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Project Blue Truck: '83 C20 - Rolling Chassis

The links don't come as close to hitting the oil pan as I thought they were going to. That's good.
 
andyblack said:
The links don't come as close to hitting the oil pan as I thought they were going to. That's good.
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Yep, I'm thinking (and hoping) that this will be everything's final resting place, so I can have the majority of the 4 link behind me until I come back to the coil overs. The next project will be getting the brakes figured out, and then I can move on from the front axle. I'm gonna start with the front calipers and rotors from a Duramax and see how all of that works with the spaces I've got. I REALLY need some tires before I move forward with anything else outside of the frame rails just to check clearances and all of that. I want the 44" Boggers, but they are so damn expensive, and I wouldn't mind the 47" LTB's since they are somewhat cheaper, but I think they may be too much tire, if there is such a thing. If you know of anyone who has any larger tires they want to sell or just loan/rent for me to check clearances with that would be awesome.
 
I'm looking for 47" LTB's but as far as I know they are no avaible at this time . if you have a source let me know.
 
All the places I have called say they don't have them and can't get them. have you called 4-wheel parts?? there website still list 35-12.50-16.5 BFG A/T's but when you call they don't have them anymore.
 
yellowK20 said:
All the places I have called say they don't have them and can't get them. have you called 4-wheel parts?? there website still list 35-12.50-16.5 BFG A/T's but when you call they don't have them anymore.
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I haven't called anybody, just going off of the website. I'm too broke to afford tires now anyways.:haha:

andyblack said:
I guess tractor tires aren't going to work at this point. :doah:

:D
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I was eyeballing the ones on our 2020 just to see what size they were. I would have to get a little ghetto though since they use a 28" rim.:D
 
I can't remember what size tractor tire fits on the stock Rockwell wheels. Not that it matters for your custom deal anyway.

28" rims? You said you were being influenced by those crazy Florida trucks...:haha:
 
Articulation shot looks good dude. Your wood block looks sketchy though :haha:. Keep it up!!
 
andyblack said:
I can't remember what size tractor tire fits on the stock Rockwell wheels. Not that it matters for your custom deal anyway.

28" rims? You said you were being influenced by those crazy Florida trucks...:haha:
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I would consider tractor tires more seriously if they made some for 16.5" wheels.

Deuling said:
Articulation shot looks good dude. Your wood block looks sketchy though :haha:. Keep it up!!
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The lower king pin bolts dug into the concrete and started pitching the truck over as I lowered it down.:doah: It only ever got about 1, maybe 2 inches above the creosote blocks though.

A_Snyder20 said:
Turning out really great cant wait to see the final product
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Thanks.

I managed to find some half inch angle iron to cut some spacers out of. I will have to weld the two halves together, but it beats having to buy a piece. Also, the outer edges were all left over sized, they still need to be finished out once I decide on the size.

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I took a short video to show the wonderful invention that is power feed on a drill press. It's a 1/2" bit going through 1/2" mild steel at 725 RPM with 0.007" power feed.



The holes are 29/64" and the edge was plasma cut after they were drilled. Even coming that close to the hole with the torch, there was not any warping of the holes.:waytogo:

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That was impressive. I think that's the fastest I've ever seen a drill press drill a 1/2" hole before. It usually takes me several minutes in 1/2" steel and a lot of cutting oil. And smoke. And frustration sometimes. :haha:
 
andyblack said:
That was impressive. I think that's the fastest I've ever seen a drill press drill a 1/2" hole before. It usually takes me several minutes in 1/2" steel and a lot of cutting oil. And smoke. And frustration sometimes. :haha:
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The power feed, easy speed changes, and XY table have definitely spoiled me, I'm not sure I could go back to a regular drill press. This is a 3/4" bit in 3/8" plate running at 250 RPM for the last remaining link tab. I should have brought the bit down a bit before starting the video, but I forgot, along with setting the depth stop to automatically retract the quill.



And the main skeleton of the the top hat; it just needs finish welded, but the axle needs to come out from under the truck to get the MIG in there, and I'm not really feeling that now.:haha:

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Wow. So it just drilled a 3/4" hole without having to step through different sizes? Now I'm even more impressed. :bow:

That 2 ton jack looks tiny in that bottom pic.
 
andyblack said:
Wow. So it just drilled a 3/4" hole without having to step through different sizes? Now I'm even more impressed. :bow:

That 2 ton jack looks tiny in that bottom pic.
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It will actually drill a 1-1/2" hole with out stepping up.:pimp:

The tophat got glued and smoothed tonight.

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Previously I had notched the bottom of the plate to provide clearance around the breather, but after looking at it I decided I didn't like it and welded it up. My new solution involved flipping the side cover over to put the breather at the top, which meant a new hole had to be cut. It worked out that the breather was in the right spot to line up with the middle hole in the tower brackets. After the most convoluted clamp arrangement I've ever done, I had a 2" hole that lines up with the others.

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Before paint the tabs on top will get 1/8" scab plates like the tower brackets.
 
Stage I of the top hat is now in primer, the edges were left unfinished to facilitate Stage II which will be additional tie ins to the bearing covers. All I did was plasma the edges down even with the machined surface of the third member, stitch the 1/2" spacer to the main body, and I finished up the hiem joint recess. Since it is so humid and muddy down here, I wanted to eliminate any places were water/mud/dirt would get trapped, so the recess is ported under the side plate to drain anything out. The tower will get similar drainage channels once I get the metal in.

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