My best friends girl...

[imiceman44]

Need some advise on this,....just got my frame repair plates in.
Starting to clean up frame and have a friend and his welder comin over in bit to put it in. After test fitting, the frame didn’t quite look right, looks like a dent to the right of the gear box holes, as well as to the left. Like maybe it has been in a wreck in the 20+ years of its life before I had it. I tried to use the light to show the shadows of where I’m talking about. And I measured from the FUSH on both sides to the front spring mount hole and it’s definitely off a bit. SHIT!! How bad is it? What would you all do? Im gonna hold off on welding the plates till you guys help me decide I don’t need to swap the frame.

View attachment 330222

View attachment 330223

View attachment 330224

View attachment 330225

View attachment 330226

View attachment 330227

View attachment 330228

If this is a daily driver, I would be more concerned.
If it's a week end warrior I would run it.

 

[k5blazerguy]

Not sure what happened. I deleted this post on accident. Phone in my pocket. Oops.

Need some advise on this,....just got my frame repair plates in.

Starting to clean up frame and have a friend and his welder comin over in bit to put it in. After test fitting, the frame didn’t quite look right, looks like a dent to the right of the gear box holes, as well as to the left. Like maybe it has been in a wreck in the 20+ years of its life before I had it. I tried to use the light to show the shadows of where I’m talking about. And I measured from the FUSH on both sides to the front spring mount hole and it’s definitely off a bit. SHIT!! How bad is it? What would you all do? Im gonna hold off on welding the plates till you guys help me decide I don’t need to swap the frame.

 

[k5blazerguy]

If this is a daily driver, I would be more concerned.
If it's a week end warrior I would run it.

thanks. Good point.
My friend showed up anyway and we just decided to weld up the plates and if it bothers me much more I’ll take it to a collision shop after it’s finished and see about pulling that front frame horn out a little. It’s been like that as long as I’ve had it and never noticed anything driving it. He burned in the plates and left the bottom front of the plate un welded in case I decide to take it in. I was able to rig up my ball joint press and bring the kink in the frame down a little. I knew the front clip had been changed at some point in its life as the underside of the fenders and hood aren’t the original colors. Oh well I’ll run it and see. It’s just bugging me knowing it’s not right kinda like a crooked picture frame on the wall.

 

[centexk5]

My redneck ass would find similar measurements online and then make one of the sides match that by cutting, grinding, patching, and welding. But I do things the hard way because I'm cheap.

 

[k5blazerguy]

My redneck ass would find similar measurements online and then make one of the sides match that by cutting, grinding, patching, and welding. But I do things the hard way because I'm cheap.

Funny you say that, I was actually thinking “maybe I could tie a chain around that frame horn to a tree and put it in 4 Lo,....”

 

[sweetk30]

so did you drill a hole at the end of each crack ?
so you weld up the cracks ?

only thing i can see that i do different is the small gap at the bolt holes . i use bolts and nuts to draw the plate down flush with the frame before welding at the 4 box bolt holes .

other wise she looks good on there .

 

[k5blazerguy]

so did you drill a hole at the end of each crack ?
so you weld up the cracks ?

only thing i can see that i do different is the small gap at the bolt holes . i use bolts and nuts to draw the plate down flush with the frame before welding at the 4 box bolt holes .

other wise she looks good on there .

yeah welded the cracks for sure,.... i wanted him to use nuts and bolts to get it closer, (i was working on one of the body lift bolts that stripped in the rear while he was doing that),but he used his clamps to squeeze it to the frame while he burned it, ..... yeah it wasnt enough, i figured after the box is on and tightened down, it will close that gap anyway....hopefully.

 

[k5blazerguy]

Finally got the blazer’s new body mounts and BL on one side done, had to cut grind the head off one carriage bolt and weld a nut to another,.....started on the passenger side and first two came off great,( gonna have to cut the heads off the rear cargo area bolts),.....then this piece of $(:& bolt in front of the rear springs just kept spinning and Am I really gonna have to cut a hole in my floor to get to this damn nut??? I just don’t see a way to grab it. Anyone have a better idea? Oh and posting another pic of my sketchy body jack setup

 

[6872xtc]

Yeah, I am fairly confident that one is only accessible by cutting the floor open, or the support somehow.

 

[k5blazerguy]

Yeah, I am fairly confident that one is only accessible by cutting the floor open, or the support somehow.

