how far do I go?
 

Hi guys,
Well, looks like I'm gonna do a frame up. The bed is ready to be lifted off and will start work on the front clip and cab soon. I will be sending the frame to be dipped. My question is, how far do I break down the frame? Do I take off the front crossmember? How about the tranny crossmember? (I hope I'm getting the terminology right. Anyway, I dont want to take off more than I need to.

Thanks alot,
jay

If it were me, I'd take it ALL apart (and I did on mine) .... but I'm kind of anal like that :) That way, you can cover the parts completely in paint. If you are doing a ground up, might as well go all the way. Plus there aren't THAT many parts anyway. Are you going with a stock suspension?...... air bags?.......... Are you modifying the frame/suspension at all? Like c-notching? If so, do all that stuff before you get your frame nice and clean. I had my frame all nice and pretty with a 4x6 drop then decided to go with air bags and ended scratching up the frame so much I had to repaint it. Just try to plan ahead to avoid stuff like that.

hey thanks for the heads up. I am going with bags and was doing a search on the board. I'm still in the planning stages for the bags though. Looks like I'm notching too.

Soo, Looks like the front crossmember and tranny crossmember will come out. I think I'll leave the other braces though.

thanks,
Jay

Just out of curiousity, how do you get the cab off the frame? It HAS to be too heavy for a couple of big guys to lift (unlike the bed). Is this something that can be done without a specialized lifting hoist?

Just curious.

when i took aprt a 69 to get teh frame we just used a chainfall over a beam in the guys shop, put a strap under the roof, but that bent the drip rails, but that cabwas crap anyway, we gave it to a scrap yard, there a way to do it with 4 people and some boards i think, but i'll let someone tell you ythe right way to do that

hey mike
 

I just took my cab off this weekend and it is heavy. So i used an oversized swing set and lifted it straight up, here's a pic.
Jim:bowtie:

the cab is 560 pounds with only the windshield in it nothin else.me and a friend managed to lift it ourselves but it is very awkward it wants to fall onto the firewall.

3 friends and a 12-pack of your favorite brew is all it takes :)

Four of us lifted my cab then walked it to the front of the frame and sat it on a dolly that I made out of 2x4's. The cab had all the glass, doors, seat, steering column and wheel, heater, and a dozen or so beer cans. This was just before we took it off.

On the frame dip, I would remove anything that is bolted on. I wouldn't drill out rivets on anything that doesn't have to come off.

On the cab removal, first strip the cab of seats, doors, glass, steering column, etc to lighten the load. Then you have some options. Four guys can then lift it. It can be raised with a floor jack and a large piece of plywood to spread out the load as much as possible. The cab can be lifted with a hoist if you use a spreader bar and tie into the door hinges and latch bolt holes. A friend and I put the cab back on his 52 using a floor jack and blocks. We had to sit the cab on blocks on the frame to move the jack around the crossmembers, but it only took one of us to run the jack, the other to steady the cab.
:bowtie:

I used a shop crane (engine lift) with a strap around the bottom. The picture shows it after we let it lean over the front, but it is no problem to balance it on the strap, as you are moving it.

I took my frame almost all the way down including some rivets that held a little reinforcement bracket just in front of the rear end if I remember right. I could see crud in there and it bothered me. Then after sandblast and primer I bolted them back in with grade "8" bolts.

ok...so whatever is bolted down, then it comes off. Whatever is riveted stays.

thanks,
jay

A couple of things to keep in mind. If you have a steering stabilizer bar you will want to grind off the bottom rivets of the first crossmember so that you can bolt your lowering brackets to them. On the back you will want to take off the stock shock brackets. Of course all of this depends on how low you go! I'm doing a 4/6 drop and these are a couple of things that needed to be removed prior to powder coating the frame.

when you say stabilizer bar, you mean sway bar?

Thanks guys...

jay