I'm starting this today on my '56 (seems logical as I wanted to, and need to remove the front just to swap out the engine or axles later anyways), lol yes I've already talked with Julies.

I'm mainly curious if anyone has had any brilliant ideas with doing this, something that would make it easier/cooler/whatever.

If you think you have a neat idea, regardless of what it would take to do, I'm all ears. ^_^


I'll post pictures of my progress later.



And side note, took me an hour to move it yesterday, nothing like having the tires stuck in 8" of ice (snow melts around them, re-freezes in a perfect mold). And I had another guy wanting to buy my truck today, always makes me smile, especially since I have yet to really do anything to it!

 

What!?!? I wasn't Brilliant, Easy Cool or Whatever ENOUGH! Tee hee. John Niolon had some stuff to say on this. If he doesn't chime in I'd write to him and invite him.

 

lol I'm not saying you weren't, but if anyone else gets random "that be so cool" or "that be so much easier than that" ideas like I do, nows the time for them, lol.

Right now I'm working on having it pull forward a bit before turning and working the stop possibly into the hindge itself. Lots of physics to do, espcially cause I'd like to go a bit out and away and not so much "grille to bumper" cause I can almost be certain one day I'll trash my grille on my bumper doing something stupid.

 

Hi Stephen

there was someone on here that did a slide/tilt install recently.... within a year or so... but my old brain doesn't remember who... search for slide tilt might show up something.

One bit of wisdom I'll add... this ain't no bolt on accessory... all of the makers have 'fitment' issues with their product... I think Fairlane is the best but others make the same product. It would be good if you could compare first hand... bt without a good show, it's hard to find them to look at. Just plan on investing some time/energy to get it right...

here's what I've done so far, but right not the hood is sitting on it's nose in front of the cab which is taking up floor space in the shop...

http://www.clubfte.com/users/jniolon...gfulltilt.html

hope it helps..

john

 

Thanks for the info, some helpful stuff in there!

I plan on using the original steel and bolting it together, lol if nothing else cause my project budget is already stretched at the moment.



What did you do for the clearance issue of the fenders hitting the cab?

 

This discussion reminded me of a couple pic's saved to file some time back, during the planning stages - which never seems to stop. It's from Hank Suderman's site. While a '46, it is a larger than normal tilt front candidate, and I'm guessing a full steel clip. There's a Detroit under this hood. Note in the 2nd shot the air intake behind the cab.

Hmmm going this route would take care of the lop-sided opening hood springs and sure would aid getting to the engine. Not sure about the other trade-offs tho like the heat/fresh air system. Guess I'll need to PM Julie for her write up.

 

provisions need to be made... several ways to deal with it... some folks put the soft side of velcro around the cowl and down the cab sides for the hood to ride against.. some use small rollers... if you cut the fenders up high it's not as large a problem as with a fender cut at the cab bottom.. less to rub.. It's a tricky problem to get around and still get a clean fit to the cab... I haven't tackled that yet... I'm still building up the rolling chassis,then I'll mount a cab, THEN I'll worry with fitting the flip

john

 

here`s a few pictures of my forward tilt idea i might be making, keep changing my mind!! anyway the rollers are out of a new holland baler cam bearings, the idea is to extend the hood out and there will be some type of lock lever that would lock the hood itself at the end of the stroke, then you retract the actuator pushing the slide back and lifting the hood, i have made qute a few sketches of this but haven`t figured out a system i like.

 

I went with the rollers as your looking at. I couldnt get the hood to come down in the same spot. Electric actuators work the hood and it would come down different every time. After 2 years of headaches i blocked off the track my rollers were in and cut the fenders at the body line to just have a front tilt no slide. it actually slides forward approx. 1" to seat into the firewall. I have a video on you tube under 1949 ford fish albuq. I will try to get some more pics on here soon

good luck
fish

 

The fenders hitting the cab isn't the real problem, it's getting the bottoms of the fenders to arch back in, stay in, and wrap around the cab after the fenders come down.

On mine, I found that using ananchoring system on the bottom of the fenders does nothing but destroy the bottoms of the fenders (and at $700 a set that was a NO GO!).

I guess it depends on just how automatic you want the thing to be. I just put mine down to the point where the bottom of the fenders are starting to hit the tops of the running boards and then I go out and give them a gentle knee in to tuck them in - then I lower it the rest of the way.

I'm not sure that will work on the 56 because I don't think the front of your running boards aren't hooked forward enough to hold the fenders in by themselves so yo may need a latch of some sort.

One other advantage we have on the Bonus Built (and I'm sure you could use it if you wanted) is that we have that thick sponge rubber fender to cab welt. I glued mine on the fender and when the hood is down, it seals the fender to cab joint yet provides just enough spring to push out on the fender and keep it tight up against the running board on the bottom. Mine never scratches of does any damage to the cab.

I have no latches securing the front tilt at all (the lineal actuator holds it down in the front and provides tension against the top cowl seal in the back), and the natural slight outward bow of the fenders push out from the cab while the running board is pushing in on the bottom.

While I was researching how to do this I came across a beautiful 47 Chevy truck with a full tilt and he had a very simple roller and latch. He also used the soft half of the velcro as a pad. I took pictures, I'll see if I can find them, and post them later.

 

I always wondered why everyone came out a bit...

I think there is an easy fix to the fenders and the cab, cut it vertically by the running boards, the part that has to go back under. It's not a place that would show...

 

Let me go out and take a few pictures of mine tomorrow and show what kind of spaces we are talking about. I really don't think you'll yave enough bulge to warrant cutting the fender.

Also, the pictures I took of the roller and latch on the Chevy are on a disc at my computer guys house. He's trying to figure out why some of my back up pictures won't come up. I'll try and get it back tomorrow.

 

i was planing on cutting my fender vertically to the fender and attaching the piece that goes under the cab permanently, as for latching the fenders i came up will allkinds of ideas but i think a pin mounted onto the front running boards would solve that.

 

If you don't mind a small gap, and have something to hold the whole thing down, like an electric lineal actuator (which raises and lowers it) you don't need anything to latch the fenders.

 

i forgot to mention i`m using fiberglass fenders and there a bit flimsy looking, it would only be to keep them from flaping out at the bottom