Dutch '59 Fleetside Longbed

[RockinKees]

Haha, That's right Jim!

I haven't sat still the last few weeks. I will show you in the next couple of posts...

I have got the airride in working order, but that's just on the ramp.
Didn't test it yet on the ground.
All the tests went well, it goes up and down, all four corners individually switched, two double needle gauges, compressor goes automatically on and off.

I'll show you some pics of the front first (excuse me, they are on their side again )
Pic #1 and #2, I welded in a 1/4" plate onto the subframe that was partly removed. I made the same plate for bolting the airbags to, so that I can unbolt them in the future when needed.
Pic #3 are the lower control arm plates. I removed the spring cups and welded in a flat 1/4" plate for mounting the bag.
Pic #4 is the complete assembly.

[RockinKees]

Let's talk swaybars....

I wanted the switch front swaybar to the back and make a new one from a Chevy Van up front.
This because of the difference in thickness. The front is 7/8" and the Chevy Van bar is 1 1/16".

First, I switch the front to the back, all went really well. Then I modified the Chevy Van front swaybar up front, but when bolt that to the chassis and the lower control arms, I didn't have enough wheelspace to steer...my bad....
So, I switched the swaybars again from back to front and vice versa, now it must work...I hope....

Pic #1: how the front swaybar mounted at the back. Looks great!
Pic #2: Here's the difference in width that I didn't thought off. Also the 3/8" plate that I used to make the swaybar arms of. You also can figure out why the steering didn't work with this Chevy bar up front...
Pic #3: How I make the rear swaybar arm fits to the Chevy Van part. The arms are about 5" longer as the stock Chevy parts.
Pic #4: Test fitting the rear swaybar.
Pic #5: The end result...

[lower50's]

Nice job it should ride nice and flat like a race car.

[RockinKees]

Now the IRS.
It went smooth I think. Made some templates, had them laser cut and bolted them in.
Had to remove some material of the aluminium hubcarriers to make enough room for the airbags.
Also made some extra gussets for strenght and for bolting the shocks on and for the swaybar.
I think it is plenty strong now.

The pics, well, they're on their side again
Pic #1: The airbag at rideheight, you can also see how much material I removed from the hub carrier, it's normally one straight line to the top at the back. I my previous post you see that I added an extra gusset to the front plates for extra strenght. They are at both the front pieces, left and right.
Pic #2: I used the original Jaguar shockplates to weld the brackets on for shocks and swaybar.
Pic #3: Top shockmount, I's a 3/8" plate, bolted on the chassis with three 3/8" -8 grade bolts. The shock itself uses 1/2" bolts up and down.
Pic #4: View from behind.

[Kim57]

Looks real good.
Kim

[oldman3]

Kees, some nice work, but I have one question. Isn't the front sway bar suppose to be larger that the rear?...Jim

[RockinKees]

Thanks guys for the kind words!!!
I have more pics to post

Originally Posted by oldman3

Kees, some nice work, but I have one question. Isn't the front sway bar suppose to be larger that the rear?...Jim

Yes it is. A stiffer swaybar in the back gives more oversteer. That's why I wanted to switch bars, that didn't work out due to the width of the Chevy Van bar.
I kept the arms of this bar longer hoping it will soften enough.
But then, I don't know the rates of these swaybars, it's a matter of trial and error I think. But that's Hot Rodding I think, I'm not afraid to try new things out
We will see when we're driving again...

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Kees. Very resourceful development...love it!

[Clarance J]

Hey Kees. A bunch of posts back when I saw the words air ride I knew that there were some interesting pictures coming up. I was not disappointed.
(even if some were sideways). Enjoying what I'm seeing. Good work there. Its always fun designing and fabricating something (like air ride with Jag suspension in a 1959 Chevy) and making it work.

Earl

[RockinKees]

I have more to show..

The airtank, valves and compressor are all hidden under the bed.
I made a frame from stainless steel that fits right between the IRS and the gas tank, just behind the rear axle.
I made some aluminium plates to protect all this from too much water and dirt.
The plates are mounted on the front and sides of the frame and at the complete underside.
It's all removable for excess if needed. I'm gonna make a sort of a shutter in the bedfloor to be able to excess from above if there's something wrong.
I do all this because I just want nothing in the bed or in the cab.
All stainless steel welding is done by my buddy who has his own welding company, so all credits to him!!

Pic #1: testing the homemade Stainless Steel airtank, it's 3.1 gallons (12 liters)
Pic #2: Tank and compressor on the frame, valves fit in between
Pic #3: Valves mounted and airlines done. I also use two reducing valvalves for controlled deflating the airbags. Front and rear seperated.
Pic #4: Complete frame assembled and mounted under chassis.
Pic #5: the aluminium plates to protect from dirt

[RockinKees]

One more to show...

