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Frame up grades.

mud hungry

mud hungry

1/2 ton status
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Posts
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Location
Haydenville, Massachusetts
Alright guys I have my frame stripped down bare. still has cross members and all other spring hangers except the rears. What mods would you do to it regardless of intention of use? I am not thinking of getting it boxed, I am not that good of fabricator to do that. Anything else would be considered.
 
Steering boxes braces are obvious but need to be said. Also, on some CUCV trucks there are reinforcing brackets right behind the front spring, rear hangers (bolt in). These brackets wont work if you've relocated the hangers for a 52" swap but otherwise should fit. You might also consider removing excess brackets that may no longer be used (ebrake cable, muffler hanger, etc).
 
Depending on the year of your rig and what t-case adaptor you're using, you can use a second crossmember and mount a skidplate to both of them to give more rigidity.

I'd also check to see if the cab mount is a one piece crossmember instead of two pieces like some have. This one is just under your the back of your butt.

Last, look into swapping the stock engine crossmember out and installing one made by dcubb. Search his name and also cbbr as both have them installed in their rigs.
 
ORD sells replacement engine crossmembers. I recomend putting it in. Also do the weld in steering box kit while you have frame bare, it will save you head aches later.
 
ORD cross member.

Replace rivots with Grade 8 bolts

Box frame

Fill in holes on frame (id do this b4 boxing if you had to pick one thing)

Replace the front (back side) spring mount (goes up in the frame)

Clean, strip and paint (coat) frame with some super HD paint or coating.
 
I was thinking about getting the engine Cross member from ORD, steering brace, and the Shackle flip. I thought about grinding out the rivets but had heard that it can mess up the frame geometry.

As far as the transfer case I was planning on only going with the atlas II 3.8. I don't want a doubler , I won't use it. As far as the extra cross member for the x-case that is a good Idea. i like the idea for the skid plate.

For the paint I was going to use Rust bullet. Three coats actually. The two silver coats and the automotive black.
 
As far as the rivots (and im no expert by any means) If you pop one rivot and then put in Grade 8 bolt and do this one at a time and tighten them down, you should be fine. Removing ALL the rivots at one time I could see it getting tweaked. Maybe someone with more experience with this can chim in. Its pretty easy for ME (and anyone else) to tell you what you should do to your truck, lol.
 
mud hungry said:
I thought about grinding out the rivets but had heard that it can mess up the frame geometry.
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Ditching the rivets for bolts is a great idea. Drill the holes one size bigger (7/16" maybe?) because many of the rivet holes will be ovaled out. You won't mess up the geometry of the frame, especially if you do it like badmix suggested.

The factory tolerance on the frame was 1/4" and you would probably be surprised to see how far off any K5 frame is after 20-40 years of abuse (it will almost certainly be more than 1/4"). Worn out rivet connections have a lot to do with this.
 
I still recommend you to check this crossmember out as its cheaper and accepts both BBC and SBC, plus its stronger, IMO.

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Wes, what are those air fittings for?? What's a ballpark price on that crossmember?
 
Fittings are for axle vent breather tubes. Or, use your imagination, possibly air lines if you want to make an air tank out of it.

PM'ing you with other info due to the fact dcubb is not a vendor.
 
nvrenuf said:
Also, on some CUCV trucks there are reinforcing brackets right behind the front spring, rear hangers (bolt in). These brackets wont work if you've relocated the hangers for a 52" swap but otherwise should fit.
Click to expand...

Interesting - I think I just learned something new today. Does anyone have any pictures of these?
 
thatK30guy said:
PM'ing you with other info due to the fact dcubb is not a vendor.
Click to expand...

Since when is it cool to pimp products for a company that doesn't have a vendor membership? :rolleyes:

Regardless, IMO the stock crossmembers are fine. I don't see any need to reinforce/replace them unless you are asking much more than the stock frame was designed for (i.e. link suspension, anti-wrap bar, panhard bar, etc.)
 
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Oh, I'm so sorry to wad your panties. :rolleyes:
 
I'm a vendor now, so no worries.

I'll start a thread pretty soon in the vendor's forum to promote these crossmembers and the panhard/crossmember combo's. Just bear with me for a few days.

And Wes, Thanks for the props brother:bow:
 
dcubb said:
I'm a vendor now, so no worries.

I'll start a thread pretty soon in the vendor's forum to promote these crossmembers and the panhard/crossmember combo's. Just bear with me for a few days.

And Wes, Thanks for the props brother:bow:
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Damn! You beat me to the vendorship, Dave. I was gonna offer to pay for the membership in exchange for another crossmember along with me paying the extra difference, too.
But anyways, glad you're "legal" now. I'm still gonna get another 'member real soon, like after the 20th of this month. :waytogo:
 
38377k5 said:
Since when is it cool to pimp products for a company that doesn't have a vendor membership? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Since now. I can say whatever I want about the crossmembers now. Thanks for your support. :rolleyes:
 
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