Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[jeh]

Hope it stays in place for you Vic, it would be nice if you didn't have to heat it

[sduckworth13]

Nice work Vic! That's pretty cool your able to do that at home.

[Elliot949]

Looks straight from here Vic... Nice work lining it up...

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
I could always bring you a heavy duty come along from work, just let me know! I have port a powers there also that I can check out,extension Rams, cylinders,etc....lemme know.
Ben

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[Vic1947]

Thanks, everyone. After I released the tension, the rail stayed in place pretty well. I moved back about 14" and got another bite and made one more pull. Measurements look really good, so the next step is to tack weld some reinforcements to the donor frame and make some cuts. Stay tuned.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Thanks, everyone. After I released the tension, the rail stayed in place pretty well. I moved back about 14" and got another bite and made one more pull. Measurements look really good, so the next step is to tack weld some reinforcements to the donor frame and make some cuts. Stay tuned.

[sduckworth13]

way to go Vic
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[swamp rat]

excellent!

[Vic1947]

As my dear departed Mom used to say, "In for a penny, in for a pound." As you can see, I've passed the point of no return. The X and Z bracing on the front section is very rigid. I almost wish I'd done the same to the short bed section as it flexes very slightly. I assumed the mid x-member would stiffen it enough, but it's less solid than I expected. I think I'll be okay, though, if I get it squared up good and clamped six ways to Sunday. This is where it would be wonderful to have access to a steel flat table. Back to grinding off tabs and chiseling out rivets.

[jeh]

No turning back now!!!
Looks like you have it under control Vic

[swamp rat]

Eyes glued!

[Vic1947]

Chopped up the unneeded donor frame and worked on the rivets some. Also removed some tabs I'll need to transfer to the new front section. The other day before I made any cuts, I measured the distance between the body mounting pads as 38-1/16" on both sides. So now I've marked 8" from the rear pad and 30-1/16" from the front for my cut lines. I ran into a minor issue with my cut line selection and will need to temporarily remove the reinforcing plates on the bottom of both frame rails that are riveted to the mid x-member. Once the plates are out, I'll bolt the rail back to the x-member good and tight with grade 8 hardware before making the cuts.

[Vic1947]

Just a quick update this evening. I've made some progress over the last few days, but don't have much in the way of photos as I accidentally deleted them from the camera card. They wouldn't have been all that educational anyway, as I had to abandon Plan A and Plan B.

Turns out the front half of the donor frame was slightly twisted and resisted my efforts to get it square. So I ended up cutting all the support tubing out, removing the rivets from the manual trans x-member and loosening the bolts in the front suspension x-member. At that point, it settled down and came together perfectly. I was able to level the frame side to side at a half dozen places from front to back and level both sides lengthwise. I had to trim just a small amount off both rails to get my 70" measurement between gauge holes.

I measured the "X" in the front and the back and both were right on. Using eight of the vertical measurements end to end out of the chassis service manual, I determined I needed to shim the rear of the frame up 1/4" higher and I'd be right on the money. Setup the laser on both sides and the intersect points on the front x-member were exactly the same side to side. So as the old saying goes, there was nothing between me and the next step but fear and thin air. I tack welded both sides, checked my measurements one last time and then ran a solid bead around the outside of both rails. I let it cool down and removed the front suspension x-member and took an overall "X" measurement from the front to the back. It's only off 1/8" and I'm pretty sure when I bolt all the cross members back in, I can hold it to even less than that.

So long story short, I think we're the downhill run. I just need to weld out the inside seams and then grind the welds flush.

[sduckworth13]

Awesome Vic! I'm excited to see you get your frame situated out.
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[jeh]

Looks like you making some good progress

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
I can get you some large button head socket cap screws if you like, to replace those Rivits .......I can get them in zinc finish or black oxide, better than
grade 8. Let me know,
Ben

Posted via Mobile Device

[Vic1947]

Continued the prep work on the two halves today and finally got all the rivets out and the cuts made. I have a couple of issues to address on the driver side rail. Being old and slow and forgetful, I failed to measure the width of the rails at the bottom. Top is right on the money, but the bottom is about 3/8" too wide. I'll have to cut the x-brace loose and draw it in for the side to line up properly. According to the "N" measurement shown in the chassis service manual, I also left the donor frame a tad too long on the driver side so I'll have to trim it back a bit. That will help the overall alignment as well. The preliminary laser line indicates the front needs to go to the driver side. I hope the tooling they used to punch the holes in these frames was somewhat consistent between plants and years. Wishful thinking!

Thanks go out to Scott Duckworth for coming over today and hauling off the scrap frame pieces. It made a big difference in the available space in the shop. He PM'd me to say someone had already loaded it up and hauled it off from where he set it out in front of his house.

[mooseknuckles]

nice job!

[swamp rat]

Wondering if this will require a reinforcement plate on the back side of the frame? Or are you of the school of thought that the weld is stronger than the surrounding metal? Guess I'll find out soon enough.

[Bennett68C10]

Looks great Vic

[knomadd]

Nice work Vic. I knew you'd get it sorted.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mooseknuckles

nice job!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Looking good Vic! Powder coating will be super tough too.

Hey John, since this whole thing has morphed into another dimension, the powder coat will fit right in.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Wondering if this will require a reinforcement plate on the back side of the frame? Or are you of the school of thought that the weld is stronger than the surrounding metal? Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Yep, reinforcements top, bottom and inside. Too risky to depend on just the welds, IMO.

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Looks great Vic

Thanks, Keith!

Originally Posted by knomadd

Nice work Vic. I knew you'd get it sorted.

Wish I could say it's sorted, Duane, but I have a ways to before it's ready for the powder coater.

Today I gently tweaked the driver rail on the donor frame to pull it in where it needed to be and re-welded the brace to hold it. Then I got busy trying to get it all aligned. To make a very long story short, the issue may have been more in the rear section than the front. To get everything square, I'd need to remove about 3/8" from the donor rail on the driver side. This made the laser happy, but screwed up the other measurements.

So I went back to basics and measured the X where the bed mounts to the frame. Way off. Now mind you, this has been to two different frame shops and both specifically stated the X measurement was on the money. By my reckoning, one leg is 77-5/8" and the other is 76-7/8"... a full 3/4" difference over a very short span. If I could squeeze it back to square, the 3/8" I need would be right there. Now the $64K question is how to do that, if it's even possible.

[swamp rat]

Whats the chance that the angularity of one or both forward bed mounts are off?

[jeh]

Vic, you are a man of skill and patience!!! I would of went off the deep end by now.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Whats the chance that the angularity of one or both forward bed mounts are off?

I thought the same thing, Mike, so I measured from multiple points. All were off by more or less the same amount. If the rear section is tweaked like the measurements indicate, it would fit what I'm seeing elsewhere.

Originally Posted by jeh

Vic, you are a man of skill and patience!!! I would of went off the deep end by now.

I'm starting to wonder how much of either I possess, Jason. I've chased this for over a year and a half and seem no closer to a resolution than when I started. This latest development seems promising, but I've convinced myself I had it figured out before and been wrong. We'll see.