85 GMC Sierra Classic 1 Ton Crew Cab

[Mattman2010]

Well got the engine cross member done and got it bolted in today.







The sleeves for the bolts are longer on the drivers side to get the mounting plate back behind the motor mount bolt so that I can remove the mounts without having to remove the cross member.

[Dieselwrencher]

Looking good man!

[1985-GMC]

Looks great Matt, that should do it!

[ryanroo]

that is a clean looking crossmember. did you get heavy enough material for the sleeves?!? damn!

now, please tell me you are grinding the edge of the frame tabs clean?

Ryan

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

that is a clean looking crossmember. did you get heavy enough material for the sleeves?!? damn!

now, please tell me you are grinding the edge of the frame tabs clean?

Ryan

Haha yeah the tube is heavier than I wanted. I asked you what size and dieselwrencher bought it for me but got 1/4 inch wall... Lol but it works and fits with my 1/4" theme I seem to be going with haha.

Yes the brackets will be cleaned up. I will do that when I tear it all down to paint the frame because I also want to shape them some more to not have the sharp corners. Don't worry it will be cleaned up more lol.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Mattman2010]

Today I decided to put the bed on to get the height of my home built gooseneck hitch. Well my uncle took the tractor to a field to grab some hay and I needed it so I drove my fourwheeler with a trailer over to the field so I could get the tractor. Being the only one around sucks at times so this is what I had to do to bring the tractor to the shop.



Needed a way to get back to the truck so I pulled the fourwheeler behind it

After that I went ahead and put the bed on.



Right now the bedside is 5 foot tall. I hope that the front will be able to fit a 37" tire so that I wont have to lift it anymore.

Then I cut a hole in the floor and stuck my 2.5" receiver into the hole and clamped it to the front cross member of my gooseneck hitch.



and here it is with the B&W ball installed.



Once I get the receiver welded to the front cross member I will install the rear cross member and weld it all up and then figure out a release mech for the ball so I can pull it out when I dont need it.

[Dieselwrencher]

Hey, you lost your chickens that were in your trailer!

Nice work. For the release mech, just get a long hitch pin and a spring. add a bracket to your hitch and set it up so that the spring holds pressure on the hitch pin to keep it in the ball. Then on the bracket on the side of the frame cut a hole and get some smooth 1/4" meound stock and make a handle for it. Pull the handle out and mark where the handle is out side your gn bracket. Weld another piece on top of the rod there and that will be your stop for when you pull it out. The GN bracket will hold your hitch pin out so you can remove your ball.

[1985-GMC]

I would try to move the ball up so the square part of the ball sits flush with the tube. The trailer hitch will be a little close to the bed like that and once you get a little dirt & water down in there it will make it hard to get the ball out especially if it sits a while

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Hey, you lost your chickens that were in your trailer!

Nice work. For the release mech, just get a long hitch pin and a spring. add a bracket to your hitch and set it up so that the spring holds pressure on the hitch pin to keep it in the ball. Then on the bracket on the side of the frame cut a hole and get some smooth 1/4" meound stock and make a handle for it. Pull the handle out and mark where the handle is out side your gn bracket. Weld another piece on top of the rod there and that will be your stop for when you pull it out. The GN bracket will hold your hitch pin out so you can remove your ball.

Thanks man, yeah we talked about doing it that way. I think I'm going to try that method. We will see what I come up with.

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

I would try to move the ball up so the square part of the ball sits flush with the tube. The trailer hitch will be a little close to the bed like that and once you get a little dirt & water down in there it will make it hard to get the ball out especially if it sits a while

Already done! Forgot to take a picture of that.
Posted via Mobile Device

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Hey, you lost your chickens that were in your trailer!

Nice work. For the release mech, just get a long hitch pin and a spring. add a bracket to your hitch and set it up so that the spring holds pressure on the hitch pin to keep it in the ball. Then on the bracket on the side of the frame cut a hole and get some smooth 1/4" meound stock and make a handle for it. Pull the handle out and mark where the handle is out side your gn bracket. Weld another piece on top of the rod there and that will be your stop for when you pull it out. The GN bracket will hold your hitch pin out so you can remove your ball.

did i catch a meo in there?

i also recommend that you have the ball sit on something and the pin just hold it in, like the B&W does. that way the pin isnt holding the weight of the trailer up, its actually sitting on the hitch. that will help keep the hole int he rec. tube from egging out.

looks good!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

did i catch a meo in there?

i also recommend that you have the ball sit on something and the pin just hold it in, like the B&W does. that way the pin isnt holding the weight of the trailer up, its actually sitting on the hitch. that will help keep the hole int he rec. tube from egging out.

looks good!

Good point, I forgot about that little detail.

