Another Crew Cab, {72 Denali style}

[Madkidd007]

Well not much on updates, been working my day job too much and combined with rain, yeah. So I’ve been collecting more parts, selling parts, getting cleaned up and a little more orginized since I don’t have much room.

Got the bed on a dolly so it’s not outside but can move it out of the way easy.

Weather was nice today so the 72 k5 blazer hangers got put on the front exactly 8” forward of the originals. If you notice the single thick fender washer that’s because the frame had a factory oval hole right there that lined up.
Here is the thought process, obviously I get the lift and they are correct for the narrow 40.5” leaf spring spacing. The wheelbase will now be 149”, regular cab short bed is 115” plus the 33” of the rear doors and you get 148”. Now I’m going to slide the bed back a 1/2” to avoid any rubbing on the cab when off road, now at 148.5”. Lastly I’ve always thought the rear wheels sat just a smidge too far forward when going with a large tire so that’s the last 1/2”. Should be perfect.

The lift is actually 8” also and the rear I will do a shackle flip which gets me 6” if lift in the rear which will make the total suspension lift 7” for the rear axle. My front is a 52” spring swap with 4” skyjacker springs, combine that with the weight of this thing it should be 7” of lift up front. When it’s all assembled I hope to remove the factory(I think) rear block and have it sit level.

[Madkidd007]

And the sun was out today so I got a bit more done. Over halfway to being a 4wd chassis now.

[Madkidd007]

Lost my job
Going up for sale
IF someone things work themselves out I’ll get back on it at that point. But right now is just bad timing

[71blksuper4x4]

Too bad to hear...hope things get better for ya.

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by 71blksuper4x4

Too bad to hear...hope things get better for ya.

Me too. This is what happens when you have a vendictive manager and a weak union. Maybe I’ll get back where I need to before it sells. I couldn’t believe how much money I had wrapped up in it already

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by Madkidd007

Lost my job
Going up for sale
IF someone things work themselves out I’ll get back on it at that point. But right now is just bad timing

Wow!
Sorry to hear that. Ive been in a similar situation before and it sucks. Things have a way of working out though. Stay positive. Truck looks great!!!

[Madkidd007]

Well if I can make things work out for the next few months and it doesn’t sell. The new goal will be to cut my 70 halfway up the b-pillar and where the top of the windows start curving down. Then join it to the crew so I’ll have 95% of my original truck from high school, have a title, registered as a truck, Oh and the Cummins drivetrain.

[Madkidd007]

As you know, no progress on the truck. But I did want to share my drive home. I got to pull two fords off the side of the road at one time. The guys wife said she didn’t want me to hurt my truck trying to move them. Little did she realize I had a lot more motor than that broken down powerstroke.

[cashforclunkers]

Sorry to hear about the misfortunes. I really hope you get back on your feet and are able to keep the project. Do you still have and would you sell the 3500 badges? I could use them. Thanks. -Joel

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by cashforclunkers

Sorry to hear about the misfortunes. I really hope you get back on your feet and are able to keep the project. Do you still have and would you sell the 3500 badges? I could use them. Thanks. -Joel

Those are gone. Sold a bunch of stuff to help keep on my feet. Didn’t wanna dip into savings. I think now I’m about to get back on it. Sure hope so

[cashforclunkers]

Originally Posted by Madkidd007

Those are gone. Sold a bunch of stuff to help keep on my feet. Didn’t wanna dip into savings. I think now I’m about to get back on it. Sure hope so

Hey no problem. Glad to hear it actually. looking forward to updates. Just started on a crew cab project myself. Thx

[Madkidd007]

So I haven’t been real happy with the cab attachment. Strength no doubt, but just don’t like the custom look of it. So I picked up something today from my local member. So tell me is this a 67-68 only thing? I’ve never seen the floor center like this as I’ve always seen smooth center “tunnel” areas and the under fuel tank extra pieces of metal I’ve never seen.

[Madkidd007]

I did a lot less today than I really wanted to. But the weather feels so nice it was hard to push myself to do any real work. I did get the chassis into the garage, with the mindset that I’m going to get the suspension right, and the frame cleaned up first. Then transfer the cab over to the frame so I can start making my final modifications to the body. I love the duplicolor rust converter, funny seeing it turn blue/purple before it goes black. While I was getting the frame horns cleaned in preparation for the 4wd spring mounts I found these numbers. Anyone know the meaning of them?

