Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Xeen]

One interesting thing about buying a used frame is that it will be all stripped down and you can put your laser on it and make sure it's true before you even buy it.
Obviously that would eliminate the worry of getting another problem frame entirely.
If you have to shorten one at least you have the skills to do it right so there are no worries there.
Long bed frames don't exactly sell like hot cakes so guys are practically giving them away, I bet you can find one locally in good shape within a few days.
There are a bunch of active guys in your area with truck parts.
Keep your head up Vic, it's not as bad as it seems man you will be fine.
As always I am pulling for you and watching with interest.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

One interesting thing about buying a used frame is that it will be all stripped down and you can put your laser on it and make sure it's true before you even buy it.
Obviously that would eliminate the worry of getting another problem frame entirely.
If you have to shorten one at least you have the skills to do it right so there are no worries there.
Long bed frames don't exactly sell like hot cakes so guys are practically giving them away, I bet you can find one locally in good shape within a few days.
There are a bunch of active guys in your area with truck parts.
Keep your head up Vic, it's not as bad as it seems man you will be fine.
As always I am pulling for you and watching with interest.

Thanks, Brian. I'm leaning that direction at this point. I believe I could graft the front half of a long bed frame onto the back half of mine and end up with a good straight piece if I take my time. This would allow me to keep all the mods to the front crossmember and the air suspension mounts in the back. You're right that it's much easier to find the long frames, so I shouldn't have to travel far to acquire one.

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
Knowing you and the diligence you put towards a project, it's doubtful anyone would even know if it were in fact a long bed frame! Impressive metal working skills hardly describe your talent!
I'll be at the Cedar Oaks training center (KCP&L training center) Saturday for the Reach benefit fundraiser car show with mine, as far as I know, it's open to the public, $20 entrance fee (for entering a Car, truck Or bike) free admission
The Cedar Oaks facility is off I-470 and Raytown Road, going north on Raytown road, it's just over the crest of the hill, on the left.
Come by if you get a chance!
Ben

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
I got the name of the training facility wrong,
It's "Cedar Point" not "Cedar Oaks" sorry about the confusion...
Ben
Posted via Mobile Device

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by snipescastle2

Vic,
I got the name of the training facility wrong,
It's "Cedar Point" not "Cedar Oaks" sorry about the confusion...
Ben
Posted via Mobile Device

Found it on "The Google", will try to see you tomorrow!

[swamp rat]

I have seen cross members removed and frame halves blasted and powder coated, whats the chance of a fab shop being able to straighten a frame rail if the frame is blown apart and put on a fab table? Outlandish thought??

Whatever you decide i'm sure it will be perfect!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I have seen cross members removed and frame halves blasted and powder coated, whats the chance of a fab shop being able to straighten a frame rail if the frame is blown apart and put on a fab table? Outlandish thought?? Whatever you decide i'm sure it will be perfect!

If you had just the rails on a flat table, it's possible you could get them fairly straight. Removing all those rivets would be a treat, though.

I think I've settled on grafting two frame halves together. Talked to Bob over in Lenexa last night and he thinks he has a good long bed frame. He's going to check and get back with me. Meanwhile, I spent some time yesterday doing some serious measuring and I've narrowed down the location of the splice to a couple of possibilities. I think the best place would be right at the center of the mid cross member. When I measured, the centerline behind the mid c/m was perfect. However, as you moved in front of it, the side to side values began to deviate. By the time you got to the front cab mounts, it was off nearly an inch. So I'm thinking I'll split the rails at the mid point (red arrow) and that way I can use the stock reinforcement on the bottom of the rails and add new ones on top and inside. The other choice (yellow arrow) would allow me to keep the factory rivets in the c/m, but might actually be more difficult to reinforce. Just welding the frame by itself is not an option.

Note the missing rivet head on the passenger side of the mid cross member. Judging from the paint around the hole, it's been missing from the start. Can't believe I overlooked that as much as I've inspected the frame looking for damage.

[jlsanborn]

Red arrow looks like a good plan to me Vic. Well thought out!

[knomadd]

Bummer about your frame. Sounds like you've got a good game plan together to get it sorted though. I knew you'd be able to figure something out.

[Vic1947]

The donor frame is at the house! After Kathy and I dropped my Dad off this morning, we stopped by the KCP&L car show for a quick look at "Serious Black" and a visit with Ben. The truck looked terrific and the drum wrap on the instrument panel and glove box door was even better than the build thread pictures. Ben was worried that he might have some pinion bearing noise, but other than that SB performed just fine on the trip up here. Hope he made it home in one piece.

We returned home from the show and picked up voice mail from Scott saying he was already off work for the day. He came over and we hooked the trailer to his Mountaineer and headed over to Chevy Bob's in Lenexa. What you see on the trailer looks like it will be a great donor for the project. Even though it's a '68 frame, it doesn't have the dimple for the power steering, but I can fix that like I did on my '67 frame. It still has the x-member for the manual trans, so that should make it even more rigid for the surgery. I'll remove it after all the welding and reinforcement is done. The mid x-member is in a different place than the short bed trucks, but again, not a problem as I can drill new holes where necessary. Won't be long now!

