Just another old truck.

[joedoh]

thats maybe the best explanation I have seen!

[Clarance J]

Well AD, Kim, and joedoh. Just want to say thank you.

Sometime I think I get a little long winded on how I went about fabricating some thing. This forum seems to have a unlimited amount of space and I enjoy the time it takes to try and fill it. Thanks again.

Earl

[Clarance J]

Hello all,

Just a short update: Radiator shroud

Clarance J no longer has a overheating problem. On the road it sits right at 180* and in stop/go traffic (not really big deal here in Grants Pass) it went just over 190+*. I can live with that. No more puking radiators...... Yahoo.

Earl

[RockinKees]

Excellent work Earl!
Thanks for showing us!!

[oldman3]

glad to hear...Jim

[Clarance J]

More late night posting. This will be a short one. Thanks Kees and Jim.

Little by little my to do list is getting shorter.

Tonight is changing caster shims from 2* to 4*. Very few mods needed to make this happen. Just drilling two holes larger to fit the spring pack pin.

After install I took CJ for test drive and found that the tracking was better which made me happy.

I still need to find some sway bars out of the bone yard that I can make work. I would like them to be at least 1" dia. Foreign or domestic. Any suggestions or ideas?

Earl aka Clarance J

[Clarance J]

Well, here I go again. I started with a drawing for the top bar and a pattern for the lower leaf spring perch. The top arms I made with the last of the
3/8''steel plate that I used for the shifter and the fan spacer.

[Clarance J]

And next,

[Clarance J]

More

[Clarance J]

And finally its installed and ready to go. That was fun.

Earl

[oldman3]

Earl, very nice on the detail of how you built the bar, looks great, may have to steal you ideal...Jim

[Kim57]

Very nice fab work.
Kim

[Advanced Design]

Outstandingly creative! Great work.

[RockinKees]

That is very creative Earl!!
I also was looking for a rear swaybar, I have an IRS set up o I was researching what could be used...
Now I see this it makes me think why not make one myself.
This way I can make one for my needs.
What kind of steel is the 1" round bar? Special steel or just ordinairy steel?

Great work!!
So nice, I steel your idea, Thanks!!!

[Clarance J]

First I'd like to say thank you Jim, Kim, Doug and Kees.

Kees, When I decided it was time for a sway bar I went to the internet and found so many different styles and applications. After seeing that I said to myself ''Heck I can do that.''

As for the bar I bought 4' of 1'' round hot rolled steel. My truck will never see any sort of race track so I went with the ''ordinary'' steel. It should be able to handle my grandpa type of mostly straight line driving.

As for stealing my idea I stole it from someone else so I would be happy to share it with you and anyone else.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with on that Jag IRS.

Thanks again guys.

Earl

[RockinKees]

Thanks Earl!
If I get to it, I'll show it in my thread.
I'm also not a racer (only watching...) so it's worth a try.

[Nut Case]

CJ

Great vision and application..

How do you sharpen your drill bits? With all the holes that you drill. I'd be forever buying new bits to replace the ones that get dull.

Thanks in advance.

Keep on keepin on

NC

[Clarance J]

Hello Nut Case. Thank you.

As to drill sharpening that is something I learned years ago through trial and

error and necessity. More than once I've had to sharpen a drill several times

before it pulled out the shavings like I wanted. It just takes practice.

Earl

[pc_AzPhx]

Nice Work Brother...

How come you didn't seem this smart when we were growing up?

[Clarance J]

Very good question pc. Let me think on that for awhile.

I first got the idea and posted about it 3/21/2015 on post #244.

I am working on a bunch of pictures now to post later this week.

Earl

[RockinKees]

Earl, did you drive your truck lately with the rear swaybar mounted?
If so, what do you think of it?

I got a front swaybar from a Chevy Van for free, but it's 1,06" thick. So I was thinking this may be too much for the back? (The front is 7/8" ....)
Or make the arms a bit longer in my case, any ideas on this?
Thanks!!

[Clarance J]

Hey Kees. Right now I'd like to tell you that every thing is working just fine but as of yet I really have not had a chance to give it a good test. I don't think that making a right or left turn at a signal or driving around town is much of a test. Most of the roads here in the city of Grants Pass OR have speed limits and are somewhat straight. But once you get out of town the speed limits go up and the roads are curvy. When I get to go out of town I'm sure that's when I'll notice the difference. Right now CJ is in the non-op status until I get the real roll pan finished and back on my truck.

As for the van sway bar it would seem that it will work but I have so little personal experience on this subject anything I told you would be just a guess.

I know that what ever you do you will post pictures, lots of pictures to keep us up to date. Good luck.

Earl

[FLJerry]

Earl aka Clarance J,
I just found your thread, and I must say that you have some great ideas and put them out there for others to really enjoy your work! I especially liked your method of securing the radiator (post #39), adding that cool fan shroud (post #69), and your building those inner door panels (post #80).
But, most of all, I enjoyed you showing us how you put together the full tilt front end on one of our great trucks! When I started my “Bucket List”, ‘55 Chevy truck, RESTOMOD, several years ago one of the first thing I decided on was a full tilt front end. I still have a long time to go before I get to a place of designing and building my full tilt front end. So, for now, I have added your build thread to my reference library for future use. I hope to design/build a full tilt front end that (1) slides forward 5-6 inches before tilting -- that way the fenders won’t have to be cut and also they will clear the cab, (2) tilts to close to 90 degrees -- that way, old forks like me can work on things in the engine compartment and (3) uses linear actuators to do the slide and tilt actions.
Great thread and keep up the good work...
FLJerry
My build: https://www.trifive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129275

[Clarance J]

Hello FLJerry. Thank you very much for those comments. Bringing CJ back to life has taken quite a bit of time and there is still a bunch to do. Unfortunately not all my ideas or modifications have worked out as well as they could have. One of those was the first fan shroud. But it was not a lost cause because I did learn something about working with fiber glass. There are several other builds on this forum that have tilt front clips and they are all different. Just like you I needed to get closer to the motor to work on it. Laying across the fenders was just not an option any more.

Thanks FLJerry for looking in on my thread and good luck on building your "Bucket List" 55 tilt front. It will be fun.

Earl

[Clarance J]

Time sure goes by fast when you are having fun. Just a couple of days short of three months since my last post.
I've been working on the rear roll pan for Clarance J. I think this addition by itself has made the biggest visual change so far to my truck. Several things that I liked about this mod was the improved look of the rear of the truck and the fact that it did not cost anything dollar wise with the exception of the consumables. I have been stock piling the parts for over a year now.