Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[dsraven]

hey dugg,
one way to make sure your stuff lines up again when you reassemble it after painting is to drill and pin (screw) the hinges, fender mounts etc. that way when you reassemble it everything should go back in the same place. you just gotta make sure the screws fit into the holes well, so no room for error. some guys will drill and use roll pins, that way they fit tight in the holes and no room for any discrepancies.
your truck looks good. good attention to detail and forethought. you gotta paint it though. I recommend getting it licensed and drive it just a little first. that way if there are some bugs to work out it will all be good before the paint goes on.
the wife is out of town for a couple days so I actually got some stuff done on my truck. I meant to take some pics and post them but she took the camera, my tablet, her tablet, pretty much everything that isn't bolted down. I dunno what she was thinking but anyway, there are no pics except for on my phone, and I have to wait for my tablet to come home before I can really do anything with those pics (dinosaur phone). I really have to figure out how to start a build thread. I tried and it said there is a build thread somewhere. just don't know where. if only computers had nuts and bolts. (hardware, jeez you guys). anyway, keep up the good work and post lots of pics. it keeps losers like me inspired to carry on.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

hey dugg,
one way to make sure your stuff lines up again when you reassemble it after painting is to drill and pin (screw) the hinges, fender mounts etc. that way when you reassemble it everything should go back in the same place. you just gotta make sure the screws fit into the holes well, so no room for error. some guys will drill and use roll pins, that way they fit tight in the holes and no room for any discrepancies.
your truck looks good. good attention to detail and forethought. you gotta paint it though. I recommend getting it licensed and drive it just a little first. that way if there are some bugs to work out it will all be good before the paint goes on.
the wife is out of town for a couple days so I actually got some stuff done on my truck. I meant to take some pics and post them but she took the camera, my tablet, her tablet, pretty much everything that isn't bolted down. I dunno what she was thinking but anyway, there are no pics except for on my phone, and I have to wait for my tablet to come home before I can really do anything with those pics (dinosaur phone). I really have to figure out how to start a build thread. I tried and it said there is a build thread somewhere. just don't know where. if only computers had nuts and bolts. (hardware, jeez you guys). anyway, keep up the good work and post lots of pics. it keeps losers like me inspired to carry on.

Good call on drilling and pinning the hinges and such. Problems with driving before I do any paint:
- Rust never sleeps in Alabama. Since my truck got here, it has been in an air conditioned garage so it still thinks it may be in Calif.
- Gotta have glass to drive....believe it or not, even in Alabama. Don't want to install glass without it going over final paint even if I only do final paint at the window openings.
- I still have a house construction effort looming that a beat up truck with ok paint and no body work would be perfect for. If you ask my wife, she would say that I am supposed to be building the house and working on the truck in my spare time.
Who knows, things may change and I get inspired to do a bunch of body work and paint.

As far as your thread goes, it shows you are a registered user but there are NO build threads started by you. Look under your profile under "statistics". Get one of the young guys that works for you to set you up. They will do it real fast after they stop laughing. I use a little Sony camera that is only used by me. They are cheap, the resolution is incredible and the battery lasts forever. Dug

[dug224]

Originally Posted by ricott

Your truck looks so good with all the sheetmetal on it! And even better that it moves under its own power. Plates, taillights and a windshield and you could drive it without worrying that you were going to turn the corner and see the local police.
Now that you have the truck mostly assembled, what is the ground to rocker measurement at the front of the door?

8-1/2" to the rocker at edge of door and 8-3/8" to fender lip. The fender is pretty bent up and the rocker is not welded in (however, in final position).

[dug224]

Update...
- Door latches back on (no handles) so doors now locate in a fixed and predictable position when closed.
- Using three ratchet straps, loosened bed front bolts and narrowed the bed front by an 1/8". Bed still slightly wider than cab based on my strings.
- Determined semi-final location of bed. Now 3/4" off of back of the high spots behind driver and passenger and 1-1/16" off the back of the cab in the center of the cab/bed. Using a framing square, I placed one side on the tread side of the tire and put the other side up against a 4' level that I put on the face of the tire. I did this to determine actual space in front of front the front tire to the front of the wheel opening. Measured 2-1/8". Did the same for the back wheel. Measured 1/8". So, the math....2-1/8" - 1/8" = 2". To make the front and rear tire spacing from the front of the openings match, I will tentatively move the back wheel opening forward 2".
- To see this, I cut a piece of cardboard the shape of the wheel opening and painted it white. Blacked out the wheel opening leading edge on the bed side. Taped the cardboard wheel opening to the bed 2" forward and took some photos. Basically did in real life what 47 Fasttoys did for me in post 321.
- Next, I hung the heavy spare tire and rim, added 150 lbs of sand, the old bumper/receiver hitch and about 12 gallons of gas to simulate finished conditions with bed floor and bumper in place. Measured lip height from garage floor at center of the wheel. The rear wheel opening ratcheted down incrementally as follows:

