Yeah do something so i have some sort of reason to work on mine. Might be gettin another crew

 

Dave - you change rides more than I do - ANOTHER crew???

Ok - got a bit of work done on the front leaf hanger last night. It took a LOT of grinding to get that hitch tube to fit - but it's in there now






Got the receiver all set up - but I won't weld it in the cross member thing until the very end - just in case.


Starting the cuts for the leaf hanger areas




Also - crappy d60 update. My buddy took it to get acid dipped and magged and I have a cracked knuckle. It's a bummer because he has 3 spare knuckles for the side that ISN'T cracked Isn't that the way it always works...

 

Great project, read most of it, looked at all of the pics. I really like the work you have done on the frame. The Metabo grinder and thin cutoff wheels work great don't they, and your plasma cut parts look awesome. I do have one question. How do you bend your thicker (1/8" or more) steel? I keep looking in the background of your pics for a small press brake or box and pan. Just curious. Great work!

 

Thanks for the compliment.

Much of my plating is .125" and smaller pieces so I can bend it on my pexto 24" pan/box brake. The max capacity on that thing is supposed to be like 16 ga. so I am pushing it a bit - but I am careful.

My buddy has a 10', 50 or 100 ton (can't remember exactly) press brake, as well as a smaller 20 ton press brake that will bend anything bigger I may have.

I do have a 20 ton H frame press that I am looking at making a jig to use it as a press brake so I don't have to keep bothering my buddy with the big machines to bend small stuff for me.


Ok - here's the daily (I wish it was actually daily) update.
pics from last night. Getting a bit closer - but still not anywhere near done.

got some solid to cut down and sleeve in the thing




Holes for rosette welding those solids


cut, drilled and done for the night

 

out of jack stands???? hey it works right. and i think i am missing the master plan on this deal, it looks like you notched it then cut the ends off completly...oh the part that was left looked like it was added not left....i am kinda getting it but have never seen anyone do it like this before, then agin i have not really ever seen someone build one.

 

Jack stands are either too tall or too short for that one.

I think most people will miss the master plan... until I get done that is- then they will understand.

I wanted to lower the leaf pivots 1" and then to replace the bent up, stock front cross member/leaf hanger whil adding a hitch and some recovery points.
I showed a buddy (engineer guy who taught me to fab, etc.) my design and he made a commnet on how to improve so it has changed just slightly from the original PDF/design I posted earlier. This makes it heavier, but MUCH stronger.

Keep tuned in to see the progress and it will make sense

 

Here is one from the other day that I posted in the "front spring hanger" build thread - but I forgot to add here...

I got a TINY bit of work done last night.

I started cutting out the clevis mounts for this thing. I then spent 1.5 HOURS waiting for my hole saw to cut through the 1.5" of steel...



I should get back to cleaning them up a bit tonight.

I am also waiting on a buddy to machine something for me. It figures - my mill sits here for a couple months when I am trying to sell it and I never need it, but as soon as it's gone I have 3 different thing/projects I had to take over to my buddies shop so he can run them on his mill....

 

And now for last night's progress.
I FINALLY had a good/productive night last night

I got to the shop before my buddy was gone for the day and since he hadn't gotten to my parts he let me use his mill and run them



I then sand blasted the rectangular tube because it had surface rust and I'm **** like that



Solid steel fitted and clamped for tack welding



Both sides tacked in



Test fit



And then I started throwing some welding rod at it



I got a bunch welded and will do more tonight.
I am also finalizing and test fitting the design on the platework for the spring hangers (you can see some of the preliminary design on the paper next to the solid steel in the 1st pic). I will do more test fitting tonight and hopefully get the parts CNC cut soon!

 

MAN!! I just found this thread, you are seriously kicking butt on this project. I was under the impression that you had not started yet :P. I will try to plan a trip down there, or where ever you guys would want to meet, soon. Hopefully the middle of August, I will let you guys know for sure. BTW this truck is VERY nice, I almost bought a crew cab before the Formmins I have now, it was a 73 and was used in Alaska as a snow plow . It had TONS of frame rust. There are two Crew Cabs 4x's in the Hanford area, one is pretty nice but I have not stopped and asked what they want for it, or even if it IS for sale. The other is the rust bucket.

 

BWT how much does that 5.9 weigh? With the DANA 60 front and 14bolt rear my pink says 6900, but the guy I bought it from said they reweighed it and had the front tires half on half of the scale to get the weight down. And do you know what a 1979 SuperCab 4x weighs from the factory? Just trying to get an idea of my trucks weight.

Thanks

 

As you can see I did not just start this swap. I wouldn't say I'm kicking butt though. In fact I'm still working on it LONG after it was supposed to be done and driving. I work slow, I'm overly **** about my fabrication and I took about 4 months off to move in the middle of this though - so I do kind of have an excuse

From what I have heard the 5.9L is 1200 lbs. I don't know the supercab weight off hand but I do know it is on the stock VIN plate on the door if that is still there on your truck. If not, then someone in the 73-79 forum is bound to know. You might even try a search as it has probably been brought up before.

You have a 14B in that thing? There is more and more in common between your truck and mine every minute

 

the wight of my 75 f250 crew cab short box with 6.9 diesel and np435 4 speed 205 tcase and fibreglass topper on rear with full tank of diesel 19 gallons 35 inch bfg at tires, winch bumper warn and warn 8000lbs winch, dana 60 front axle and dana 70 rear axle. heres what the scale says, also has a 1/4 steel home made rear bumper

total = 6700 lbs total with a full tank of fuel

2950 lbs rear half

3750 lbs front half

not as heavy as i thought!

 

That's lighter than I thought it would be!

Also - I like that front bumper. I almost said something in the "Crewcab Only" thread about it.

 

6.9 diesel weights 940 lbs fully dressed with all accessories except ac pump

 

Well I'm use to hanging out with Hot Rod guys, they take 10-15 years to get their cars done... so I think you ARE kicking butt