So it’s been another really long time since I have made any updates to the thread. But as of recent I finally started making some good progress on the re-rebuild. I have since started building a new frame and I really didn’t want to make any updates to the thread until I had a rolling frame. But in the past week I have slowed down a bit and I figured if I go ahead and start an update I will be more motivated to make progress so I can make another update. So let me start from the top as to what I did.



After ordering the tubing I still had about a week before it would be delivered so I used that time to bring the cab into the garage and weld up all the various holes that have been made in the firewall over the years. Especially the giant one where the original HVAC stuff was. The first step was to hammer and dolly all the edges straight and then to facilitate the welding I ground down the edges to keep all the lines as straight as possible. Then I just made cardboard templates, traced the shapes onto sheet metal and cut them out. Welding them on was easy enough just had to keep the machine turned down so to prevent burning through. As of this update the firewall is almost completely welded up with one remaining hole. I went ahead and rattle canned the bared metal and moved the cab outside because my tubing arrived and it was time to get serious with the build.

 

The tubing that I am using for this frame is 2” DOM with a .188” wall thickness. I’m certain that it will be more than strong enough for what I’m doing and much strong that the material that the original for frame was built of. One of the included pictures is just a comparison of the tubing thickness to the frame thickness. If I remember correctly I measured the factory frame thickness at .155” so just right of the bat I have an advantage. And as you can see in the pictures the way I’m building this frame it will have more overall material per foot and so again I’m no engineer just yet… But I feel certain that it’ll be plenty strong.





I started out cutting the four tubes that run the length of the frame at 16’. As you can see in the pics two tubes are paired together via spacers to make one frame rail. And since I am using the ram axles and drivetrain I figured it’d be best to go with the width of the Ram frame which was something like 36 inches from outside of the frame rails. (I’m not exactly sure because I’m not looking at those measurements as I type this up.) From there I cut out of whole bunch of two inch spacers that will go in-between the tubes. Oh and also for the notches in the tubes, I bought a tubing notcher from Eastwood and while it did require a small adjustment to get it to cut on-center it has been a great tool to use for this build. The only problem I have noticed is that I am using standard 2” hole saws from lowes and the blade is not deep enough to cut all the way through two inch tubing. So I have to make as much of the cut as I can, then I have to take the tube out of the notcher bend it back and forth at the cut to break it off, put it back into the notcher and then I can finish my cut to get a perfectly notched tube. But other than that it is a great tool for the average fabricator guy to have. Anyway back to the build. The spacers themselves are spaced two feet apart, except for the last two which are just slightly closer. And with the spacers in place it makes each frame rail six inches tall.

 

So then I started welding the frame rails together, seeing that it is .188 wall and my TIG machine is a Lincoln 185 I turned the power setting all the way up. Now I no longer live in the land of perfect weather everyday also known as San Diego, instead I live just outside of Houston now. And this time of the year is hot, humid, hot and not to mention its pretty frikin hot and its still heating up!? That being said I could only make about 8 or 10 passes before my machine would cutout due to being overheated and it would go through a cooldown cycle. I have since rigged up a fan to blow cool air into the back of the machine and it has made a huge difference.



After completing the frame rails it was time to make the crossmembers for the very front and rear. Again they are very basic and simple pretty much they are just shorter pieces of what I made for the frame rails.



Also something else I have planned is that I will weld caps on the ends of the frame rails and plumb them together to serve as a compressed air tank. The volume will be right around 13 gallons and then I’ll have an on board compressor and be ready for whatever gets thrown my way.

 

So now I have a basic outline for the frame built. And as you can see in the pictures for now it is just a big rectangle. So I measured from the rear of the frame where the rear spring buckets would go and went ahead and mounted a simple set that I fabbed up. At first I wanted to use the ram buckets like what I did originally but honestly I don’t like the way it looks and it have to look even more hacked up to mount it on the tubular frame. So the buckets I made are just three pieces of 3/16th flat bar and will have a small piece of pipe welded in the center to keep the spring centered and of course and method to lock the springs in place and prevent them from being ejected for whatever catastrophic reason. So after getting those buckets welded on I wanted to finish the rear suspension however I needed the axle mocked in place to figure out the next dimensions. The problem with that is that the axle is on my workbench and I navigate my cherry picker through the garage to get it because of all the engines, tubing and machines. (#gearheadproblems) So I figured I’d do the front suspension so that once I get the front wheels on I can at least pick up the rear, roll the frame out of the garage and then be able to take the rear axle off the table and finish the rear suspension.










For the front suspension I started with the upper control arms. To figure out where to mount the frame tabs I measured the distance from the rear of the original frame to the front of the rear bushing on the control arm. (it makes sense to me, so that’s what matters) For the control arm mounts I wanted to just order a whole mess of stamped mounting tabs just to save myself the time of making each one by hand. And I did find some but never got around to ordering them. Then one day I figured I could just use the tubing to make all the mounting tabs I needed, I really like the way they came out. So before welding them into place I made sure the holes were the same distance apart as they were on the original frame and that the mounts were indexed at the same degree in reference to the frame that way they are farther to one side than the other. As of right now they are only tacked on, I will weld them completely once the lower arms and spindles have been mocked up and I can make sure everything is the way it needs to be.