26" Starting condition with no added weight
26-1/8" Spare tire
26" 50 lb bag of sand
25-3/4" 50 lb bag of sand
25-9/16" 50 lb bag of sand
25-3/8" Old TB bumper/receiver hitch (did not weigh)
25" 7 gallons of gas (@ 6 lb/gallon - 42 lbs)
25" 5 gallons of gas (30 lbs)

Very pleased with the wheel opening and stance/rake outcome and, based on this, would not anticipate altering the springs in the rear at this time. That one inch made a pretty big difference to my eye.

Ricky: Rocker at door edge still at 8-1/2".

[ricott]

I believe you nailed it moving the wheel opening forward by 2 inches! It also looks like my concern that the "overhang" would be out of proportion was wrong. The good news is you only have to deal with the front panel on each side.

[dug224]

Before and after - wheel opening move and additional weight in the bed.

Also, potential color choice I saw on a rental car my sister got. 2014 VW Beetle Denim Blue color code LP5F. dug

[ChuckDriver]

Nailed it!

[Kim57]

Looks real nice with the changes.
Nice color.
Kim

[dug224]

Somebody forgot to turn the humidity button on in Alabama this morning so I got the rare summer opportunity to open the garage and work outside. Got tired of not being able to see the body line so I got the sander out and revealed it along with a few damaged areas on driver side. Also cut the excess sheet metal off the T.B. receiver hitch and remounted it into the frame for a test fit. With a very minor bits of trimming of the rear cross member under tailgate it will slide into place.

[Advanced Design]

Looking good Dugg! Humidity button is off up here too. Best July 4 weather in recent memory.

[dug224]

Marked up the bed side for the wheel opening cut. Looks like I will be moving it 2" towards the front. Also, ran across a rear bumper with bad chrome for $50. Trying to decide if I want to keep it and have it re-chromed or strip the nickel and go with body color. Headed towards installing the bumper upside down like they did on the Dynacorn project with the license plate mounted on a hinged bracket that I can rotate forward to access the receiver hitch. Top of bumper even with the bottom of the rear cross brace about 1/2" off the back of the bed. Those bumpers don't really look like they are too well thought out whether they are right side up or upside down. They look good until you look at them from the side.

[Kim57]

Looks like you have the bed cuts laid out real nice.
I agree with you on the bumpers looking like an after thought.
I flipped my front and it fits a lot nicer.
Kim

[47 Fasttoys]

OK, again with my opinions. Good move on the bed cuts, that should turn out fine. For the rear bumber....nope don't care for it either way. How about a round tube bumper resting between the lower rear corners of the bed? It could still stick out a bit , say 2 inches on a 4 inch tube and you could build a receiver in it or below it. With it sticking out a little it would still offer some protection and if you use schedule 40 pipe it would be much stronger then that factory one. And if you really want to play, turn it into an air tank. That's what I did on my '46 and it operates my air horns or can fill a tire if needed. Not saying it's the best way to go but but it's always good to think outside the box.
Rob

[dug224]

Rob: Thanks for the input and nice job. I like the out of the box innovation. This morning, I went to the garage and drew a line on the rear end of the bed that represents a modification to the lower part of the bed if I decide to inset the bumper where it belongs. Bumper still sticks out on either side since it is wider than the bed. As with most of my decisions, I will play around with a few ideas until one sticks. This has become part of the critical path since, if I decide to use the factory hitch, it goes on before the bed is mounted. Can't modify it until I work out the bumper. Headed to a Barry's-U-Pull-It today to get a hinged license plate holder just in case. At least I have the wheel opening thing solved so I can dive into it. May grind all the paint off today and get started. Thx Dug

[Kim57]

