Info needed: TOOL BOX Chevrolet c15a no. 12

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Paul.....

Yes you will need wooden spacers. I made mine from white ash, totally painted with POR 15 so they are waterproofed.

Once you have the correct size for each side, before painting them, hammer them in place to create dimples in your wood........ they drill out a matching hole with a suitable drill size..... just enough to accommodate the rivet heads.

The box held in place by four 1/2 inch "J" bolts that will go through the bottom of the box and are fixed inside the floor of the box. The bottom of the J bar goes down by the inside of the frame and fits across the bottom section of the frame and is turned up about one inch........ the other end is threaded and takes a healthy washer and nut.

On the fabrication of the box....... closer examination jogged my memory.... and has written on my rough sketch, the original construction was done in one piece........starting at the lip for the lid near the cab...offset 1/4 inch down and wrapped around the bottom bent up to the lip on the cargo side..... one continuous sheet. The two end caps and the cut out for the fuel filler are added as separate pieces and welded all around.......so is the corner can bracket/holder.

On the side end pieces you need to bend a slight 1/4 in. off set identical to the one on the cab side of the box.... this will allow your lid to close over the protruding lip. The lock hasp is standard hardware still available today. Two Corby locks were used.

My confusion on the one piece construction comes from a repro that we stumbled on that was made from 16 gauge steel and all sides were cut as individual pieces then Mig welded in a home made wooden jig. It looked the part and was much lighter. Not sure it could handle a full load of tools, jacks, chains, etc. but for our parade purposes would be quite adequate. Cheaper, lighter and will not require a "good" fabricator to make the bends. Sometimes you need to consider your skill level, the equipment you have to work with and the size of your bank account!!!!!

Cheers