Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[rustymarco]

Originally Posted by dug224

rustymarco: 4x4? That will be interesting. Have not seen a 4x4 done yet. Although you have the front drive axles going through the oil pan, I can't imagine that the geometry is that much different than my 2WD. Keep an eye on Ricky's (Ricott) build. You can find him on my thread. In general, all I did was install the body on the frame so it looked like it was lowered. All the suspension is stock. No apparent wheel/body interference at this time on my build. I am using factory Trailblazer wheels and the offset is fine. Ricky utilized after market wheels and, if I remember correctly, will be lowering his more than mine. Remember, include a lot of pictures for our entertainment. Good luck.....dug

your truck and mine are very similar in structure but i think the 59 is a little more wide in the front than the 56 ,trailblazer chassis 2wd and 4wd are the same ,i use a complete trailblazer running for this so i have everything (wires,sensors,traction control etc) i go to put some pics after when i have something done

[dsraven]

hey dug, you still working on the truck or do you have other things taking up your time for awhile? haven't seen any progress reports.......ha ha.
merry Christmas

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

hey dug, you still working on the truck or do you have other things taking up your time for awhile? haven't seen any progress reports.......ha ha.
merry Christmas

...grand kids being born, working on minibikes & motorcycles, working on a wrecked travel trailer (future "construction trailer"), selling off rental houses....everything but the truck. Its time will come. Still waiting on your build thread!!! Merry Christmas. dug

[dsraven]

well, hey. congratulations on the grand kids. hopefully everything went well and all are healthy and happy. are the minibikes for grand kids as well? you lucky dog. travel trailers make great construction trailers. and the build thread......well, this month is a gonner for me and next month is super busy at work etc. hopefully by feb i will have time to get something done. I have actually organised 4 yrs of pics so it won't be that hard once the ball starts rolling. it seems like I have all these ideas of how i want to do stuff, then before i get to doing it somebody else beats me to it. like rustymarco with the 4x4 trailblazer frame swap, my envoy donor is all wheel drive as well.
anyway, merry Christmas to you and your family. hope all goes well.

[dsraven]

hey dugg, you still out there man?
just a quick question for you if you have time. I went through the build thread for an answer but couldn't find one. just looking for clarification on the tire to fender clearance out front. is there interference issues with the stock wheel/tire combo? it looks like rustymarco, who is also building one of these on a trailblazer frame, is having tire problems with the stockers but I thought you had installed stock wheels on your truck and obviously are not having problems. are the 4 eyed trucks wider between the fenders? is it just because your tires are smaller out front that they don't rub? rustymarco and myself are using the awd version so maybe they are wider track than the 2wd version? will have to check that. any help would be appreciated. thanks.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

hey dugg, you still out there man?
just a quick question for you if you have time. I went through the build thread for an answer but couldn't find one. just looking for clarification on the tire to fender clearance out front. is there interference issues with the stock wheel/tire combo? it looks like rustymarco, who is also building one of these on a trailblazer frame, is having tire problems with the stockers but I thought you had installed stock wheels on your truck and obviously are not having problems. are the 4 eyed trucks wider between the fenders? is it just because your tires are smaller out front that they don't rub? rustymarco and myself are using the awd version so maybe they are wider track than the 2wd version? will have to check that. any help would be appreciated. thanks.

Sorry for the slow response. House design, graduations and grand kids still consuming my time. I did, however, reach through the windshield yesterday and turned the key just knowing it would not start. Fired right up so I backed it out and stared at it for for a few minutes.

Not sure what the problem could be. I have yet to have a tire interference problem and have purposely hit the ramp to my driveway pretty hard while turning. That's not to say I won't find one down the road. Not sure about any dimensional differences in the '58/'59's over the earlier ones. Good luck.

[dsraven]

hey, as long as you are having fun. I am sure you are if there is a house build going on.......
sometimes it is good just to stare at the project, you come up with all sorts of things to do when you get back at it again. ha ha.
have a great summer and hopefully you stay safe with the house building project.

[dug224]

I finally had some time to make progress. Made 4 mounting brackets and installed the 1995 Chevy bed. The center cross beam attached to the bed sits on top of the TB frame rails and just behind the frame cross member (that holds the top of the rear coil springs). Basically, the bed is balanced at that point so it was a matter of "leveling" the bed and locating it laterally and then securing it. The floor of the bed is parallel +/- with the main body line that runs the length of the truck. The intention is to drill out the spot welds that hold the tailgate structure/tailgate and lower it until the top is level with the top of the '59 bed sides. The remaining three sides will be sectioned to establish the correct height. The top rail for the front of the '95 bed will be reinstalled and the top rails for the sides will be those of the '59. The face of the tailgate is curved from top to bottom as are the sides where it meets the bed sides. I will fabricate an "L" shaped panel that runs along the top for the width of the gate so it is more flat and matches up with the back of the bedsides. Was planning on cutting out the '59 gate "CHEVROLET" and welding it into '95 gate but will probably have a replica decal made instead.

