Project Big Orange (70 to 67 ~ long to short)

[74chevy454]

Great job, so was it out of square bad and was it alot of work finishing the z cuts. Cant wait till you get a test drive.

[vexvader]

Originally Posted by 74chevy454

Great job, so was it out of square bad and was it alot of work finishing the z cuts. Cant wait till you get a test drive.

Yes it was a lot of work finishing the z cuts.

It was and still is a little out of square. It was before I started and still was when I finished. I guess that means I did it right, because it was the same amount out of square as before I did the mod.

The truck hit a guard rail on the front driver side fender before I got it and the driver side frame rail is pushed back almost an inch farther then the passenger side. If you look at the driver side pic you can see the bed gap between the cab and the bed is a little off. The passaenger side is perfect.

The truck drives great. I have done 80 mph in it and is drives straight and does not have excessive tire ware. I have put close to 80k miles on it since I have got it 8 years ago, so I know it drives good. Since I made it a SWB I have driven it about 20 miles and up to about 45 mph and it rides pretty much the same as it did. It is a little bit bumpier because of the shorter wheel base but still straight as a whistle.

What I plan to do is take the bed off, loosen the cab mount bolts, loosen the trans cross member bolts and the radiator support bolts (basically every bolt that attaches to the frame, even the motor mounts). Then I will anchor the passenger side frame rail. Using a 4 ton come along to pull the driver side rail forward. I will try to pull it about a 1/2 too far. Then I will tighten everything back down and release the "come a long" Then I will check all my measurements and check for squareness.

If that does not work, then I will unbolt everything again and pull it again and then weld the rear spring support cross member, the trailing arm cross member and the front cross member that is under the radiator support, bolt it all down and check it.

If that doesn't work then I will just forget about it. Like I said, it drives straight with no tire ware and from what I have heard from most people, these trucks were never perfectly straight from the factory. A 1/2 inch out of squareness is within tolerance by most peoples books.

What are your guys thoughts on this?? I love hearing from other people on the board.

Vex

[vexvader]

Here is a rough time line for those who are interested:

Day One - Preparation (8 hours)
I removed the long bed. There were 8 bolts and 7 of them had to be cut off. I am pretty sure they were the original 39 year old bolts. A cut off wheel and a “saws all” did the trick. I used a “one man cab and bed lift” that I built and an engine puller. Then I pressure washed the frame. This made the rest of the job much cleaner and easier.

Then I drilled out the rivets and removed the front bed mounts that are not needed. Cut off 8 inches on the rear of the frame. Put the frame up on level jack stands, dropped the drive shaft, remove emergency break cable, remove the rear break line and wiring harness, and unhooked and plug the fuel line. Then I unbolted the rear cab mounts, jack up the cab about 3 inches and placed a 2x6 on the frame to hold the cab up so I could cut the frame.

I also had to remove the entire exhaust system. The mufflers were right next to the frame where I was going to cut it.

This took about a whole day because things always take longer then expected and because I was keeping an eye on my 3 year old son during most of that time. He thought he was working on the truck and dad was helping him. I also was not trying to hurry but just enjoying the day as I worked. One guy who really knows what he was doing could probably knock this out in about a half day if he did not run into any problems and worked fast.

Day two – The Big Cut (8 hours)
This was the point of no return. I marked the frame buy painting it primer gray and then used a sharpy. I did the “z” cut right under the cab. The cutting only took about 30 minutes with a good saws all, but then I had to dress all the cuts and clean up all the area that I was going to weld. This took a good hour or so.

After cleaning everything up, I got some ratchet straps, “C” clamps and vice grips and pulled everything back together. It lined up pretty good but I had to play with it some and then measure over and over. This is where things really got slow. It took about 30 mins to pull everything together and then about 30 mins of adjusting and measuring. I had to do this about 3 or for times before I felt that I had it as straight as I could get it. I also used a “come a long” cross tied to the frame rails to try to square it up good. So by the time I did this and tacked it back together with a mig welder another day was gone.

Day Three – Buttoning in All Up (8 hours)
I started by measuring everything again and believing that all was as good as I could get it, I committed to welding. This was a long slow process of welding, moving location, welding, waiting on my welders duty cycle, etc. By the time I did all this and the fish plates on the inside of the frame rails another day was gone.

Day Four – Boxing and Do Dads (8 hours)
After touching up the welds a little more, I they begun the process of fitting in the “frame rail stiffeners”. I bought them from CPP and they were great! They are solid and fit “tightly” in the frame rails. I had to really work to get them in because they were so tight. A 4 pound hammer came in handy. It took about an hour for each one to get it in and fitting right. About 30 mins each side prepping the rails for welding as well. I had a friend with more welding experience come and weld them in good and tight for me to make sure everything was good and tight. Again, we had to wait on my welder a lot and that took most of the day.

Then I hooked back up the break line and bleed the lines.

Day 5 – Done
I hooked back up the fuel line, cleaned up the frame a little more and put the new SWB bed on. Swaped out the yoke on a single drive shaft and installed it. I had to drill out the rivets and remove the old center support for the old two-piece drive shaft.

Installed new mufflers and tail pipes, cranked it up and drove it around the block.