Beautifully done David.
-G
-G
CK5
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One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban
- Thread starter AgDieseler
- Start date
I don’t know what’s going to stiffen the frame up more. The additional steel or miles of welds. Looks gorgeous.
A day of small tasks. Reinforced body mounts in place.
Stubborn exhaust studs eliminated.
Three studs means six attempts.
Axle and links in place.
Then it rained and I seared up some venny chops.
David
Stubborn exhaust studs eliminated.
Three studs means six attempts.
Axle and links in place.
Then it rained and I seared up some venny chops.
David
Am I understanding correctly that you've plated around the stock shock mount bosses? Why not simply plate over them if you're not using them anymore? Get rid of a known stress concentration point. 
I did skip the shock mounts mostly for practical reasons. It’s a lot more work to cut and press brake a complicated shape like that, and for minimal gains.
David
You knocked it out of the park, David. Everything about the overlay plates is sensible, well thought-out, and well-executed. Bravo.
beags86
Eastbound and Down
Would have pretty easy to cut out the dimpled shape and weld in a flat piece there to plate over it flat. No?
Like this.
[URL="https://ck5.com/forums/threads/roccos-77-k5-blazer-frame-off-6-2-6l80-build.339156/#post-4047681
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Sorry, I meant cutting out the mount and making that section flat, as seen in the link that Brian posted. There's nothing wrong with leaving it. It just seemed, since you had to weld around it anyways, you might have welded in a flat patch instead of having to fit the plate around it. It would have a cleaner look and eliminate a stress concentration that is known to cause problems.
Or, since you have awesome overlay plates, that section of overlay could be left solid and you wouldn't even need to patch the frame behind it. Just weld it in from the back side and go!
I like daydreaming out loud...
When we did mine we did this and put 3/16th's plate up against it and welded the inside of the frame to the outside plate.
Candidly, it didn’t enter my mind. @Deuling and I started with the notion to just go around the mount as an early design criteria, and I didn’t go back and think about it after. It’s a neat idea, and I would absolutely do it in conjunction with an overlay.
Certainly a couple of incremental hours of cutting and welding would have been reasonable, and would have allowed for another window or two.
Thanks! They’re a ton of work, but I’m very pleased with the outcome. I really enjoyed working with Adam to develop these, and hope he sells the snot out of them.
David
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Steady daily progress. That’s my thing, especially when the day job is crazy busy.
Return to full bump. It’s time to make a place for shocks.
I drained the coolant, because the passenger side tube interferes with the lower radiator hose. I’ll have a make a new one. Quick check, and the sacrificial zinc anode is fully intact.
The shocks are set to tip in at 3*, which is about as much as I could reasonably package and still access and service the master cylinder.
Lots of small adjustments to the ORD shock hoops - banding and coming to get it all just right.
Everything is heavily tacked. You’ll see I made up some custom infinite spring rate coilover stand-ins from leftover square tube. They’re 24-3/8” eye to eye, which is slightly longer than absolutely fully compressed. Excluding the rubber cushion, there’s 3/8” of shock rod still showing at that dimension so that the shock never actually fully bottoms with both sides at full bump. When articulating, if the slightly farther inboard bump is bottomed, the shock has a small bit of room to further cram before the weight of the truck tries to convert it into a 13” travel shock.
I got a jump on the passenger side last night. It’s a brain scratcher.
David
Return to full bump. It’s time to make a place for shocks.
I drained the coolant, because the passenger side tube interferes with the lower radiator hose. I’ll have a make a new one. Quick check, and the sacrificial zinc anode is fully intact.
The shocks are set to tip in at 3*, which is about as much as I could reasonably package and still access and service the master cylinder.
Lots of small adjustments to the ORD shock hoops - banding and coming to get it all just right.
Everything is heavily tacked. You’ll see I made up some custom infinite spring rate coilover stand-ins from leftover square tube. They’re 24-3/8” eye to eye, which is slightly longer than absolutely fully compressed. Excluding the rubber cushion, there’s 3/8” of shock rod still showing at that dimension so that the shock never actually fully bottoms with both sides at full bump. When articulating, if the slightly farther inboard bump is bottomed, the shock has a small bit of room to further cram before the weight of the truck tries to convert it into a 13” travel shock.
I got a jump on the passenger side last night. It’s a brain scratcher.
David
Looking good! 3/8” might not be enough brother. I know on mine and @Desert_K5 we just did, it’ll eat up an additional inch of shock travel from straight bump to full articulate.
So, there’s 3/8” of rod showing, and 1/2” of rubber cushion. Did you leave 1” of rod in addition to the 1/2” the cushion takes up?
David
I had 1” of rod showing plus the rubber cushion. I was really surprised to see how much it moved the first time.
When we set the limit straps, I let it hang at full droop on the shocks then marked the shafts an 1-1/4” down. Raised the axle up to that 1-1/4” mark and set the straps there. The straps are 4 layer and don’t stretch too much in our application. But you still have the pivot inboard of the shock just like the bumps.
While I’m thinking about it, If you have a double cardan joint on your front shaft at the t-case it probably won’t have enough angle. I have heard the 1410 u-joint has enough working angle but for now I am running Tom woods superflex joints.
Good notes all around. Thank you. I still have enough in the tabs themselves to trim and get another 1/2" or so.
Same thinking here. I intended to burn about an inch at the bottom, too, thinking that the straps might stretch over time.
I had to part with the CV a while back, and have been running a superflex joint at the transfer case, and a standard 1350 at the 60. I plan to reclock the 205 to ease the angle, but I suspect it won't be enough.
David
Those hoops look very familiar, I really like where you are going with this David.
Eventually that driveline angle may need addressing. But set the stops and straps a bit short, it will be fine
It’s amazing how much tire articulation you can get with only +/- 4” travel at the frame
It’s amazing how much tire articulation you can get with only +/- 4” travel at the frame
A little lunch time fine fitment.
This is the position for articulated full stuff. With the coil plate in place, there’s 1/4” of rod still showing. I’ll lower another inch or so, set the bump to full stop at that point, and keep on.
David
This is the position for articulated full stuff. With the coil plate in place, there’s 1/4” of rod still showing. I’ll lower another inch or so, set the bump to full stop at that point, and keep on.
David
