** YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN ** The truck Chevrolet should have built.

[mcbassin]

Man! that was some sweet sheet metal. Hard to find one that clean anywhere except in the desert states. Nice work on the shortening job. thanks for the detailed explaination.
I have always hated ginding mig welds too. It seems like the mig wire makes welds so much harder (like brinell hardness) than tig or stick welds. Only prob with tig it gets the metal so hot you may have more warpage to deal with. Stick is too porous like flux core. Keep the pics coming!
BTW, that gate looks prestine too, where did you find all this clean metal?

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

One question I have just because I'm curious, that's all. What is your plan to get the body line straight on the rear section where it doesn't line up? I'm guessing cut and weld? Post #183, last 2 pics.

Slice and dice if I need to.

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Man! that was some sweet sheet metal. Hard to find one that clean anywhere except in the desert states. Nice work on the shortening job. thanks for the detailed explaination.
I have always hated ginding mig welds too. It seems like the mig wire makes welds so much harder (like brinell hardness) than tig or stick welds. Only prob with tig it gets the metal so hot you may have more warpage to deal with. Stick is too porous like flux core. Keep the pics coming!
BTW, that gate looks prestine too, where did you find all this clean metal?

The bed was lucky sight unseen, but sold by an honest old man who couldn't use the truck any more. He told me it was straight and I believed him, flew to California and drove it back to Memphis. The tailgate is one that Chuck here on the board had, he got it from somebody who got it from Arizona, but it has a tiny overall bow so he didn't want it. I have a way to fix the bow, I'll probably knock that out this weekend.

[67cheby]

Beautiful, work and parts as usual nice job !!

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by drewskiren

The bed was lucky sight unseen, but sold by an honest old man who couldn't use the truck any more. He told me it was straight and I believed him, flew to California and drove it back to Memphis. The tailgate is one that Chuck here on the board had, he got it from somebody who got it from Arizona, but it has a tiny overall bow so he didn't want it. I have a way to fix the bow, I'll probably knock that out this weekend.

Great work on the bed.

What are you planning on doing to flatten out the bow in the tail gate? I have a slight bow in the one I just picked up for my 69 and was thinking of ways to fix that.

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

Great work on the bed.

What are you planning on doing to flatten out the bow in the tail gate? I have a slight bow in the one I just picked up for my 69 and was thinking of ways to fix that.

I'll post my efforts here. Basically a hydraulic ram and wood to spread out the force.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by drewskiren

I'll post my efforts here. Basically a hydraulic ram and wood to spread out the force.

I was considering the same idea but with a long piece of heavy wall rectangular tubing I have.

A wood 4x4 like you are thinking would be better as it would flex more and allow you to compensate for the spring back the metal of the tail gate will have when you release the hydraulic pressure.

I also thought about an eyelet welded to the center of the tail gate bottom edge so it was pointing up when the tail gate was open. This way I could use the engine hoist to pull it back into shape.

I like the jack and 4x4 method better as is won't involve welding anything to the tail gate and is probably safer with less chance of damage.

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome work, keep the pics coming!

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

I was considering the same idea but with a long piece of heavy wall rectangular tubing I have.

A wood 4x4 like you are thinking would be better as it would flex more and allow you to compensate for the spring back the metal of the tail gate will have when you release the hydraulic pressure.

I also thought about an eyelet welded to the center of the tail gate bottom edge so it was pointing up when the tail gate was open. This way I could use the engine hoist to pull it back into shape.

I like the jack and 4x4 method better as is won't involve welding anything to the tail gate and is probably safer with less chance of damage.

My method for this is so simple you will laugh. It probably will only work for a small bow, so it won't be a cure all for every tailgate.

[67chevy1series]

what did you do

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

what did you do

Haven't yet, Will take pics in process this weekend.

[drewskiren]

Started the next phase of the operation today. Pics soon to come.

Also will unbend my tailgate tomorrow with pics.

[hotrodchevy1999]

nice build and good work

[drewskiren]

Tailgate bow fixed pictures as promised.

[classicchev]

hope you did not push your garage wall off it foundation.


Darren

[drewskiren]

Here is the process:
I happen to have a concrete wall about 6 feet away from my garage wall to keep water in my neighbors yard and off of my walkway. I also have a 10 ton porta power kit that can be very handy at times. If you look closely in the pictures you can see I have 2 bows in the upper edge of my gate, one going in and one going out. I blocked the gate out from the short concrete wall with a 4 by 4 and some 2 by 4s to give me space to flex the gate past straight because the metal will want to spring back some. I hooked up the porta power, and pushed with a soft? 2 by 4 block to spread the force. The 10 ton wouldn't touch it. Resort to plan B which involves a 20 ton bottle jack (shown in pics). Now we are talking! I laid the 2 by 4 sideways to concentrate the force just on the lip of the gate. Worked like a charm on both bent places and took all of 25 minutes start to finish. There was no new damage to the gate, although I will still be working this area because the original blow did leave a dent.

[drewskiren]

Some after pictures to try and show the results. It's really hard to get a clear shot at it, but in person it looks perfect.

[drewskiren]

Just a shot of where I am now.

[drewskiren]

New shots of where I am headed. (The hard part begins)

[Stubbs67]

that is a nice gate, not to mention, super straight, well now it is, good work

I still remember kicking the crap out of my 68's bent tail gate to close it. if I or someone stepped on it, it would bow, then when I would close it, it wouldn't latch, unless you showed it what-for

[mcbassin]

Nice fix for the bow in the gate! Thanks for sharing the pics with us.

[kyull67]

Nice work! Can't wait to see more progress!

[VA72C10]

Nice job on the gate!

[thirdstreettito]

Great build! Good work!

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice work! Keep at it. When I used to work in a body shop, my old boss always had us grind down the welds with a cut off wheel because it heats up the panel less and you have more control on top of the welds. It did seem to work better after I tried it.

I do like the grinder with the cut off wheel better. I can slice the head of the weld off instead of having to grind through the whole thing.

Originally Posted by brn agn

Here is an idea for you (if you have not tried it yet). I have found that grinding the welds down with a thin cutting disc on the angle grinder will prevent the metal from getting overheated. After I get the welds close to level, I finish them off with a flap disc. It may be worth a try to see if you like it better. Either way, you end up digging black stuff out of your nose and ears for the next few days!

Moving onto the flap disk now, I love that thing!