Remember my steering column around my header? As Kim said then, it looks like a snake
Well, it worked, but I have a small heavy point when I steer to the right.
The rubber blocks at the steering rack presses the rack to the left when I steer to the right, it then pushes too hard at the extra bearings in the column, that's why the heavy point in the steering.
So, to get rid of this, I have to re-route the column...or the header.
The only way to solve this little problem is to find another left header.
But after five different headers I know this is not going to be easy.

Thus we, buddy René, the welder, and me decided to make my own header.
I route the header and René welds it together, easy does it!!
After three hours of grinding and puzzling tubes, I tacked together a header.
The column goes through it, problem solved!!
René did all the TIG welding on the header.
I could use most parts of the old header and with some new tubes, the collecter is almost at its original place, job well done

Pic #1: the old original header wit the old steering snake
Pic #2: What I did grind of to make the new one.
Pic #3: The re-route of the new header
Pic #4 and 5: the end result

[RockinKees]

With the new airbags in place I have to make a new exhaust too.
There is simply no more room to put it back together as it was.
I now have to dump in front the rear axle, I hope that the drone will keep in limits...

The header is bolted to the block, steering shaft has now two joints, one upper at the column and one at the rack, that's the minimum

Hope you can see how it is now:

Pic #1: seen from underside up
Pic #2 and 3: from above.
I have plenty of room for the shaft and header. It has to be good now...

[oldman3]

Kees, all I'm going to say is WOW...Jim

[Nut Case]

Strong work

Nut case

[reaper71]

Looks good Kees!!

Mark

[lower50's]

Very nice work!! good thinking on how to solve the problems. As for your sway bar (thicker on rear) On my old lifted Jeep I put a Jeep front sway bar on the rear and I don't have one on the front. It's been that way for 20 years with no problems.

[RockinKees]

Thanks Jim, Nut Case and Mark!!

Thanks Lower! Good to know it worked out for you, gives me confidence it will work for me too.

[rusty76]

I'm really late for this one but I'm in for a cool build.

[RockinKees]

Your never to late, Rusty!!
Welcome!

[deejaaa1]

you are doing a great job. keep it up!

[Steve-W]

Nice going Kees, Aaron Kaufman's got nothing on you

[RockinKees]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

Nice going Kees, Aaron Kaufman's got nothing on you

Thanks Steve!
I just read that Aaron is going to produce old truck parts

deejaaa1
you are doing a great job. keep it up!

Thanks mate!!

Last Monday I got out of the garage....
Man, it never drove so good!!
The steering, well, it's lighter than my wife's car
No heavy points, just put your pinky on that steeringwheel and it goes where you want it!

The airride is such a better suspension than the stock coilovers, I'm happy I did it
It's not laying frame, it was not intended to do so, it's pretty low aired out though.
It feel so much better now, also the homemade swaybar in the back is working like a charm!!
Man, it drives great!!

The exhaust, it's missing about 2,5 meters of 2,5 inch pipe now
I had it cut down to dump just before the rear axle, the mufflers are right under the seam of the cab/bed. Also kept the H-pipe.
Afterdriving it for a few miles now, it looks like it is even quieter than before, no drone, just a nice dark rumble, I'm happy with it.

Pic #1 and 2: the "new" exhaust
Pic #3: first time out, this is rideheight.

[RockinKees]

As all the airride stuff is under the bed, I decided to make it accessible from inside the bed.
I cut a hole in the floor
And ofcourse made a sort of door/shutter... You can hardly see it when its closed.

All the airbags are indepently switched, I use two double needle gauges for setting the ride height, and a switch for the compressor.
I made a panel under the existing gauge panel I had. Maybe I change that in the future...
For those who want to know pressures: front is at 125 Psi, rear is at 75 Psi, this at rideheight.

So, now on to test the heck out of it before we go to the Hot Rod Hayride in the U.K
That's a roadtrip of 600 miles for me, no problem!!

Pic #1: airmanagement in the middle of the dash. Maybe I change the whole dash in the future, not sure about this..
Pic #2: Grinding the steel bedstrips and saw a hole in the bedfloor.
Pic #3: The hole, and I came to the conclusion that I don't have a picture of the floor door..
You'll get that one later
Pic #4: sideview at rideheight
Pic #5: sideview fully aired out. It looks not much in the pictures, but it drops about 4,5 inch.
When it's aired out (also by failure) I can move the truck without touching or scraping something on the ground.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Kees! Enjoy the Hotrod Hayride!

[nikwho]

Looks great! I enjoyed reading through hour build.

Nik