This is where I am at as of this update. My next step is to make a crossmember that will serve as the front mounting point for the lower control arms as well as mounting base for the steering rack and from sway bar. I have a fairly solid idea and am excited to get to building it, but recently I do work third shift and lately have been doing interviews during the day so garage work has fallen behind. Again that’s why I am doing this update so I can get more motivation to get more complete. I love seeing this tubing coming together to build something.

 

A complete new frame is ambitious! I am glad to see you are back at it.

Keep posting!

 

I just read the whole thing. I thought at first you were taking on a lot with piecing an entire vehicle into the Ford.

I fell in love with that gauge cluster sitting in the dash, GREAT FIT!

The accident was heartbreaking, I used to live in Az and people FLY on the highways there.

Excited to see how it comes together and commend you for being willing to start over.

 

great to see you back man.....i know its hot but welding with a pair of shorts on? my legs would go up like a roman candle....maybe im just a little hairy......seeing her start coming back together makes me wanna fall in love with her again

 

Thanks it's good to be making progress again. As much as it sucks that the accident happened I'm stoked that I'll have a tubular frame. And a few other things that I have planned, but I'm not gonna say till I get to that stage of the project.
Also I don't always weld in shorts but when I do I ensure I'm TIG welding. It keeps the sparks and burnt legs to a minimum.

 

You are one hell of a fabricator my friend. Nice work.

 

Looking good. Glad to see you back at it!

1st, that frame should be more than enough strength wise. Plus it'll be WAY more rigid than the stock frame.

2nd - the hole saw not going all the way through the tube is a common problem. Happens to me on 1.5" tube & up. Note that different companies make different "heights" of hole saws though, so there are some taller ones that will do the tube in 1 shot. They cost a bit more, but save a little time. You then get to spend that time digging the complete tube chunk out of the hole saw vs. breaking it off the tube so you can continue to use the hole saw...

 

Alright FTE'ers here's a late night update.

There were a couple weeks there recently where I didn't go out into the garage.
But when I left you all off I was getting ready to start on the cross members for the lower control arms. The first thing I needed to do was fab up some boxes for alignment bolts to fasten to. Seeing that the position of these boxes have a direct impact on the alignment I probably measured and re measured twenty times. But these are what I came up with.





Then I went ahead and started mounting the front ones first.


Mocking up the lower control arms and spindles.







Then onto mounting the rear mounts and a cross member for the back bushings. However this cross member needs to be removable so in the event that I need to remove the front axle I can have plenty of access.
It's kind of hard to see the rear cross member in this pic but you can see how it bolts onto the frame. I didn't gusset the angle iron that I used on the cross member because it doesn't really support any weight itself. It's purpose is to keep the control arms spaced which this will work just fine. Also in this pic you can see that I started mocking up the sway bar.



I also needed to mount the spring buckets. These were still used from the old frame because they already had the bolt pattern for the shocks and the buckets weren't hard to adapt over to the tune ulnar frame. I cut out some plates that saddle both top and bottom tubes. Then welded the plates to the inside of the buckets.

After tacking the buckets in several places I was able to go ahead and put the springs and shocks in. And then I threw some wheels on.
WOOHOO!!! SO GLAD TO SEE SOME ROLLING STOCK ON THE FRAME!!!

However I'm not sure why the pic looks like this.



And of there isn't any weight on it right now but I like the clearance it has from the ground.
And last night I mounted the sway bar but I don't have pics of that yet. I'm gonna finish mounting parts and then take everything off finish welding all the parts on. I'm hoping to be done with the front end this weekend. Because really all that's left is the steering rack and the mounts for the axle and motor mounts.

 

Alright another update. ..

Tonight I mounted the steering rack. Again all the mounts that you'll see in the photos are just tacked in place. Once I have the motor/axle mounts in place I'll take everything off and flip the frame around and get better access to all the weld points.


But since the front wheels are now tied together I was finally able to pick up the back of the frame and roll the whole thing out of the garage. It was nice to see it outside and it gave me the opportunity to do a thorough sweep of the garage floor. I'll get started on those last mounts tomorrow.

 

Man, today was another good day. I fabbed up the motor mounts, got the front axle in and set the engine down in place. My next step is to build a transmission cross member. I'll try to take care of that tomorrow. And then after that I get to take everything back apart to a bare frame so I can do all the final welding and paint the frame. Speaking of painting the frame. I'm not totally sure if I want to go with a black frame or not. Maybe yellow to match the truck. But then again that might be a little too much. Thoughts?

Any who on to the pics.



I pulled string tight through the upper control arm bolt holes in this frame and the old section of frame to make my measurements on where the motor mounts would go.


The engine sitting in place. I just have the transmission sitting on a plate of steel for now so I can roll the frame around.


From the front

 

Very nice work, and sorry you had to start all over again. Hell of a thing. That's my biggest fear with my truck. A year worth of work on mine could be destroyed in a split second.

 

Yeah it was tough seeing it banged up as much as it was. However had it not happened I would be driving a truck with a spliced frame instead of a tubular one. So it's not all bad. But it just ducks how much time it's consumed. From the time I first started taking the bed off to now I could have built two or maybe even three rides. But again, it's all good. The extra effort will be worth it.