The Super Duper Haggis Hauler

[MacQuigley]

Couldn't agree more Rian. It cant possibly take any more effort to make the panels correctly than to make them wrong.

But this is not something restricted to panels for these trucks. Ive bought many panels here for old British cars and they are just as bad and in some cases worse and some of the now OEM parts you buy for Land Rovers are so bad there is no way they will fit.

Ive often thought the same, what would happen if we all boycott them,but I dont see that ever happening.

[MacQuigley]

Anyone got a good picture of where all the bed supports go? Some of mine were missing and I seem to be short a few holes.

Just trying to assemble the bed sides etc so I can check them for fitment and so I can measure up for tyres.

[66ChevyMax]

Does this help:

[MacQuigley]

That does help but two questions.

Should there be two of the deep supports at the rear



And does the shallow support at the front bolt to the frame or just the bed sides. There doesn't seem to be any holes in the frame to fit it to.

Anyway the bed is partly assembled for fit and so I can measure up for wheels and tyres. I can almost see light at the end of the tunnel but then I realise they are the headlights of the train thats about to hit me!

[forestb]

The last cross sill in your photo does not belong there. There should be a cross sill that goes right under the tail gate that is actually visible from outside the bed. There are two brackets that come off of that cross sill that sit on top of the vary end of the frame. It looks very similar to the last cross sill in the second photo in post #248 except it is a little different because it is for a step side.

[forestb]

Here is a drawing and a photo from the mar-k web sight. the photo is of the inside of the sill and you can see the bracket I am talking about.

[MacQuigley]

I have the rear cross sill but the new sides need a little work to get them to fit.

When I ordered the replacement bed supports I did so based on the info in LMC's catalogue.



There are holes in the frame for both but there isnt a hole in the sides for the rearmost support, so it shouldnt be there. Ive no issues with that. I'll replace one of the front supports with the new one and that will make it easier to fit the gas tank. I guess the LMC catalogue shows the options for short and long bed.

[MacQuigley]

Guy's how much difference will 1" in the width of a wheel make if I was to fit the same size tyre?

Ive seen the wheels Id like but they are 8" wide. On checking tonight I found the steel wheels I have are only 7". I would need the same 4.5" offset which would mean the tyre wheel will be 1" further out but if I use the same 275 (or even 265) tyre will the tyre be 1" closer to the fender or is it just the rim of the tyre that will be 1" closer? Does that make sense???

I dont want to have to modify the wings though I could roll the inner lip in a bit if necessary.

[MacQuigley]

I think when I said 4.5" offset, I actually mean back space!

[MacQuigley]

Couldnt get onto Photobucket last night so I couldnt post these.

So I fitted one wing last night to see how the 15" wheels I bought with the axles would look.







Personally I like the look but because I went with bigger brakes I need to go for a minimum of 17" wheels. Id like to fit these



But the steel wheel Ive got are 7" and the smallest they do in these is 8". Now Id like to keep the 275 tyres on the back and the 245 on the front but Im not sure what effect the wider wheels will have. Im already close to the fender though I have about 1/4" up my sleeve as I had to space the wheels out a bit to get them to temporarily clear the mount for the calipers (which are not fitted as the wheels are too small), so I had a rolling chassis. There isnt a lot of space to play with



I can get the American Racing wheels with the same back spacing as the steels its just the fact they are 1" wider. Now the wheel will not come anywhere close to the wing so I dont thing that will be an issue and is I stick to 275's Im sure only the inner rim of the tyre will spread out further but Im just not sure and its a lot to spend then find Ive screwed it up.

This is the only 17" slot mag Ive found so far. Does anyone know of another?

But despite the mental torture of selecting these wheels, Im really starting to like the looks of my old truck. Wish I could take 6 months off work so I could get it finished all the faster. Sadly thats never going to happen!

[mcmlxix]

Originally Posted by MacQuigley

This is the only 17" slot mag Ive found so far. Does anyone know of another?

http://us-mags.com/wheels.cfm

[mcmlxix]

I had a 1971 C10 stepside with 17x8.5 wheels from a 1996 Impala SS. Stock they came with 255 on the rear but 275 was a common upgrade.

Not sure what look you're going for, but here are some 17" steel wheels that you could color match to the truck or paint white.

http://www.uswheel.com/products/ratrod

[MacQuigley]

Cheers Rich. I like that wheel but Im looking for a slot mag. To be honest the slot mag is my son's choice and to be fair thats about the only thing he has asked for on the truck (which will be his one day, when he can afford the insurance - he is only 17 so Ive a good few years yet!). He has gone with every other suggestion Ive made so I want to give him this one if I can.

However the fact you had 17 x 8.5's on yours does give me some confidence that the American Racing will fit and if a 275 was a common upgrade all the better.

I do have some scope to roll the inner lip on the fender a bit to gain some clearance if its necessary so i do think these will fit but its still a hard decision. Probably wouldnt be that hard if I could just wander down to the wheel store and have a look but Im 3000+ miles from the wheel store!

[mcmlxix]

What did the replacement 12bolt come out of?
Did you measure the original axle width and compare it to the new one?
Are you running the 5x5 bolt pattern?

There are calculators on the internet that will help adjust wheel offset/backspace...

http://www.1010tires.com/About/Tech

http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Wheel-Offset-Calculator

[MacQuigley]

I dont know what the axle originally came out of but its a 76 truck axle. I is a 5 x 5 pattern.