Seeing as the bumper has bad chrome why not cut it straight across the top and bottom so it will be able to move closer to the bed. If you put a notch into each end it could move even closer. You can also trim the ends so the don't stick out past the bed sides.
Kim

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Seeing as the bumper has bad chrome why not cut it straight across the top and bottom so it will be able to move closer to the bed. If you put a notch into each end it could move even closer. You can also trim the ends so the don't stick out past the bed sides.
Kim

Kim: Not sure what you mean by cutting it straight across the bottom. Can you elaborate? I believe I have enough width at the license plate to cut it once to shorten it so it does not stick out on the sides. Will study the bed side notch to make sure I am up to it. The bottom of the bed ends are toast anyway so slicing them up to make room for a bumper will be improving them. Would also fab up some sort of filler panel to put between the bed cross member and the back of the bumper. Stopped by the local chrome shop. Costs $350 to get the bumper rechromed. Not in the budget. A bit steeper than I expected.

[Kim57]

Unless I am seeing it wrong it looks like if you were to look straight down on the bumper from above as it is mounted that the ends curve towards the bed. If you were to make that a straight line it would allow you to move it closer to your bed.
Hope that helps to clarify what I meant.
Kim

[Rc4mike]

Originally Posted by dug224

Somebody forgot to turn the humidity button on in Alabama this morning so I got the rare summer opportunity to open the garage and work outside. Got tired of not being able to see the body line so I got the sander out and revealed it along with a few damaged areas on driver side. Also cut the excess sheet metal off the T.B. receiver hitch and remounted it into the frame for a test fit. With a very minor bits of trimming of the rear cross member under tailgate it will slide into place.

What truck is your hitch off of?

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Unless I am seeing it wrong it looks like if you were to look straight down on the bumper from above as it is mounted that the ends curve towards the bed. If you were to make that a straight line it would allow you to move it closer to your bed.
Hope that helps to clarify what I meant.
Kim

I understand and you are correct. I will study this. It will also shorten the bumper slightly although not as much as I need to shorten it. I think I need to shorten it overall by about 1-1/2" to make it flush with sides. Bought a hinged license plate holder off of an '80's Camaro for $2.00 at the U-Pull-It place. Turns out, they will sell me an entire bed with good sides I can cut the floor out of for $130.99 (plus tax). Spotted a straight LWB bed I may be able to use. Thanks for the input. Dug

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Rc4mike

What truck is your hitch off of?

It came with my 2002 Trailblazer frame. It has a ton of sheet metal bolted and welded to it as it is part of the bumper system. All I did was unbolt it from the frame and strip if off the non-structural excess metal. dug

[Mac the Yankee]

Dug,

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with using the modern bed (been thinking of doing the same thing myself)- hope you find one that fits well!

[ricott]

I'm watching with interest to see what you do for a rear bumper. I've been looking, and one idea I had (absolutely no idea if it will work) is the chrome bumper from the newer dodge pickups.

As far as the bed floor, look at "SGTUSMC '59 Build" Posts 117 and 121 for how he did his bed floor and sidewall (inner). He used a 1988 long wheelbase pickup bed for the floor on his 59 fleetside. It looks like it worked out real well. I hope so, as I bought a 1990 bed from my salvage operator (sheetmetal was dented so the bed went cheap).

[Mac the Yankee]

Thanks ricott, I completely forgot about that thread- looks like an '88ish will work well!

[dug224]

Originally Posted by ricott

I'm watching with interest to see what you do for a rear bumper. I've been looking, and one idea I had (absolutely no idea if it will work) is the chrome bumper from the newer dodge pickups.

As far as the bed floor, look at "SGTUSMC '59 Build" Posts 117 and 121 for how he did his bed floor and sidewall (inner). He used a 1988 long wheelbase pickup bed for the floor on his 59 fleetside. It looks like it worked out real well. I hope so, as I bought a 1990 bed from my salvage operator (sheetmetal was dented so the bed went cheap).

Reviewed SGTUSMC's thread. Loved the fact that he got to use the sides and the tubs. I will see if I can beat him out of a few photos of how he mounted it. That looks like the very bed I have my eye on. Will head out in a minute to remeasure it and possibly make the deal.

[Mac the Yankee]

I may just use the bottom... want to install a spare mount on the inside of the passenger side of the bed