49 3600, s10 swap, project boogie

[lower50's]

I love when stuck bolts come out easer than expected. Tremors is a classic.

[joedoh]

love tremors. the movie that shouldnt have been great that was SO GREAT.

the guy who bought the 47 texted today just to say how much he loves the truck, made me feel good.

on the tool front I picked up a 4ft piece of rail track as an anvil.

back on the 49, I got everything trimmed, the body square on the frame, the back of the fenders bolted to the cab, and the hood shutting great, and tacked the radiator core piece in when I was sure it was square



then I tacked the mounts to the frame. I turned the wheels all the way to make sure the tires dont hit the mounts or the core support.

off the jacks, it sunk about a 1/2 inch. I had compensated about 1/4 with the jacks, so its 1/4" low. I will either fix it when I blow it apart to finish weld, or use a body shim. hard to plan for settling of rubber mounts.


next I wanted to see how bad the windshield frame was, someone shot the roof and the bullet lodged in the window frame after knocking the seal out. add time and it had rotted. I pulled the rubber and found the rest of the frame better than expected, so I will only need that small patch area.



so I moved on to the bed mounting. I will use a longbed bed floor like on the last truck. I had been using the truck as a scrap holder and the PO had used it as a trash can, so I needed to clean up. I pulled and separated all the steel and aluminum and swept it out



I might go out later and get the bed loose and flipped off.

[joedoh]

working alone, pulled the bed. well how would you do it by yourself?


work smarter not harder. I could have dragged it to the garage, dragged the 49 bed over, trimmed and fit trimmed and fit ad nauseam. instead, I measured the width I needed and marked it out, measured how far the first bed mount was from the back of the cab, and then measured the overall length. I left a couple extra inches on the back because the 47 floor was a couple inches short and I wanted to make sure I had some wiggle room.


for anyone interested in the numbers, I used 50" width, 75" long (plus my extra), and 20.25 inches from the center of the first body mount to where the front panel of the bed would be.


I saved the gas door too


then it was cleanup time.


here is a work smarter example, all the steel was in the wheel barrow and it would have been falling off the bed if I loaded it that way so I just backed up the hill and used the side ramps, then strapped it to the headache rack. at the steel yard I just dumped it.


I was pretty flagged after that, so I did some light work. I drilled out the window on the passenger side to replace the glass. only one screw came out on its own, and after I drilled only two more were extracted.


then I tackled the big dent in the passenger door. with my BFH and a baseball bat I got it knocked out pretty well


tomorrow I will mount up the bed, should be easy peasy.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work on cutting the bed floor. Me, I usually am off on something like that...my approach usually seems to be measure a bunch and cut a bunch, then weld some back on.

[joedoh]

my middle name is hubris, so it will probably work like that for me too.

[lower50's]

I like the bed idea.

[joedoh]

well I tried. to be completely fair it didnt start raining till I put the floor on the frame. I spent an inordinate amount of time sweeping and waiting for the rain to break, the 49 bed needs some braces cut out and rain+electric grinder is probably ample fun but I will avoid it.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work on cutting the bed floor. Me, I usually am off on something like that...my approach usually seems to be measure a bunch and cut a bunch, then weld some back on.

what has two thumbs and didnt compensate for the curve of the back of the cab? THIS GUY


so make that measurement 19" from the center of the bed mount.

[Advanced Design]

Good call on not mixing grinder with rain. At least you don't have to weld some back on.

[99 to Life]

I don't have a problem with the sleeve bags at all. Well just like you said though, I'm lacking the travel I should have. So I'm sourcing new shocks and adding blocks under the bags. My body is very low off body since I didn't notch rear or dehump the front lower arms. You got a bead on the shocks you use? haven't had time to source them yet.

as for the rear fenders, you said off the 46' correct?