So, in an attempt to have something to put in the truck bed along with my CT70, I bought a toasty 1975 Honda TL250 Trials bike with a wrecked engine. It looked like it had been flooded so there was a bit of corrosion. Found a late model 2008 Honda CRF230L engine and hot rodded the TL. Installed the battery, carburetor, engine control module, rectifier, wiring harness and air cleaner where the old air box used to be. Carb hit frame so I made an intake manifold out of two 1-1/4" brass street elbows and routed it around the frame member. Tight fit. Six speed computer controlled engine with electric start. Paint is next. This thing is a blast to ride!

[dsraven]

wow, nice work on the bike. haven't seen one of those for a few years. I bet it is a blast to burn around on.
good to hear you back on here again. have you had good luck with the house? how far along are you? it will be nice to see you back on the truck, always have some great ideas. I have welded in the section on my roof panel but things are not quite right so I am trying to work out the kinks 20 mins at a time. I go out to work on it for an hour but mostly that is time spent digging it out and getting things set up to work on it, then it is time to put it all away again. my daughter just had our first grand child and the daughter in law is ready to deliver hers any day now. busy times at grampa's house. but then, you been there already so you know. all I can say is kids stuff came a long way since we had babies.
keep up the great work, good to see you on here again.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

wow, nice work on the bike. haven't seen one of those for a few years. I bet it is a blast to burn around on.
good to hear you back on here again. have you had good luck with the house? how far along are you? it will be nice to see you back on the truck, always have some great ideas. I have welded in the section on my roof panel but things are not quite right so I am trying to work out the kinks 20 mins at a time. I go out to work on it for an hour but mostly that is time spent digging it out and getting things set up to work on it, then it is time to put it all away again. my daughter just had our first grand child and the daughter in law is ready to deliver hers any day now. busy times at grampa's house. but then, you been there already so you know. all I can say is kids stuff came a long way since we had babies.
keep up the great work, good to see you on here again.

Slow rolling the new house. Still trying to sell off some rental units. I spent a solid two days uncovering the truck and getting things just right before I resumed. Getting the bed mounted was monumental in my mind. Clear sailing from here on out. Keep after it and get your stuff up on a thread so we all can enjoy!!!

[ricott]

Great to see you back at it again. I laughed when I read you spent two days getting it ready to work on. It is so easy for one of these projects to become a storage unit. Post up some full truck shots (or at least of the back) when you can. I really want to see your bed come together.

Ricky

[dug224]

So, here are some overall bed shots with my plan of attack.
Step 1 - Drill out spot welds for rear gate structure and remove. Photo 6 shows a few of the 74 spot welds marked that I will soon be drilling out.
Step 2 - Determine the actual dimension of the bed cut based on the side body line. We'll call it 6" for now.
Step 3 - Lower top of '95 tailgate 6" so that it matches factory '59 location.
Step 4 - Cut 6" off the top of the sides of the '95 bed and discard. Magnetic pointer in the the 6th photo shows the approx. location of the future top of bed.
Step 5 - Cut outside edge of wheel tub. Cut dimension TBD. I will extend the tub to the inside of the '59 bed side using some sort of rubber extension. This keep mud from slinging up into the bed side.
Step 6 - Cut approximately 5" out of the front of the bed leaving a 1" over lap so the top of the front of the bed can be slipped down over the bottom of the front of the bed keeping the stamped radiused rectangles somewhat in tact. Will spot weld back in place and use seam sealer to clean it up. If this gets too hairy, I will simple shorten the front of the bed and reinstall the top rail and forget trying to save the radiused stamped rectangles.
Step 7 - Create a flange of some sort to attach to the new shortened sides of the '95 bed to hang the '59 sides from.
Steps 8 thru 50 TBD....

[Kim57]

Sounds like a ton of work.
Should look good when done.
Kim

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Sounds like a ton of work.
Should look good when done.
Kim

Look who's talking!! You are one of the Kings of this type of tonnage. By the way, your LED taillights turned out good. Now that I am back into this, I am reviewing many of the old builds to see what I have already forgotten I was going to do on my truck.

