Project Big Brother!

[slammed1]

I think if anything the axle would need to be moved forward of its original opening when using a stock short bed. I think that moving the axle forward will take away some of the "lengthy look" of the wheel base but still have the overhang in the rear to make it look right.
Im anxious as hell to see some renderings.

[cflvulcan]

i think itll look good moving the rear axle forward. the nissan ext cab pickups are like that versus the reg cab ones and it looks good. i think you should suicide the rear doors too, i havent seen that done yet...

[Yukon Jack]

Man oh man, I can't wait to watch another of your projects - they generally are what dreams are made of!

[hgs_notes]

Moving the rear axle further back is the current norm. Adds stability for towing and is a more comfortable ride. Look at any of the current long beds and you'll see the length behind the wheel well is pretty much the same as a short bed. Personally, I think the new long beds with the wheel well further back looks funny, but it's functional. In your case though, I know the long bed is not an option. But I think you would be making a mistake moving the axle forward, both from asthetics and design.

[Rokcrln]

Well lets not get to far ahead of our selfs as rear axel placment is along ways off. Once the cab if done I will take a set of step side fenders and section them so they just cover the rear tires, then I will clamp them to a long bed and start moving them forward and back to see how it looks. Once I find a good starting point for what I am looking for then I wil start shortening the bed until it looks right to me and my wife. Not that I do not like all the help from the board members but I am building it and she is not giving mne slack for doing it. Also I have found over the years her eye is dead on when it comes to the right perportions on vehicals. Their have been several builds were I sketch it out only to have her cut it up and change things on it. The worst part is she has always been right so far.

I have a way that I will be sectioning the bed that will only leave one weld seam per side no matter what I do to it so adjustment will be easy. All this is still a ways off as my curent project Trazer needs my full attention until it is done then I can start working on the crew cab between other projects.

I also like the suicide idea problem is one of the big reasons for this build right now is to get things ready for two other customer builds that are going this way. So I really need to do this one with 4 regular doors for mock up and templetes for the other builds. Trust me doing the suicide route without a B pillar would be alot easier to pull off and I still will keep it as an option if I can get the 2 customers to go that way as well

Keep in mind with the axel placement that it will have alot to do with the step side fenders and how close they can get to the bed corners. I will not shorten the fenders and do not want them right up to the corners of the fleet side bed, I think that would look funny. I hope to have enought time in the next month to get most of trazer finished up but if it takes more than so be it.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Frizzle Fry]

mspaint (if you dont have photoshop) is your best friend for figuring out proportions. No cutting or welding required

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

mspaint (if you dont have photoshop) is your best friend for figuring out proportions. No cutting or welding required

So is that made by Lincoln or miller? I have not seen that yet at my jobber, is it a new product?

Here is one I just saw in another thread. Make it a crew cab 4dr and we are almost their once it gets an altitude adjustment!

and a rear shot of another


Kevin
LFD Inc.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

Well lets not get to far ahead of our selfs as rear axel placment is along ways off. Once the cab if done I will take a set of step side fenders and section them so they just cover the rear tires, then I will clamp them to a long bed and start moving them forward and back to see how it looks. Once I find a good starting point for what I am looking for then I wil start shortening the bed until it looks right to me and my wife. Not that I do not like all the help from the board members but I am building it and she is not giving mne slack for doing it. Also I have found over the years her eye is dead on when it comes to the right perportions on vehicals. Their have been several builds were I sketch it out only to have her cut it up and change things on it. The worst part is she has always been right so far.

I have a way that I will be sectioning the bed that will only leave one weld seam per side no matter what I do to it so adjustment will be easy. All this is still a ways off as my curent project Trazer needs my full attention until it is done then I can start working on the crew cab between other projects.

I also like the suicide idea problem is one of the big reasons for this build right now is to get things ready for two other customer builds that are going this way. So I really need to do this one with 4 regular doors for mock up and templetes for the other builds. Trust me doing the suicide route without a B pillar would be alot easier to pull off and I still will keep it as an option if I can get the 2 customers to go that way as well

Keep in mind with the axel placement that it will have alot to do with the step side fenders and how close they can get to the bed corners. I will not shorten the fenders and do not want them right up to the corners of the fleet side bed, I think that would look funny. I hope to have enought time in the next month to get most of trazer finished up but if it takes more than so be it.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

The good thing about using stock stepside fenders is that they lend themselves to being used on with a shorter bed. They are shorter in front of the wheelwell than in the rear. Some people take 4 fenders and cut the sections off and make both sides (front and rear) wide. To me they look too balky that way. The first two pics below have stock stepside fenders and the last three have sectioned stepside fenders that use the rear portion of 4 different fenders. I have done tons of research on these in my quest for the best looking, factory appearing, what-if-GM-had-made-one look. (for obvious reasons). The only thing I have never seen is 4 fenders sectioned using on the front half. I think it would have a look similiar to the pre-93 Dodges. Those had trucks narrower flares than any of the other duallys being produced at the time.

