4"L 2 1/8"
C-Channel 2:Not Bolted to Frame2-3/4"H x 2"W x 53-3/4"L 19 5/16"
Hat-Channel 1:Bolted to Frame3-3/4"W x 48-1/4"L 36"
Hat-Channel 2:Not Bolted to Frame3-3/4"W x 48-1/4"L 66"
C-Channel 3:Bolted to Frame2-3/4"H x 2"W x 53-3/4"L 84"
Rear ValenceNot Bolted to Frame5-1/4"H x 3"W x 58-3/4"L 93-1/8"
Bed Wood Dimensions
These dimensions allow for a 1/4" gap on each side of the board
QtyBoardDimensionRabbit
2Outer13/16" x 9 13/16" x 943/16"D x 9/16"W (inner edge only)
6Inner13/16" x 5 1/8" x 943/16"D x 9/16"W (both edges)


1I haven't been able to find what was used originally by Dodge for these pads but I used a set of neoprene pads available from Mar-K

Special thanks to Clint Dixon for the
descriptions of the C and Hat Channels and
to Todd Somers for bolt details

Last Updated:
06-Aug-2008