[dsraven]

ya, thats pretty funny. YOU forgetting something, ha ha.
looks like you have a good plan going there. that is half the battle. I thought of cutting the floor and dropping the box down over the frame but that would be a lot of welding after. will your wheel tubs be below the box rails enough so the painter will have room to shoot it up there?
I just finished some roof work on my xtra cab. sure wish i had one of those TV shops that are fully equipped. could have used an english wheel a few times. live and learn I guess. I would do it differently next time. there is a better way to extend an egg shape probably. I will try to include some pics, not so good at the tech stuff.
I brought my envoy donor into the shop for measurement comparisons. looks like I may have some issues with the engine fan, pretty tight. also, it is an inline 6 so the firewall i spent all that time on will have to be changed to accept the longer powerplant. the tire track width is also possibly an issue. the 4 eyed trucks must be wider between the front fenders. just curious, did you come up with about 16 1/2 inches from the firewall to the strut upper bolt? I used a square on the firewall across to the tire and that is the number I come up with for axle centreline to keep the tire centred in the wheel opening.

[dsraven]

sorry Dugg, found that firewall measurement waaay back in your build. 16 7/8"
I really gotta get with it on the build thread. I have lots of pics but so many of them were failed attempts.

[dug224]

The top of my tubs will be an inch or two below the top rail. Exact dimension will soon be evident. Should be enough space for me, the painter, to work with. I am pretty happy with my engine/radiator/cooling fan set up. A bit tight but it seems to work fine. The 6 Cylinder appears to be longer than my V-8 but not sure. Good luck on the roof. Looks like a challenge. Love the third brake light tucked in there.

[dug224]

- Removed the rear tailgate structure. Bed floor is tucked under the vertical structure so this had to be cut as did the top 3 or 4 inches of the sides where I could not get to a spot weld or two. Otherwise, it was a matter of drilling out spot welds.
- Looks like a "C" channel facing down will be a nice adjustable filler panel than can be attached to the lower horizontal gate structure and the back end of the bed. With this approach, I will be able to plug weld it front and back. Dropped it about 6" to show where we are going with this.
- If I can get the proper pitch, I will consider putting the gas tank filler cap in this filler panel. The filler neck is just above and slightly to he right of the left jackstand in the 4th photo. You'll have to pen the tailgate to fill it with gas which will hide the cap. If this doesn't work, I still have the round gas door from the '95 which will go where I can make it work.
- Filler panel will also get a hole for access to the factory spare tire winch.
- Factory receiver hitch interferes with the gate structure and probably the bumper so it will be cut just under where it slides into the boxed frame and lowered with steel plate until it daylights behind the future hinged tag holder.

[Advanced Design]

Good to see you back at it dug!

[Kim57]

You're making good progress.
Kim

[FarmerSid]

Holy cow that's quite the bed mod! Cool!

[dug224]

Huge progress thanks to my buddy Jim!!

Setup an elaborate array of strings, straight edges and levels around the truck to establish body lines, bed top lines, center bed lines, tailgate level lines and cut lines and kept coming up with the fact that something was 3/8” off. Turns out, the front left of the bed was too low by 3/8”. Shimmed it up and it all came together. Took a few hours to get this just right.

Cut 2” off of the outside of the wheel tubs.

Established the top of the bed to be 6.5” above the body line. Measured up from the body line string and subtracted ¼” for the cut line. Laser level and a good old carpenter’s square really helped establish proper elevations and straight cut lines. Cut the sides with a reciprocating saw and cut the front of the bed with a jig saw.

Hung the ’59 bed side. At the front of the bed, I had to cut out the ’95 bed where the ’59 bed pocket interfered. Also trimmed the ’95 bed outboard flange at the front of the bed one small piece at a time until the ’59 bed side aligned with the plain of the door. Inner panels of the ’59 are now touching the ’95 wheel tubs so they will have to be trimmed a bit. The vertical location appears to be perfect with no adjustment required so far.

The best news is that I will be able to slide the bed side forward to a point where I will not have to cut the wheel openings out to center them over the rear wheels. For every fraction of an inch you move the bed side forward, the bed floor becomes too long by that amount and will need to be trimmed at the back. Will have to shorten the bed about an inch. The rear pocket if the ’59 bed is hard up against the ’95 flange. This flange will have to be trimmed for me to continue moving the side forward. In addition, there is a flange at the front of the bed parallel to the back of the cab that may interfere with the cab if I get too close. I have seen some guys either bend the flange flat or remove it and weld up the edge. It basically creates a knife edge on the leading of ‘59 bed and allows me to move forward another ½” +/-. Will probably resort back to the ’59 tailgate since it will trim a bunch of time off of the build and frankly, will look better.

[dug224]

...more

[dug224]

...the last set...

[Kim57]

A ton of work but looks real good.
Kim