They'll end up along the side, I don't want to encapsulate that stuff in the box section....I'm sure I'd live to regret it later on.
CK5
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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build
- Thread starter Greg72
- Start date
This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
you should do a chase tube... if and when i need to box my frame, thats the route i'll take, at least for wiring...
brandoneh
1/2 ton status
Major Bummer!
Greg,
I'm always looking back to your thread for reference. Especially on the sheet metal repair w/ the floorboards and rockers. I really do appreciate the time that you did to repair all of the broken pics. What a buzz kill! Hope you can get the other ones recovered. A BIG THANK YOU.. for fixing the pics that you could! I'm sure others like me will be going over this thread many times to get their trucks done right!
Thanks again Greg!
Greg,
I'm always looking back to your thread for reference. Especially on the sheet metal repair w/ the floorboards and rockers. I really do appreciate the time that you did to repair all of the broken pics. What a buzz kill! Hope you can get the other ones recovered. A BIG THANK YOU.. for fixing the pics that you could! I'm sure others like me will be going over this thread many times to get their trucks done right!
Thanks again Greg!
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
After my recent mud experience, I'm paranoid about damp mud buildup. Any ideas for cleaning out the inside of the boxed portions easily if they get anything inside? Maybe just some holes in key locations for getting a pressure washer/hose up there to blast out any crud that builds up?
Brian,
I am planning to weld up every hole in the frame that doesn't have a bolt in it.... there's only about 217 of them!
I am planning to weld up every hole in the frame that doesn't have a bolt in it.... there's only about 217 of them!
2009.11.23 - UPDATE! - TODAYS SPECIAL: FRAME SANDWICH...
I've been spending too much time with the sandblaster....fighting hose blowouts and worn out ceramic nozzles, but was able to clean up enough parts to do a test fitting for the passenger side framerail...
Here's a shot of the strip of metal I removed using lots and lots of cutoff wheels... I ended up cutting both frames 1.25" from the outside edge so that the resulting "merged" frame would mimic the 2.5" wide factory dimension.
Here's an early mockup showing how cleanly the two cut frame halves line up...
I slowly starting clamping and running bolts through the various spots to check my work.
Everything looked good for the rear 3/4's of the frame (which is perfectly straight from the factory) As it approaches the front spring shackle area, things get a bit more tricky... you can see that the two frames don't naturally flow together on this end.
A few very carefully measured relief-cuts were made across the frame radius to allow me to gently bend the long vertical frame sections to the correct profile.
With more gentle clamping, fitting, cutting and finessing... the inside "box" section was drawn down to the outer frame pattern for a perfect fit!
Like everything else....this proved to be a TON of work, but the result really does look amazing. I'm quite pleased with how this came out.... and inspired enough to stay motivated to do it all a second time for the driver's side framerail.
UGH!
I've been spending too much time with the sandblaster....fighting hose blowouts and worn out ceramic nozzles, but was able to clean up enough parts to do a test fitting for the passenger side framerail...
Here's a shot of the strip of metal I removed using lots and lots of cutoff wheels... I ended up cutting both frames 1.25" from the outside edge so that the resulting "merged" frame would mimic the 2.5" wide factory dimension.
Here's an early mockup showing how cleanly the two cut frame halves line up...
I slowly starting clamping and running bolts through the various spots to check my work.
Everything looked good for the rear 3/4's of the frame (which is perfectly straight from the factory) As it approaches the front spring shackle area, things get a bit more tricky... you can see that the two frames don't naturally flow together on this end.
A few very carefully measured relief-cuts were made across the frame radius to allow me to gently bend the long vertical frame sections to the correct profile.
With more gentle clamping, fitting, cutting and finessing... the inside "box" section was drawn down to the outer frame pattern for a perfect fit!
Like everything else....this proved to be a TON of work, but the result really does look amazing. I'm quite pleased with how this came out.... and inspired enough to stay motivated to do it all a second time for the driver's side framerail.
UGH!
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bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Hmmm, I can't decide if you're kidding or not...
I know I'll get a laugh for mentioning it, but I'd be worried about condensation building up in there over time without at least a couple of drain holes for the water to escape.
The initial pictures look way cool though! I'm interested in seeing how you get the new inner portion to bend/conform to the existing one without distorting it and making the crossmembers not fit anymore.
Edit: With a boxed frame, you're crossmembers aren't gonna fit like stock anyway so I'll just wait and see how things turn out. I obviously haven't thought about this stuff as much as Greg has.
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I'm not going to worry about condensation in the framerails. Before the final welding happens the inner framerails will get a final coat of zinc chromate, and whatever small amount of exposed metal remains will just have to oxidize in there for the rest of eternity! LOL.
I wasn't joking about welding up all the holes....I'm just glad I didn't do it already. Those factory holes were a godsend during the alignment process, acting as perfect "indexes" to let me know that everything was square and plumb.
Of course the other tedious task will be to weld in sleeves at every location where a bolt needs to pass all the way through the frame so that torquing the bolts doesn't simply crush in the sides of the rails... and yes, to your point there won't be any use for the factory crossmembers now. Everything will end up being custom-made to match these new rails.
I wasn't joking about welding up all the holes....I'm just glad I didn't do it already. Those factory holes were a godsend during the alignment process, acting as perfect "indexes" to let me know that everything was square and plumb.