Sounds like I’m gonna need more beer

 

[centexk5]

Just wrapped up a body lift and bushings on mine. Mostly went alright until I went to tighten the bolt on the mount behind the passenger front spring. The nut just spins and spins and spins. So trust me when I say I feel your pain.

 

[k5blazerguy]

Oh that’s nothin!! So I measured out and cut a 2x2 hole in the floor,......went to turn the ratchet and then the mother Fn nut caught and decided it wanted to let the bolt free!! I turned that ratchet for 30 min before I finally decided to cut the floor........ Whatever I’m just gonna keep pushing forward. Just kinda sums up how my day is goin lol. My GF is pissed at me and left so I’m here in the garage gettin work done! Lol. Finally got the BL done!! Time for another beer and figure out what on my list to start on next

 

[k5blazerguy]

Feels like this is taking forever!! Finally made a little more progress in the last couple weeks, BL and new mounts done, got some time in the last few days to strip the D60 down and get it cleaned up. Few hours and couple wire wheels later.....



Gonna finish cleaning and hopefully paint it all tomorrow. Then waiting for my rock auto order!! New seals, king pin bushings, axle shaft joints, and tie rod. Should get here about the same time as my HD shackles and zero rates from ORD. Then I can get this heavy bastard under the blazer!!!
Does anyone run the brake dust shield? Is it needed? I thought about leaving it off.

 

[sweetk30]

50/50 on the shields . . . . if there good and you dont run them there worth money .

did you plan to run them H1 rims ? if still stock centers they will need DRW hubs or bolt on spacers to clear and work .

 

[k5blazerguy]

50/50 on the shields . . . . if there good and you dont run them there worth money .

did you plan to run them H1 rims ? if still stock centers they will need DRW hubs or bolt on spacers to clear and work .

I’ll be running 2.5” spacers. They are in good shape. Was just wondering what pros and cons were. I don’t have shields on the rear. Seems like one less thing for mud and rocks to get stuck in. I may as well just run them since I got em.

 

[diesel4me]

I've had to carve open the floor to get the body mount bolts off a few of my pickups,the one nearest your foot & gas pedal..my '82 GMC had a minty floor too,I hated to butcher it,but I was able to cut three sides and fold the "flap" up and get the bolt drilled out,then pound the flap back down and weld it back up..

Once on another truck, I was able to guess close enough where that big square nut was and drill 2 holes thru the floor and into the nut,and put two 1/4" bolts in the holes in both,that stopped it from spinning good enough to be able to unscrew the bolt..
I had to make a whole floor for that truck from 1/8" thick steel..
I cheated and used carriage head bolts for the front body mounts,and didn't bother 'burying" them under the floor like factory ,the head of the bolt wasn't even noticeable once I put the padding and carpet back in..

 

[78SWB]

I didn’t put the shields back on my 60.

 

[k5blazerguy]

Been taking advantage of this social distancing and getting some work done!! Finally cleaned up axle, got seals replaced, frame cleaned up and threw some paint on all of it..... Drug the D60 under and gonna finally make a little progress.



Is it ok to drill the factory D60 ubolt plate in order to use the zero rate to move the axle forward? Is that what everyone does? Just didn’t wanna have to spend more on plates if I don’t have to.

 

[imiceman44]

Been taking advantage of this social distancing and getting some work done!! Finally cleaned up axle, got seals replaced, frame cleaned up and threw some paint on all of it..... Drug the D60 under and gonna finally make a little progress.
View attachment 333966


Is it ok to drill the factory D60 ubolt plate in order to use the zero rate to move the axle forward? Is that what everyone does? Just didn’t wanna have to spend more on plates if I don’t have to.

View attachment 333967

View attachment 333968

View attachment 333969

I am pretty sure you are fine

 

[k5blazerguy]

Lots done in the last few weeks. This Coronacation has given me more garage time! Dana 60 is in its final home! The gap between the frame repair kit was bothering me, so I cut the welds and used bolts to squeeze it together, then beat the sh!t out of the frame on the front horn to straighten out a little. Had my friend come back and re weld the brackets and then tried to patch some holes in the floor. After I got the 60 in and placed on jack stands with the weight of the blazer, it looks like the axle is sitting pretty straight now!

2wd box on, waiting on frame brace to come in!

Gas tank back in with new sending unit. Also replaced the wire all the way to the firewall. Also, got all the new ORD brake lines in and installed. Went with size bigger just in case.
Then dropped my trans and Tcase to put in new clutch probably new master and slave too while I’m at it, have some work to do to clean up the rest of the undercarriage.