Hey all, got the pictures back of my frame stretch and the start of my cab install and have them in my FTE gallery.

Frame stretch:
http://www.clubfte.com/users/irondra...meStretch.html

Putting cab on frame:
http://www.clubfte.com/users/irondragon79/CabMount.html

Rest of gallery:
http://www.clubfte.com/users/irondragon79/index.html

Please let me know what you think, and as always, I really would like comments, questions, and constructive criticism. Thanks in advance.

 

Does anything stop you?
I am truely amazed at what you are doing and how well it looks.
Your plowing a lot of fresh ground.

Well done.

 

Excelent work. Thanks for posting the pics.

Paul.

 

Major surgery! I'm amazed at what you're taking on...it makes for entertaining reading/viewing. Keep the pics coming.

 

I just finished putting in new floor panels and cab mounts in my 51 F1 cab, and I thought that was an accomplishment! Your project will certainly be a work of art when you're done. Great pics!

 

Awesome pics. You are definately forging ahead.

 

Good work, Jon! You'll definitely get a lot of second and third looks.

Is that Z cut a pretty standard method or did you come up with that?

 

Just in from getting my boxing plates welded in, I love it when I have nothing better to do than play in the garage.

Thanks for the feedback so far, its nice to know that it actually looks like I know what I'm doing.

Rebel, as far as the Z-cut, no, thats not something I can take any credit for. The technique was discussed here on the board a while back as a means of shortening a frame. I just did the opposite and used it to make the whole truck longer. This type of cut, in conjunction with the diamond shaped plates welded to the inside of the frame rails offers a much stronger joint than a single vertical cut would give.

Again thanks for the comments, and please keep them coming, I want to make sure I don't miss any details on my work that could cause me problems down the road.

 

First off I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Second I want to let you all know to look for more picture updates in the near future. Hopefully in the next day or two I can actually get the box set on the frame so 'yal can see more of what the finished product will look like, and just how massive this thing will be. Also, so you can see what my finished frame boxing looks like. Thanks again for the comments so far and if anyone has any others or questions, please share.

 

Jon,

Great work and great pictures. You make it look easy! I can see how the 'Z' cut would make the joint so much stronger. I will use that same technique when I get around to shortening my frame. Did you have any problem with getting the back half of the frame to realign with the front half? Did you have to clamp anything to keep the frame from bowing in or out when it was cut? I was thinking I would have to weld some kind of crossmember in just ahead or behind where I cut to be sure the frame stays put, but perhaps that's not necessary...

 

Vern, no I didn't add any sort of bracing when I cut the frame, however, I did have one of the major cross memembers just behind where I made the cut, so that in and of itself probably helped, plus where I cut was pretty close to the main front cross memember that contains all the front axle components, so that may have assisted in holdind everything in order.

As far as the cuts and weld prep, when I actually made the cuts, I tried to leave an extra 1/8 inch or so where possible, to give me some room to work with. I then "dry fit" the two pieces together, and ground them to fit using my angle grinder. To prep them for welding, I made sure to grind everything to good clean metal, and then used pieces of scrap square tubing and a lot of C-clamps to hold it all together.

I ground all of the welds on the outside of the frame smooth for appearance, but I left the ones inside the frame untouched with the exception of the horizontal weld, which I had to grind in order to allow me to fit the diamond shape reinforcement plate into place to weld.

I hope to soon have the pictures of the frame with the reinforcement plates in place, as well as the boxing plates.

I guess with all of this, I'd just say take your time to lay everything out, and double check your measurements, especially your wheelbase to make sure your going to end up with what you want. Also, make sure you have your frame well supported, but also have it so you can adjust it slightly up and down to help with the realignment. What I did was held the rear of the frame stationary on jakc stands (I could adjust for height with shims) and left the frnt of the frame able to move as I needed.

Hope this answers your questions. If you have any more, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Jon,

Sounds like you planned this very well. Measure twice and cut once usually works. I don't have any more questions at this point. I appreciate the details. I feel much better about tackling mine now....

 

Hey all, just added 2 new pics in the frame stretch gallery. One showing how I boxed the frame, and the other showing an overall view of the new frame with the cab pushed out of the way.


Heres the link:
http://www.clubfte.com/users/irondra...meStretch.html

 

Jon,
Nice job on the frame, have you fabricated your cab mounts yet, or are you going to be able to use the originals?

I reversed my rear leaf spring hangers in front of the rear axle and was able to drop the rear by several inches (5"-6"). Most of the trucks in the seventies had a tendency to sit high in the rear end.

One other thing you have mentioned was using offset rims to narrow the front end to more closely match your stock width. I have looked at the same thing on mine but don't see how they can be offset more than an inch...maybe an inch and a half due to interference from the part that the tie rod hooks to. Larger rims may help in this area.

Good luck and I hope you have great success with the project.

 

No I haven't had a chance to work on the cab mounts yet, thats next on my list. I just wanted to get a solid frame to start from. I know for the front mounts, I will have to fabricate a set of towers that extended about 4 inches above the frame rail, its at this point that point in the frame, under the cab, where the frame takes quite a dip. I'll also need to fab the rear mount, but that will be a simple cross member. I'm going to try and use the stock rubber (70's) body bushings to give me a smoother ride.

I know that the 70's trucks sit high in the rear, but I know I can adjust that pretty easily with any number of methods(shackles, axle flip etc). I think I want to get the entire truck together first, and then deal with evening out the ride height.

With the rims, I might be able to make it work with just an inch or so of backspace. plus I'm planning on using 16 inch rims, so that may help as well. I'll deal with that hurdle when I get there.

Now its off to the local U-wrench it with my brother to do some parts scrounging (lets see if I can find my F-250 brake parts)