Frankentruck

[cwcarpenter98]

Lutinent Dan, you ain't got no legs

[roll_the_dice]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

lutinent dan, you ain't got no legs

haha!

[cwcarpenter98]

Started studying this morning for my first part of the CPA exam. That's going to be most of my life for the rest of this break

As a study break, I took some time to fiddle with the truck. Had to buy a socket for the lower control arm shafts. Took the old off and started to install the new, but stopped so I could fix the frame first. I pulled the steering gear so that I can fix the cracks while everything is out. That'll probably be tomorrow's study break

[cwcarpenter98]

Today's task: welding up the frame and making the reinforcement plate.

I've been running .025 wire with gas on my mig. That was too thin for the 3/16" frame. I needed .030 wire to use with the gas, but I currently don't have any. The welder would be on the highest setting for that wire size. Instead, I opened up the .035 flux core wire that came with the welder and set up the welder for no gas. That worked pretty well, and I think I should be ok.

After that, i removed the sway bar and steering linkage to get it out of the way. I wanted 3/16" plate to use for the reinforcement plate, but didn't want to go to the store to get something that was way bigger than what I needed. I remembered that I had a section of frame rail in the back yard. Perfect piece to cut from! I fit it into the frame, got the holes drilled, then ran out of daylight. Tomorrow will be cleaning up the inside of the frame so that I can bolt the plate up, stitch weld around the edges, and throw in a couple plug welds where needed.

The holes in the plate are the 3 steering gear holes, the bumper bracket hole, and the smaller one is for the sway bar frame bracket. I'm hoping that will be enough to tie the frame together. If not, I might take some of the scraps and weld a stand on to the bracket that will bolt to the radiator cross member. Suggestions welcome!

[The Rocknrod]

Cool that shoul do it. Nice work.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Cool that shoul do it. Nice work.

Thank you!

[cwcarpenter98]

Today's progress:

Steering gear reinforcement plate was bolted in then welded in various places. I also did a couple of plug welds in the center areas not near a bolt to help tie everything together a little better. Hopefully, I won't have any more frame flex while turning now that the frame is doubled up in that area.

While waiting on paint to dry, I started on the lower control arm. With the arm moved 3/4" forward, I had to grind down the arm a smidge. To center the arm, the factory shop manual said to have 3/4" from the outside lip of the arm to the shoulder for the dust boot on the shaft. Well, of course, the shoulder is at a different spot on the new AC Delcos. For my application, the arm centered up needed to have 1 and 1/4" on each side. Got everything bolted in after several install, hit saddle, remove arm, grind for clearance, and repeat until clear. LCA shaft u bolts torqued to 85 ft lbs, shaft torqued to 125 ft lbs. I did not have to hammer in the crossmember to tighten the u bolt nuts like I've seen others have to do. The only trimming needed was on the LCA. Didn't need to trim anything else.

It's dark now, so I'm throwing in the towel tonight. If the weather is nice enough tomorrow afternoon, I'll get the UCA in, put all the suspension and brakes back together, then reinstall the steering gear if I have time. Once the driver's side is done, I'll start the passenger side.

[SkinnyG]

Is that a clearancing on the a-arm to fit the caster mod?

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Is that a clearancing on the a-arm to fit the caster mod?

It is. I didn't want to trim the saddle where the shaft sits in, so I took a little out of the arm itself. I don't believe the little bit I took out will negatively affect the structure of the arm

[SkinnyG]

It will probably be fine.

I beat the crossmember in with a 5lb sledge.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

It will probably be fine.

I beat the crossmember in with a 5lb sledge.

Yup, I'm not concerned about it. I didn't notice any clearance issues with the crossmember itself, but was definitely hitting on the saddle that the LCA u bolt goes through. That's why I chose to trim the arm rather than mess with where the LCA shaft mounts to the crossmember.




Today's update:
I pressure washed as much of the frame that I could get to. Might as well sling some paint while most of the parts are off the truck. Make it look less rusty, but it'll get dirty real quick from driving it

[cwcarpenter98]

Yesterday, I decided to finish tearing down the passenger side. I wanted to make sure I get all the mud off from the control arm mounting areas before some rattle canning.

Was going to finish the pressure washing today, but it's cloudy, windy, and not the warmest, so I decided to catch up on some CPA studying instead

[SkinnyG]

Perfect opportunity to pancake the crossmember, just saying...

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Perfect opportunity to pancake the crossmember, just saying...

Definitely would be if I was lowering the truck, but through all of this, I'm staying with the stock height

[cwcarpenter98]

Put lipstick on a pig today. Only the best for my tractor with windows

I ran out of paint, so have to spray the rest of the suspension bits tomorrow afternoon

[cwcarpenter98]

The front yard paint booth wins again

Hopefully doing some assembly tomorrow

[cwcarpenter98]

Almost back together. Only have to torque the steering stuff and reinstall shocks and sway bar. I'm going to get an alignment done right after it's back together.
A shop and a lift would be so nice right now, but the at least we had some nice weather today. It was around 70 degrees out

[cwcarpenter98]

Today's progress began with finishing everything up.

I stopped last night with getting the steering stuff in place, but I had to torque it all to spec this morning. After that, I loosely installed the sway bar. Since it was all apart, I decided to go ahead and put some fresh grease in the front bearings. The bearings looked good still, so I opted only to regrease. I also replaced the inner seals. Once that was back together, I got some new bolts for the lower shock mounts, bolted the wheels on, and took Frankentruck for a test drive.

Test drive went well with no major problems. The steering felt tighter after fixing the crack in the frame. I'll be taking Frankentruck to the tire shop tomorrow for a tire rotation and an alignment. I'll report back with the alignment numbers once it is done

[Getter-Done]

You got a Lot done in a Short period of time.

Great Job

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

You got a Lot done in a Short period of time.

Great Job

Thank you!
It only took 17 days from start to finish, but that was mainly because I took several days where I didn't touch anything truck related and most of the days I actually worked on it were only around 4 hours of working time. Definitely could have got it done in a week if that was the only thing I did all day, every day. There's more to life than just trucks though

[cwcarpenter98]

Ok, big problem with the caster mod. For the details, please go to this other thread -> https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...52#post9012252

[cwcarpenter98]

Hey guys, guess what, I did a BIG dumb. I put the upper control arms on the wrong side

Just gotta laugh about it at this point

I know what I'll be doing in the morning.

[65Custom]

I was looking at the pictures and thought they looked wrong but then I tried to look at some of your old pictures and thought they looked like they were the same so I didn't say anything because I thought nah you didnt do that and I'm just being dumb and some of your old pics seem like they are the same

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by 65Custom

I was looking at the pictures and thought they looked wrong but then I tried to look at some of your old pictures and thought they looked like they were the same so I didn't say anything because I thought nah you didnt do that and I'm just being dumb and some of your old pics seem like they are the same

Well, you got me thinking, and the best picture I could find that showed the UCA was back on page 5 with the slot mag mocked up. Sure enough, the previous owner apparently flipped them around. Probably happened way back when he replaced the ball joints.

So the bump stop should be more towards the rear of the truck in a stock application. Since I have owned the truck, it has been more towards the front of the truck.

I guess I technically didn't put them in wrong from the way I was remembering them when I took them off! I'm still going to flip them around to the correct, factory way. Yay

[cwcarpenter98]

Ok, I got the arms flipped around to the correct side. It drove way better to the alignment shop, and overall just looks better. You learn something new every day!