[joedoh]

yes, off the 46. see I bought the 46 and it wasnt till the tow truck was unloading it that I realized it had 47-55 rear fenders (and probably the whole bed) so I have been looking for some 39-46 fenders. A friend in holcomb has a set but he wants to sell them with his 41.

for rear shocks I hope this doesnt bite me in the ass by saying it out loud online (by raising prices) but I have found a huge surplus of brand new takeoffs from new jeeps on craigslist, usually I can get the springs and shocks and even the lower arms for under $100, they are gas charged and have like 9.5" of travel. I had them on my 65 with the airbar and it rode like BUTTER on a hot pan everywhere and every ride height. I had extended arms on that truck so I even used the fronts. the jeep guys buy the jeep and put a lift on immediately, and dont want the original stuff hanging around, fine by me. I used the bushings and rod ends from the lowers to make a tilt bed hinge, it holds up a 4k lb jeep it will hold a 800 lb bed.

[99 to Life]

ahh noted on the fenders, I was gonna say, those aren't 46' fenders and though maybe that was a typo and 2. why in the hell would you sell 46' fenders. Makes sense now, but yes those things are extremely hard to come up on.

[joedoh]

there we go, tires held it almost right, had to let some air out of one



my wife was home and my daughter is on spring break so I did this alone of course.



bolted down and roughly lined up



I will tack weld it after I get a fender and running board mocked up but it looks about right based on the 47

[lower50's]

Wow doing the bed like that makes it look factory. I like!!

[joedoh]

thanks!

got it tacked, thats enough for today, my illness is still kicking full steam

[99 to Life]

ur a real trooper. I was never sold on the s10 bed deal, but honestly I like how yours looks. nice work.

[joedoh]

I dont think I would ever leave it steel, this is just a nice way of getting

1. a sold bed mount
2. wheel tubs
3. a solid base for a wood floor

all in one swoop. since the floor needs raised to clear the s10 frame anyway and usually the bed is rusted at its lowest point (like this one is). plus it reuses another part of the donor, I am all about that. I have put together wood floors that were part of the structure of a bed, NO THANK YOU, I would rather have a pineapple enema than do that again.

[99 to Life]

Oh yeah I'll never do a floor mounted to bed. I like making my bed wood slide out in one piece. I'v used that feature on both my trucks many times. So easy to just get to everything from up top. I still like that steel look, it almost seems like a factory piece esp with the patina.

[joedoh]

need to get the floor squared and patched so I can blow it apart for finish welding.




drilled for spot welding to the braces


not 100% welded yet but soooo much stronger.

[99 to Life]

nice job, who do you use for patches? I seen some usa made ones on ebay for good price.

[joedoh]

I got the floor halves with toe boards on closeout from a distributor for goodmark, they were $40 each free shipping! it fits ok, you can see I cut the battery cover mount out and it was a little short. not a concours restoration though so no big deal. I got the cab corner from bowtie bits because its local.

I need to do a little work to the drivers side but I dont think I need the entire patch. also need to fix that spot over the windshield. but that can wait, next is blow it apart, finish weld everything, paint the frame, change the axle, install the exhaust and gas tank, steering column, wiring, drive, bag, glass, drive!

[lower50's]

You make it sound easy.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by lower50's

You make it sound easy.

haha not that easy, but the wiring is plug and play, the glass is assembly, and the bag kit is bolt in. there isnt a lot of fabrication there.

[joedoh]

score! I was going to order drop leafs and blocks and install this extra 3.42 rear I have at the house to replace the 3.08 in the 84 frame. I spotted a 4.10 10 bolt on craigslist and thought I saw lowering blocks in the picture


sure enough, 3" blocks! when I got there in fact I noticed it had ZQ8 wheels on the truck (he put a 9" and a 350) and the front looked lower than a standard s10, I checked the glovebox for the GT5 code and while it is not a G80, it DID have the ZQ8 code. so the leafs are 1.5 drop leafs too.


so for $50 I got drop leafs, drop blocks, AND 4.10 gears. and even recent monroe gas shocks. guy even used his tractor to load it, didnt break a sweat. yet.


there is a giant grass fire southeast of us and with all the wind and smoke it made for an eerie sight yesterday

[rusty76]

Killer find. You sure do find them.

[99 to Life]

great score, hope that fire goes out.