Big Bird - 1972 Longhorn K30

[BlueBullet]

Not a lot of progress tonight. I ran and picked up my drive shaft. Went from shorting and new tubes to completely new shafts. Everything else on my old shafts where bad. The u-joints where obviously bad and the splines had enough wear that it would have viberated at high speeds. Also got the sill plates installed and saddle blanket seat cover. What's an old farm truck with out one.

[Dieselwrencher]

That stinks about the drive shafts but at least you saved yourself the headaches of fighting it now.

[DWilbur]

Originally Posted by BlueBullet

Not a lot of progress tonight. I ran and picked up my drive shaft. Went from shorting and new tubes to completely new shafts. Everything else on my old shafts where bad. The u-joints where obviously bad and the splines had enough wear that it would have viberated at high speeds. Also got the sill plates installed and saddle blanket seat cover. What's an old farm truck with out one.

Would you happen to have a picture of the drive shaft center bushing mount. I had to make my rear drive shaft 2 piece similar to yours and I'm trying to figure out best way to build support. Thanks

[BlueBullet]

DWilbur here are some pictures. Notice the side picture. The mounting location is at an angle towards the back as to help with driveline angle I would geuss. Can also kind of see it in the last picture.

[BlueBullet]

Slow progress. Was putting in the rest of the fluids and noticed liquid on top of the water pump where the heater core is connected. There was a hair line crack.. New pump came in today. Napa stood behind it. Got the bumper hung for motivation and got the cowl installed. Tomorrow hopefully get the Bird to take flight.

[DWilbur]

Originally Posted by BlueBullet

DWilbur here are some pictures. Notice the side picture. The mounting location is at an angle towards the back as to help with driveline angle I would geuss. Can also kind of see it in the last picture.

That helps a lot. I have to build a cross member this week end.

[First c10]

Originally Posted by DWilbur

That helps a lot. I have to build a cross member this week end.

DW,
FYI....
I sent you a PM and it reads that your PM box is full and you cant receive a message until you make space by deleting messages

[DWilbur]

Originally Posted by First c10

DW,
FYI....
I sent you a PM and it reads that your PM box is full and you cant receive a message until you make space by deleting messages

I just cleaned it out. try again.

[BlueBullet]

Firday night I woke Big Bird up from his slumber. Splash of gas and a turn of the key and popped right off. Still need to get the timing dialed in. Will be doing that Thursday night and also getting the brakes bled so Bird can be mobile to get the bed on. In the meantime I got the driveline installed, front bumper mounted and the interior finished for the most part. I am having issues with the blinkers but the flashers work. Also the horn doesn't work but I tested it by itself and she honks. I am thinking it's in the column harness or blinker lever possibly. Once I get the column put back together I will be putting on a better horn button. Anybody have any ideas let's hear them. I am sloooowwwly getting the electrical system figured out on these trucks. I cleaned up some black door panels and got some duri color paint and painted some medium green armrests. I will have to say they turned out pretty good. I was in a zone so I forgot to get before pictures. Almost forgot but also installed dealership tags. Big Bird didn't have any but the other truck I got at the same time did. They were also sold at the same dealership.

[BlueBullet]

Got started on mocking up the bed frame. I am going to try and get some of the tilt bed pieces done at the same time for ease in the future. Hopefully get brakes bled and timing dialed in this weekend.

[Vintage Windmills]

Coming along really nicely Nathan, Curious how your hoist setup will look like and hook up.

[BlueBullet]

I am working that through my head right know. I have somewhat of a plan. Where I am hung up on is how to set up front mount. Here is some pictures of some of the pieces. I am basically mount it like the C50 donor. Just with the frames being different the front has to be thought through what is going to be strong enough. A friend of mine has some thoughts on what I can use as a power source. He has something at work that might work. . If that works out I might just put in the hoist right away. Its about the same amount of steps to make happen. The front tube on the hoist assembly is the reservoir. Pretty cool I thought. I am getting pumped.

[BlueBullet]

In the back I am going to make a pillow block similar to the one in the rear shackle of the front springs. That should be stout enough for the rear. For the front so far if it works out where the front angle irons line up with the cross support I will attach there. Today we got Bird chirping and moving. Got the timing dialed in and brakes bled. Has plenty of brakes. Hang on!! Got the hood mounted. Need to dial that in a bit yet. Tried a little and got it close enough for know. Drove over to shop to wash the hood and take a progress picture. Came along ways.

[BlueBullet]

Had an exciting morning also. Thank God I had layers on. Cleaning up the heavy angle iron and the grinder kicked back and I wasn't quite fast enough.

[too much stuff]

Not sure why you would want to grind on your belly! Trucks looking good.

[BlueBullet]

Got the starting of the frame work installed on the Bird. Then cleaned up the hoist assembly and set it in between the rails to get a visual. Next was on with the bed to start figuring how to lay everything out.

[BlueBullet]

I think I have the back figured out. Here is a picture of the back pivot mocked up. For more support I will add a similar piece to the inside of the frame. The front is where I am hung up on. In the picture below the two half inch holes on the side almost above the factory frame cross member is where the top hinge point was located. If I was to leave it in the same location I will need to figure out how I am going to support the bottom hinge point. If I leave it in the position that I mocked up the hoist assembly in I have the cross member I made for support. I will also be adding wood or metal under the heavy angle iron.

[BlueBullet]

I didn't like the heighth of the bed so I cut down the main beams 3". I think it looks better and still have room for settling and bigger tires.

[DWilbur]

The bed looks much better lower. The gap from the front tires to fender looks about the same from the rear tire to the bed.

[BlueBullet]

Thanks for the reply. I also like how the bottom of bed is in line with lower body line and if I keep the sides they flow with the top side of the truck better. The bed needs to be moved a little more forward. I will also be building a headache rack. Now to refigure how to set up the hoist and frame work.

[BlueBullet]

Got the front of the house assembly mounted to the frame. Not sure if it is the right route to go but that is what I have for room without modifying the frame cross member. I would rather not do that we will see how it or if it works. I will be replacing the 2x4's with a heavy piece of angle iron for support in the rear.

[BlueBullet]

Here's a picture of the front bottom mounting plate for the hoist frame. It is being held up by chains. Once the chains were taken off the hangle irons dropped into the position I attached them in so I just went with it.

[Dieselwrencher]

That looks so nice! Nice work getting the bed to fit on there.

[BlueBullet]

Thanks Ryan!! It's really coming together now. I think I put so much thought into everything lately that I have to adjust my hat a little bigger.. Well today I gave the guys the day off at noon for the Easter holiday and worked on the Bird. To get the bed dropped I cut the C channels in half that where running down the frame. I then flipped them over and welded them back on. Now I have roughly a 2.5"x2.5" main beams running down the bed. Once welded I added rubber belting to the bottom with decking screws. Then it was back to the chassis. I added another cross member below hoist for support and also added a top rear support. After noticing the location of the new bottom cross member I may have to redesign my bump stops. I was on cruise control. Then I set the bed back on and admired my work. The oil on the floor is from the hoist. Once I get the front set into place I will be adding plugs until I get my power source figured out. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the bed pivot done and possibly the top hoist frame finished. Easter number 1 starts tomorrow at 1. Once those are done I will get an appointment set for exhaust and get working on headache rack.

[BlueBullet]

Got started on the rear pivot. I am going to make a plate inside the frame rails for extra support. Also noticed that I have to remove the rear side bolt behind pivot bracket because it's in the way for pivoting. The inside plate will fix that also. I added another piece of C channel on top of main beams for more support for outer bracket.