[Madkidd007]

Itty bitty progress, I seriously am enjoying the weather too much to car about working. But here are the DIY4X front spring hanger body mounts that I had on the Cummins truck. Also notice my angle iron cross tie to the rear bracket/nut plates. I always thought the front of these trucks should have had the hangers tied together. Still need to drill the bottom holes but I’ll do that when I roll the front axle under it

[clay68c10]

Those are stout.
There’s a lot of numbers on these frames. The only ones I know about are the VIN. Maybe the others are part numbers or some date code from the stamping.

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Those are stout.
There’s a lot of numbers on these frames. The only ones I know about are the VIN. Maybe the others are part numbers or some date code from the stamping.

They are so stout I was very careful not to drop them on myself when bolting them up, lol. Allows you to go stock spring location or in my case run 52” rear springs

[Madkidd007]

So the garage has had a family vehicle in it that does not park outside. So the chassis hasn’t been in there. Well I strung out the air hoses to the yard and decided I could do just a little bit. Need to notch the crossmember for the sway bar and crossover clearance like when it was all on my other truck. I’m hoping I have time before work tomorrow night to make the shackles and the it’ll all be bolted up. I plan on using 1/4” square steel tubing and notching for where it wraps around the frame and clearancing for the flat of the spring. Figured this way they will be strong and have lateral bracing more than any store bought units. Ofcourse I’ll post up a picture when I’m done.

[Madkidd007]

Got the shackles made up today and bolted up, didn’t want too much height being the frame is flat right there they didn’t need to be real long. Every cut and notch is for a reason, complete stroke in both directions just touching frame and body mounts. Seriously doubt I will ever use this much articulation but you never know. Note I also had to notch the frame as the 157” frame is wider. Notice the lower half of the shackle has a complete box around it which should help any twisting and sway with the longer springs. Also if I ever broke a shackle bolts or say lost a nut, The shackle would not come completely loose until the bolt walked all the way out

[Madkidd007]

Decided since the shackles are only 1/4” on the inside I will weld another layer to the shackle to stiffen it up. But today being as I’m sunburnt I’m not doing much. Just made a simple jig to relocate the rear cab mounts. The frame will be slightly sloped up so this will allow me to keep every thing in line/level. Now just to remove rivets and do some drilling. I figure this way it should help with sitting the cab back in place when I redo it

[CarlsLQ9SS]

Just read through your build thread, Glad to see you didnt have to sell it and are making good progress on the build. Major props to you, thats alot of work! Its looking good!

[Madkidd007]

Ok so I know I’ve been spotty but with the Cummins eating an injection pump, the 9-7x destroying a 4L70 let’s just say it was rough lately. So anywho today I got off my ass and did some final measuring and welding. Nothing fancy or exciting but it’s progress. The drivers side door jamb is barely welded since I’ll be cutting it back out to build the door jamb. Welded up my recess cuts in the roof also, I think next week I’ll try to cut the front off and swap in the truck section to fix a lot of the rust in one hit. Oh and to get my ac firewall in place also.

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by CarlsLQ9SS

Just read through your build thread, Glad to see you didnt have to sell it and are making good progress on the build. Major props to you, thats alot of work! Its looking good!

That it is. But I work 4 on 4 off so it’s mostly time. Some building, some selling spare parts, and mostly thinking.

[Madkidd007]

To add to what I did in the previous post. The floor is about 80 percent done and welded it together right on top of the floor support. The upper door jamb openings are plated up top so no worries about strength. Pretty happy with the gaps too

[Madkidd007]

This week was a bust, been doing running around and got a few parts acquired. Also the Cummins eat another pump so I have to figure out why all of a sudden it’s having such a bad time. Either way I acquired an 87 harness and will be building off of that instead of buying an aftermarket that still isn’t tailored to what I want. Thank you to board member “Wgesnerjr” for hooking me up yesterday, I know have all 4 square body power window regulators to modify for my crew, door lock actuators, and front door harnesses. So the plan is to wire the truck as if it’s an 87-91, including the A/C since I’m going to update it all to the 87-91 configuration also getting rid of the POA setup. So I’m going to use the squares headlight switch as I verified it fits the dash already and will either rep in or splice and heat shrink all connections to match the 72 cab. And you guys get one picture since wiring is mostly time consuming than anything else.

[71blksuper4x4]

Looks like a chore! Keep up the progress.