[1985-GMC]

Hmm, I didn't really think of that but one of our B&W hitches doesn't have a stop; the ball will slide all the way through...

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

did i catch a meo in there?

i also recommend that you have the ball sit on something and the pin just hold it in, like the B&W does. that way the pin isnt holding the weight of the trailer up, its actually sitting on the hitch. that will help keep the hole int he rec. tube from egging out.

looks good!

Yeah Ive been trying to think of ideas on how to do this because I need some sort of stop for the ball so that I can put it in the hole and then latch it myself. I dont plan on keeping the ball in the flipped over position. I am going to have a tool box so ill just keep it in there. Seen people talk about them getting stuck to often. So whatever I do for a stop has to be able to let water and any kind of dirt from staying in the tube.

[Mattman2010]

Well today I went and picked up a 40 gallon fuel tank from a buddy with the stock cross members. It originally had the fill tube on the passenger side but I hate having to walk around the truck just to fill it up so I turned the tank around so that it would be on the driver side. I wanted to test fit it to get an idea of what I would have to do.



Right now I am not going to mount the tank just yet. I need to finish up welding my gooseneck hitch in and then figure out a release mech for it. I plan on doing it like the B&W hitch setup. Once I get the hitch done I will weld all the nuts to the frame that hold all of my rear brackets to the frame, and then hopefully I can get my steel to finish boxing the rear of the frame. Once I have the frame boxed I am going to cut the fuel tank cross members and weld them to the boxed plate. This will allow for me to be able to not have to cut weird shapes into my box plates and it will look better when done. Still unsure how I am going to do a receiver hitch on the truck as of right now. I have one that works with this truck but eventually I am going to build bumpers for the truck and plan on building a receiver hitch into the bumper. So I dont want to weld this receiver to the frame. Might just have to weld some nuts in the frame to temp mount the receiver hitch I have and remove it once I build my bumpers (Want to get the truck running before I build the custom bumpers, but want to be able to pull a trailer if I have to)

[ryanroo]

Glad to hear you are boxing the frame. thats what all the cool kids do anyhow. people who dont are just silly.

(hehehe)


here is a pic of what i did to prep for a reciever. i wishi had spaced the pattern out a little more, but i have an idea on what to do for that.

not exactly what you are working with, but the concept would be the same. similar to your front cross-member bolts

[Dieselwrencher]

Ryanroo, were you in to skate boarding before trucks?

[ryanroo]

color me stupid, i dont get it?

[Dieselwrencher]

Well you seem real good at skatin.

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

Glad to hear you are boxing the frame. thats what all the cool kids do anyhow. people who dont are just silly.

(hehehe)


here is a pic of what i did to prep for a reciever. i wishi had spaced the pattern out a little more, but i have an idea on what to do for that.

not exactly what you are working with, but the concept would be the same. similar to your front cross-member bolts

I get what you mean about boxing the frame, who wouldnt do that?

As for the receiver. The one I have bolts to the bottom of the frame. I think I am just going to weld some nuts inside the frame for that to mount for now. I plan on doing what you did with the bumper mounting holes. Im going to run a stock rear bumper for now. When I make my custom bumper my receiver will attach where the bumper attaches so sleeving that will make it really strong. As much as I would love to build the bumpers now I really need to get this thing going. I have a ton of money into this thing because I have changed my mind a lot on it, and it seems lately I could really use this truck

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Well you seem real good at skatin.

I shred man...

I hear what your saying about the money...

[Mattman2010]

Well I have been working on the latch system for the gn hitch. So far so good. I needed a long pin and I couldnt find a really long pin so I took two pins and welded them together. The weld does not have any kind of force on it other than when you pull on the pin to release the ball. So it should be good to go.

Here is the pin. It is two 5/8s hitch pins welded together. You can see the bracket that I made that the springs will push on to push the pin in. It also acts as the stop when the springs bottom out. I put a 5/8s shaft collar on the end of the springs to allow for the pin to be replaced if I ever need to replace it.



Here is a video of how it works. I took it with my phone so sorry about the quality of it.

It does not slide in and out as good as it should right now because I dont have the stopping plate mounted.

[Mattman2010]

I got the handle started. As you can see I bent it into a U shape. The part that is not connected to the pin will be used to hold the pin out. It will get cut down and when the pin is push in all the way that part will set on top of he frame. When I pull the pin out I will turn the handle and use the frame to hold the pin out. I have to get the rear cross member welded in and then I will mount the stop for the pin.

[Devillusion]

...nice! I like it.

[Mattman2010]

Got the stopping plate and handle all done here is a video of how it works.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps321cd152.mp4
Posted via Mobile Device
Posted via Mobile Device

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work!