I was thinking the other day, it's almost too bad that the interior cage is all done. How killer would an old 50s hot rod cab be on that
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Yep, or older
CK5
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Mr. Clean's dune cruising 71' K5 "Oprah" beams, links, and turbo ls powwwa
- Thread starter Mr.Clean
- Start date
Yep, or older
Tried to get as much work done as possible with my time off from work for the holidays. the 2wd th400 is in the truck and started making a new cross member, which is about done now. Just need to drill a few holes and get some bolts and that's done. Got my tranny cooler mounted where I wanted, and have everything to plump and wire it. Just waiting till I get the x member done first. Also trussed the front axle and now once I pick up some more steel going to start on some new panhard brackets.
Materials I found around to make the tranny mount with.
Mount in place
Tranny cooler mounted waiting to be plumbed.
Started my truss. Just using some 1.5" x 3" x .120" rec tubing and some plate.
All done
Materials I found around to make the tranny mount with.
Mount in place
Tranny cooler mounted waiting to be plumbed.
Started my truss. Just using some 1.5" x 3" x .120" rec tubing and some plate.
All done
Jester1
1/2 ton status
The way this thing flies you should call it brown santa. Cause it delivers a good time.....
Did I miss something, when did you decide to go 2WD while bracing the front D44?
A while ago. And just because im not running 4wd doesnt mean my chances of bending my tubes lessens any so that is why i trussed it.
No plans for a transfer case. My plans include keeping the blazer 2wd indefinetly.
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I wish you could go out and test that truss. I need to do that to my 44 but it'll have to wait seeing as I think I've already bent my tubes a bit and it's still runnin and season ain't over yet.
Im curious myself to see how much strength i actually added. With my c bushings i.was limited to how close to the knuckles i could get it and after the fact was wondering more if a bottom truss would have been better for my application, but oh well its on now and i will find out this spring.
If its 2wd, other than simplicity, what do you gain keeping the front axle in there?
If i knew it was going to be 2WD forever, i'd run some sort of solid front ibeam, or custom axle to retain the outers.
The truck is badass, just seems kinda silly to keep a solid front axle and go 2wd, when real 2wd suspensions are so much easier to mod for your use.
If i knew it was going to be 2WD forever, i'd run some sort of solid front ibeam, or custom axle to retain the outers.
The truck is badass, just seems kinda silly to keep a solid front axle and go 2wd, when real 2wd suspensions are so much easier to mod for your use.
All in due time my friend
i do fully intend on getting the d44 out of there and a new front end under there. It just isnt going to happen this winter im focusing on alot of other issues such as wiring, guages, and more cage work. Rather then being out for a whole summer because i bit off more then i could in one winter im doing as much as i can to get towards what i want while keeping the rig going for when dune season hits again.None of the cool stuff is happening this winter. Just alot of boring overdue stuff. Ill run it this way for this summer so i can still enjoy the dunes and the blazer amd then next winter the cool stuff starts.
All in due time my friend
None of the cool stuff is happening this winter. Just alot of boring overdue stuff. Ill run it this way for this summer so i can still enjoy the dunes and the blazer amd then next winter the cool stuff starts.
Good plan
Is the front axle still stuffed with its guts? Gears, shafts, etc?
I'll never understand you Michigan guys.
Martin
Martin
I envision beams or even a arms. That's a lovely vision
Good plan
Is the front axle still stuffed with its guts? Gears, shafts, etc?
It is at the moment but i will be taking the axles, gears, and carrier out and putting them on the shelf. Next winter when i tear this setup off the blazer i would like to swap it to my 81k10 and make it work with 4wd.
And Martin, I am going to take that as a compliment.
You have lovely visions!
Lol, if you guys would go back and read a few posts, he wouldn't have had to re explain it for the 18th time ya lazy bastids 
^^^^^^^^^ He is right ya know!
I don't know, I see 2WD and a D44 housing and I feel like you are now getting the worst of both worlds, the weight and ride quality of a SFA and the traction of 2WD. If you really want 2WD and don't want to spend money on a IFS long travel then maybe you should cut the inner Cs off and weld them to a 3" piece of DOM and put a small truss on that. Would save a lot of weight for not a lot of cash, and you could eliminate those funky ford bushings too and go straight arms. Then again, if you are doing that, might as well....
I don't know, I see 2WD and a D44 housing and I feel like you are now getting the worst of both worlds, the weight and ride quality of a SFA and the traction of 2WD. If you really want 2WD and don't want to spend money on a IFS long travel then maybe you should cut the inner Cs off and weld them to a 3" piece of DOM and put a small truss on that. Would save a lot of weight for not a lot of cash, and you could eliminate those funky ford bushings too and go straight arms. Then again, if you are doing that, might as well....
That's a waste of work if it would just get ripped out next year anyways.
I don't see how the current axle would weight that much more with no guts, bare housings really are not that heavy.
Plus that's a lot of work. "just cutting the c's off and welding them to a tube" sounds like an awful lot of work to me when everything under the truck works just fine.