The axle that was fitted was also not original but it was older and slightly narrower but thats not a concern as that would have given a bigger problem as the tyres would have hit the bed sides.

Both axles are 12 bolt.

Ive been going through a number of threads on the forum and Im reasonably confident that a 17 x 8 with 4.5" of back space will be OK even with the 275 x 60's fitted but I may drop to 265's. Its only 10mm but Im confident thats all that will be needed, if even that.

[MacQuigley]

Well thats the second side all welded up thankfully. Just got the welds to grind down.



In truth it was faster than side one, even the cab corner fitted quite well



So tomorrow it will be time to repair this



Im hoping this is the last bit od serious body work I have to do save filling the bullet holes!

Now a question for those of you with 63 and on trucks, how does the panhard arm mount to the frame?

Im not sure if its clear from the pictures but the adjustable bar I bought does not fit my truck (despite POL's assurances)





The mount on the frame is actually about 6" further forward (you can just see it in the second picture) but there is no way the bar will clear the diff in order to fit to that mount.

Im wondering, hoping, that on later trucks this frame mount was further back and I can simply make a new mount. Has anyone got a picture of theirs?

I realised last night that all my measurements for the wheels are out because this isn't fitted and the axle is slightly off centre (I assume and pray thats because the panhard bar isn't fitted and not for some other more serious reason).

[AJCK87]

Great progress MacQuigley! Your truck is coming together fast

[MacQuigley]

First thing this morning I got the cab off the axle stands and onto the frame I knocked up



Now I can move it about a bit

Then it was time to repair that door frame.

Some careful surgery first



Then some reconstruction



And some finishing



Still needs dressed and filled.

So unless I find something Im not expecting I think thats all the major welding to the cab complete



But Im bound to find something!!!!

[MacQuigley]

Meed some advice guy's.

As I mentioned above the Panhard Bar I was sent doesnt fit. I was thinking of making a new mount but I was wondering if I could bent the bar.



With the bar mounted to the frame Im about 3" out from fitting to the mount on the trailing arm. Im thinking about bending the bar roughly level with that bolt in the diff cover (top right on the cover).

Can anyone give me a reason why this wont work?

If I make an ass of it its not "that expensive" a part to replace (in the grand scheme of things). Its getting one over here thats hard.

Mechanically I cant think of a reason why this wont work. If its fixed at both points the trailing arm will stop it moving backwards or forwards and the mount on the frame will stop it moving laterally. What do you think?

[MacQuigley]

Started working round the cab over the last couple of night. Not in any real order and I need to stop that and plan what Im doing. For example curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to find out what was under the bondo that was covering the old filler cap position.

Wasnt really surprised when I found this



So an hour later and another try of my TIG soon abandoned in favour of MIG and I was left with this



Not perfect but better than what was there and nothing I cant sort with some filler.

Really need to practice with the TIG though. Maybe a night school course is needed.

Unfortunately the saga with Performance Online continues and Im getting more pissed off with them with each passing day.

Problems include:

Panhard Bar that doesn't fit
Shocks that dont fit
Potential issues with the control arms (steering stop hitting the lower control arm - could be an issue caused by the fact that there is no weight on the frame yet).
A transmission cross member I cancelled because it wouldn't fit the 62 but they sent and charged me for anyway.
Payment for carriage that I shouldnt have paid because my shipper had the parts collected.

Now in honesty, I can resolve the panhard bar and shocks issue. I can cut and weld it or bend the bar to make it fit and I can adapt the rear shocks ti fit and buy replacements fronts over here.

I can even use the cross member and cut it to make it fit - I need to make one anyway so why not use this one.

I would like to see my $185 returned for shipping they didnt do.

But the thing thats really pissing me off is the fact they just will not get back to me!!! And in my book that inexcusable.

I had planned to order a lot more parts from them but I don see that happening now.

So much for customer service!

[MacQuigley]

As an alternative to the slot mag I posted above my son has come up with an alternative from Rocket Racing



What do you guy's think? I like them both but the Rocket Racing comes in more size option inc 17" or 18"x7", 8" or 9" where as Im limited to 17"x8" or 9".

[forestb]

I wold definitely go with the rocket racing wheels assuming you have the right bolt pattern.
Posted via Mobile Device

[MacQuigley]

Ive got a 5 x 5 bolt pattern and thats available in the Rocket Racing wheel but just looking at the American Racing data its available in 5 x 120.65 which if, as I assume, is a measurement in inch's and mm then 5 x 5 should be 5 x 127 so the slot mag wont actually fit.

[MacQuigley]

Didn't get much done on the truck over the weekend because of my other hobby but I did get the rest of the cab stripped out and some cleaning up started.

So the inside is a real mess






But with all that stripped out I was able to get into it with a wire brush and Scotch-bright pad on my angle grinder before getting the sand blaster out. Eventually ending up with this and what looked like a sand storm inside the cab



I hate sand blasting but it does get everything cleaned up.

Now can anyone tell me what the holes round the rear window are for?



Oh and what are these for? There are two in each footwell. I thought they were just nails welded in for some reason (thats happened elsewhere) but then I found 2 more in the drivers footwell. Can I cut them off?

[AJCK87]

Hey MacQuigley, not to sure about the holes around the back window. I think those pins in the floor are fasten points for floor mats. I have 4 on both the passengers side and drivers.