[Elliot949]

Great plan Vic.

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
It was great seeing you and Kathy this morning! Thanks for the kind words!
I made it home just fine, I'm not sure exactly what's going on with my driveline, but I'll put it up on stands and remove the driveshaft to see what's up.
When the show was over, they did the awards, the first award they gave was the business Agent's Pick, went to a '41 Buick.
I got one of the "Top 20" awards out of 77 cars/trucks that were there. I was
Hoping to get something, but did much better than than expected!

That frame will be a piece of cake for you to shorten.well, have a great Evening!
Ben

[Xeen]

I'm glad Bob was able to come through with a frame, I can't wait to see some Vic magic.

[swamp rat]

Well finding the donor sure didn't take long! Please document this frame shortening/grafting well, let the good times roll!

[Low Elco]

Glad you have a plan! Let me know if you need a hand hossin' the chunks around!

[Vic1947]

The short frame is down to the bare essentials and I moved the long frame inside today and started stripping the components I won't be using. You can see the main difference in the side to side photos. The center x-member is much further back in the long frame. I'll reinforce the rails with square tubing ahead of the cut marks before unleashing the cutoff wheel.

Hopefully won't take long to get rid of the extra parts. I doused a bunch of fastener threads with penetrating oil and will let them soak overnight. Drilling rivets will slow me down some, but there's not a huge number of them. Stay tuned.

[Jason7121]

I used a cutting wheel and made a x on top of each rivet and then hit them a air hammer and chisel bit. That may help things go smoother for you. I know rivets can be a bear.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Jason7121

I used a cutting wheel and made a x on top of each rivet and then hit them a air hammer and chisel bit. That may help things go smoother for you. I know rivets can be a bear.

Thanks, Jason, I'll give that a try.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Jason7121

I used a cutting wheel and made a x on top of each rivet and then hit them a air hammer and chisel bit. That may help things go smoother for you. I know rivets can be a bear.

I did this too until I borrowed a killer air hammer from my friend Crash_Ok. It will cut the rivet heads right off with the chisel blade. I would then just punch out the rivets after the head was cut off.
Good luck! You need good ear protection too

[snipescastle2]

I also used an air chisel, I had the remove the crossmember that supported a manual transmission from the '67 chassis I am running, even after I knocked the heads off them Rivits, I still had to drill out the remainder,perhaps it was due to the weight of the transmission bearing down on them after all those years, swage-ing them in their holes..... any way's I'm sure Vic will prevail!!!!
Have a good one!
Ben

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

I did this too until I borrowed a killer air hammer from my friend Crash_Ok. It will cut the rivet heads right off with the chisel blade. I would then just punch out the rivets after the head was cut off.
Good luck! You need good ear protection too

This. Winnah!

[Vic1947]

Turns out the donor frame is not without its own warts. I don't think it's real serious but will need to be tweaked before it can be joined to my short frame. The problem (which you never seem to see until you've looked at it a zillion times) is that the passenger side rail is rolled outward about 1/4" at the yellow arrow in the photo. However, I believe I can draw it together enough to keep it from affecting the alignment of the joints. The results of the laser tool and the centerline measurements aren't perfect, but much better than CRLS. I was hoping to send the finished frame to Sedalia for powder coating this Friday but that ain't gonna happen now. Too much other stuff going on, so it will probably slip another week.

[Vic1947]

The passenger side frame rail is under tension as we speak. I installed one of my heavy duty clamps on the top of the rail and hooked the come-along to it. Far side has a 2x3 steel tubing reinforcement with a chain looped around it for the other end of the puller. First attempt ended in a Mexican standoff. Not enough grunt to move the rail more than just a little bit. Probably didn't help that I just got back from Pizza Ranch stuffed with all-you-can-eat pizza and fried chicken. Anyway, I rummaged thru my junk bucket and retrieved a snatch block so I could double the force of the pull. As you may be able to see from the photos, the rail moved a lot more. I'm going to let it set for an hour or so and see how much it springs back. I pulled it past where it needs to be, so hopefully it will be on spec when it relaxes. If not, I'll pull some more and apply some heat as well. Just didn't want the heat at this point if this does the trick.

[Low Elco]

just bought a hoss of a air chisel for this very purpose, worked good. Yours if you want it, or it was 60 at northern.

[knomadd]

Nice work Vic. Looks like you've got it under control. I was wondering if a few hammer blows would release some of the stress in the frame rail, without having to add heat. Sort of like relaxing sheet metal. I suspect it would take more than a tap to make the same effect as relaxing sheet metal, but it might be worth a shot before applying heat.