Of course the other tedious task will be to weld in sleeves at every location where a bolt needs to pass all the way through the frame so that torquing the bolts doesn't simply crush in the sides of the rails... and yes, to your point there won't be any use for the factory crossmembers now. Everything will end up being custom-made to match these new rails.
Wow Greg!
The "might as well" syndrome struck again!
(Hey, since I have two frames...)
I have to admit that looks awesome though! As usual your caliber of work is top-notch
Can't wait to see the finished product...
-Ben
The "might as well" syndrome struck again!
(Hey, since I have two frames...)
I have to admit that looks awesome though! As usual your caliber of work is top-notch
Can't wait to see the finished product...
-Ben
this thing is awesome!!!!
supersize75k5
OrganDonorRacing.com
new level of crazy
2009.11.30 - UPDATE! - ...AND MILES TO WELD BEFORE I SLEEP
My apologies to Robert Frost, though I hear he wasn't much of a fabricator.
The update isn't sexy because as the title suggests, this weekend was spent welding, welding and welding some more. The passenger side framerail that I'd already mocked-up was prepped, I cut a nice deep "V" into the gap for good weld penetration and put a bunch of tacks down the length to hold everything in place. It takes a LONG time to weld 20 continuous feet of metal... The reward is that when I finished, I got to flip the part over and do it all again..... the other side turned out to be 20 feet also. 
The results were good, and worth the effort.
It's hard to get a good "long shot" of the frame and still get close enough to show the details. I dragged it out to the driveway and propped it up against my classic shag-carpeted wood block to get a shot in better light.
These loose frame sections are really unstable, and it seems like they want to lean or fall over no matter how you support them. Plus, now that it's fully boxed it's about twice as heavy as it used to be....weird, eh?
I took care of some other random stuff over the weekend, like sandblasting all the related body mount bracketry. Those are all painted in the Ryoken green zinc now and ready to be bolted back on. The remaining step will be to sleeve all the bolt hole locations with some short stubs of DOM. That material should be arriving tomorrow. Since I had a few cutoff wheels left (I burned through about 30 of them since this frame project started) I cut the driver's side rails to the proper width also...actually I got 3 of the 4 full-length cuts completed and then ran out of discs.
For the driver's side, I still need to sandblast one of the rails and zinc it as well as all the body mount hangers. The weather isn't supposed to be that nice for the next few days, and big surprise....I'm out of blast media (again!) so I'll need to make another trip out for that too.
My apologies to Robert Frost, though I hear he wasn't much of a fabricator.
The update isn't sexy because as the title suggests, this weekend was spent welding, welding and welding some more. The passenger side framerail that I'd already mocked-up was prepped, I cut a nice deep "V" into the gap for good weld penetration and put a bunch of tacks down the length to hold everything in place. It takes a LONG time to weld 20 continuous feet of metal...
The reward is that when I finished, I got to flip the part over and do it all again..... the other side turned out to be 20 feet also. The results were good, and worth the effort.
It's hard to get a good "long shot" of the frame and still get close enough to show the details. I dragged it out to the driveway and propped it up against my classic shag-carpeted wood block to get a shot in better light.
These loose frame sections are really unstable, and it seems like they want to lean or fall over no matter how you support them. Plus, now that it's fully boxed it's about twice as heavy as it used to be....weird, eh?
I took care of some other random stuff over the weekend, like sandblasting all the related body mount bracketry. Those are all painted in the Ryoken green zinc now and ready to be bolted back on. The remaining step will be to sleeve all the bolt hole locations with some short stubs of DOM. That material should be arriving tomorrow. Since I had a few cutoff wheels left (I burned through about 30 of them since this frame project started) I cut the driver's side rails to the proper width also...actually I got 3 of the 4 full-length cuts completed and then ran out of discs.
For the driver's side, I still need to sandblast one of the rails and zinc it as well as all the body mount hangers. The weather isn't supposed to be that nice for the next few days, and big surprise....I'm out of blast media (again!) so I'll need to make another trip out for that too.
very, very nice.....
where did you source bolt-size DOM? I was looking for some on my bumper project, and it was pricey as heck....
where did you source bolt-size DOM? I was looking for some on my bumper project, and it was pricey as heck....
very, very nice.....
where did you source bolt-size DOM? I was looking for some on my bumper project, and it was pricey as heck....
Chassis Shop has it... I don't know how "cheap" it is, but DOM rarely is.
3/4" - .156 wall should be perfect as a 7/16" bolt sleeve (.438" ID)
7/8" - .156 wall should be perfect for a 9/16" bolt sleeve (.563" ID), and might even work for 1/2" bolts but could be too sloppy to be acceptable.
Stay tuned.
what about 3/8" fasteners? All the factory rivets were 3/8"s so are you stepping up the size?
.....uh, yeah. Might As Well, right?
Plus, now that it's fully boxed it's about twice as heavy as it used to be....weird, eh?
Almost the weight of a full frame somehow...
That is freakin insane.
I'm curious how 'straight' the welded frame stayed Greg. Generally I would have string lined the frame and made some notes while mapping it for crown/sag etc. I would have welded about 1/3 of it, then turned it over and welded 1/3 of the other side, then checked for crown/sag again. repeat twice more until it's solid. I may have just stuck with no more than a 50% stitch...
My concern having done similar is if you do weld all on one side, then turn it over and weld the entire other side you will have changed the crown of the rails.
Rene
My concern having done similar is if you do weld all on one side, then turn it over and weld the entire other side you will have changed the crown of the rails.
Rene
