My roll pan is welded on.

but you have to be careful. If you mount the gas tank INSIDE the frame rails, then to remove it you must remove the pan or the bed..

I don't know why John wants it removable, other than to paint it separately before install.. we did mine after welding..

Sam

 

.
My gas tank is mounted elsewhere, now I get it, Duhh!

 

my only reason for not welding it is.... we want to paint each piece before assembly...
welding in the roll pan would make the whole thing a little hard to handle and something
will invariably get bent or damaged... there wil be a very tight seam between roll pan
and bed side and I can live with that... I've added tabs and l-brackets to the pan so it
will bolt to the bedsides at the apron and to the rear crossmember..

Yep Sam... I remember the first cut and the pucker factor was raised by 10.. but after that
it's just metal filings.... I've got a good body man and he's gonna fix all my problems...
or at least I keep trying to convince him he is. Look for a emai from me sometime today...

j

 

Ok.. and one other thing I wish I had thought of in advance..

the seams where they spot welded the parts together (stake pockets, flanges, extensions.. etc.. on MY bed were NOT primed before assembly.. so.. any water in there WILL cause rust.. (over time of course)

things to think about..

Sam

 

Hey John, dumb question here, is your rear crossmember upside down? Mine from Mid 50's has the hidden mounting bolts and that side is down?
Looks great!

 

Willie,

meant to reply and forgot about it...

you are correct and I'm in error again... I even called Mid-50 to verify.. the rear crossmember should have the open side down... so I disassembled the whole thing and turned it over, redrilled the holes ... all this changed my mounting tabs for the roll pan since there is nowhere to bolt it on !.. I'm adding L-brackets to the tag inset to take the place of the others that now bolt to nothing...

thanks Willie... that probably saved me some grief down the road...

Now I'm in the process of adding a trailer hitch which involves moving the fuel tank forward and butchering the devil out of a nice store bought trailer hitch... rule # 1... you change one thing, it changes 3 more all by itself...

later
john

 

but the bed wood rear bolts now have something to bolt to!..

of course, once u put the roll pan on, you won't be able to GET to them.... fun..
why I mounted the rear wood flange retainers from the tailgate side..

Sam

 

ain't that the truth ?? always something Sam... always something and then something else...

I'm having fun now with the trailer hitch... Early classic and I measured three ways to Sunday and were fairly sure their hitch would work (remember that thread)... well ... it don't.. it doesn't fit my frame anyway. I've since determined that the rear of my frame is bowed in a little. I thought about the porta-power and spreading it out some but that changes the tank mount frame and it's holes...and besides the mounting arrangement on the hitch conflicts with the tank.

So, I've hacked off the hitch mounting plates and will have to narrow the main crossmember and add new mounting plates so I can bolt the hitch inside the frame rails and not conflict with the tank and it's mount. This also involves moving the tank and frame forward as far as possible to get the room (seems our measurement on depth front to back were off some also) A thread with pics will follow eventually... lots of hammer banging to do before then

this hobby really is more fun than a kidney stone... really... isn't it ???

later
j

 

here's all I've got to do... I could have saved some $$$ and found a junk yard hitch !

 

oh YEH!!..

I finally got my gas tank mounted with the modified sender (to add the efi return line).. but DOAH.. didn't pay attention to the direction the return was pointing OUTSIDE the tank.. straight out will cause the line to rub up against the rear axle sometimes.. no WONDER why they have a 90 degree turn on the feed side..

now to go unmount the tank, pull the sender, make a new return line, and take it down to the rad shop again.. (I don't solder this kind of stuff, yet)

Sam

 

I need to say thanks to the two of you as the pioneers building your trucks here. You have taken these on and the frustration and posted your findings which is awesome. Reading these types of threads has saved me money and time in my build and given me great ideas of what to do and not do. So again thanks.

 

Hey Sam ????

is Willie saying thanks for screwing up so much...???

kinda of a left handed compliment ain't it ??? You're welcome Willie...

it kinda like my old boss used to tell me "you screw up a lot but at least you're slow and we can recover from it !!!"

then to build my confidence and to build the 'espirit de corp'... I'd hear "You ain't much but you're all I got!"

the man was a motivational mastermind !

later
John

 

golly gee.. I was thinking if we could only get paid for the service we provide.. we'd have at LEAST $5!!..

"you're all I got!".. man its been a long time since I heard those motivational words!

Sam

 

Hey.....long time no talk too. I've been away for a couple of years now and don't reconize alot of the people on here. Is that the same truck you were working on 2 years ago? Geeez, what you been doing since you retired guy? Last time I saw it, the frame was done, the motor was in it and the flip front end was all but worked out... Sorry, just kidding, I hope you and all your family have been well. Rod

 

Hey Rod...
yep, same truck... there have been a few detours, wrong turns, switchback, bridges washed out and a little construction. The engine is now complete and hanging on a break-in stand at the engine gurus shop... hope to light a fire under that pig soon. working on body work and still wrestling with the front flip fit up... (insert complicated cursing of Fairlane Products here)
The body work on cab and bed are complete and ready to block and sand and prime... tweaking the front flip fit and have to dress the lower fenders and fabricate/engineer the hold down/centering pins, etc. We're working a couple days a week on it in the evenings..

I knew you'd be back and I didn't want to finish it without you Rod !

everything else is hunky-doory... working 50-60 hours a week since 'retirement'. that was 4 wasted months ! so time is still my enemy...

so ?? what have you been doing for two years ??


j