[Rokcrln]

I had not picked up on that so far. Thanks for pointing it out
Do you have a shot of yours from the back showing how wide it is with your fenders on?

Kevin
LFD inc.

[67_C-30]

I have a couple of direct rear shots, but they do not really show the width. I added a few more at slight angles to try to show how they really look. I cut 3" off of the stepside fenders and the outside of the tire sits about 1" inward from outside of wheelwell. I used a 14 bolt rearend out a '97 C3500 dually pickup. You may already know this, but the cab and chassis rearends are narrower, and you would have to run spacers to get the width of dually pickup rearend. If you build one without the wide rearend, you will have tub the inner fenders. Mine measures 92" across from the outside of the outer tires. Rearends out some cube vans, box trucks, and short buses are wide like the dually pickup rearends as well.

[67_C-30]

BTW, another cool thing I discovered doing mine is that the stepside fender actually tapers down in the rear like the body seam does on the fleetsides. I never realized it before I did my dually, but you can see in the third pic even still mounted on the stepside box. If you take closer look at the baby blue truck and the red truck with sectioned fenders, the flares round down on the front and the rear and the top of the flare looks kinda domed shaped, which also takes away from the look of it IMO.

[jott_06]

this is gonna be a sweet project. The thing i noticed though is that only you can have three pages on a project you havent even started yet. haha

[67_C-30]

Here's some good photoshop-able side shots of short SWB crew cabs that you could have the photoshop guys add some flares to.

[67_C-30]

Since the rear shots actually look like the tires are way recessed, I took these for you today to show the where the tires actually sit in the flares.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

Since the rear shots actually look like the tires are way recessed, I took these for you today to show the where the tires actually sit in the flares.

I'm not sure if it is just the camra shots I have been looking at but why are all the body lines of the fenders running down hill on these trucks that have the step fender added? I have noticed this on alot of them and it looks off to me. Am I just seeing things?

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[67_C-30]

You're right. These stepside fenders make you choose between putting them on dead up straight and having the body line be perfect, or putting them on where the wheelwell rolls down like the front. When they are on completely straight up, the wheel well does not roll or wrap downwards like the the wheelwells do on the fleetside bed. If you look at the lowered white truck above, they are on more straight up than most, and the outside of the wheelwell is straight up as a board. I don't have the braces on mine yet either and I'm going to try to tweak it in a better when I get them fabricated. I think I can put a little pressure on the bottom of the fleetside bedside and move them out a little since they are so floppy now that the fleetside wheelwell is cut off.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like its gona be a killer project... But that light blue one has the best rear fender treatment I have seen. Look at the white one it looks like square fenders were added to the bed..

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

Looks like its gona be a killer project... But that light blue one has the best rear fender treatment I have seen. Look at the white one it looks like square fenders were added to the bed..

I agree on the blue one but I want the fenders to be bolted on. It will take alot more work to build the flanges to fit the bed sides but I have a shrinker and streacher that just don't get used enough.

Also check out what one of my customers/firends (Project Trazer) gave me today! A set of front and back alcoa's with lugs and caps!




Now I need to get his rig done so I can start this one one day comming up.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[tdave00]

I'm not sure if it is just the camra shots I have been looking at but why are all the body lines of the fenders running down hill on these trucks that have the step fender added? I have noticed this on alot of them and it looks off to me. Am I just seeing things?

I was noticing that too. It's real noticeable on that rear view. I think the more parallel that you can keep the fenders to the body, and the tighter you can keep the fenders (width) to the bed the better it will look.

[NTR72GMC]

Sweet I Like The Wheels

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by tdave00

I was noticing that too. It's real noticeable on that rear view. I think the more parallel that you can keep the fenders to the body, and the tighter you can keep the fenders (width) to the bed the better it will look.

I got to really looking closer at my rear fenders and noticed that they seemed to be angled down more than the were when I cut them, and I figured out why. Is was the fact that the wheelwell has been cut off the fleetside bedsides, the weight of the stepside fenders were making the whole panel droop down. I got out there today and added some support like what was on there from the factory and got everything straightened back up. It looks much better.

[Rokcrln]

Yes that looks much better, nice job!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[tdave00]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

I got to really looking closer at my rear fenders and noticed that they seemed to be angled down more than the were when I cut them, and I figured out why. Is was the fact that the wheelwell has been cut off the fleetside bedsides, the weight of the stepside fenders were making the whole panel droop down. I got out there today and added some support like what was on there from the factory and got everything straightened back up. It looks much better.

[FormerMember]

If not a diesel, why not a Caddy motor?

I have one pushing more hp and more torque than the Cummins in my 2005 Dodge Ram on gas, which is now cheaper then diesel.

It's also slightly heavier than a SBC :p

This is a nice thread for me, since I am building a dually K45 (C50 frame converted to K, with a 2.5 ton rear and a 1.25ton front)

:p

I've been waffling over an 8ft bed with step side fenders or a custom tow bed.