Weekend progress pics. Lift/ flatbed

[79k20350]

Well i finally got everything i need to get my project underway. Current status:
84 K20 (registered as a 79)
Lt1 350, completey fuel injected
Custom dash (alum. diamond plate)
bucket seats
4" t/c springs (soon to have relocated rear mount and 7.25" shackles, and zero rate to push axle 1.5" forward, and crossover/ d60 at same time)
4" shackle flip
56's, extended shackles (right now i have them in the 1" spot, but theres too much angle so im going to go to the 2" spot)
Flat bed thats tapered
465,205 soon to be installed.
2 16 gallon fuel cells, mounted in bed along w/ the battery
tailights, fuel doors, bumper, and door to get to bettery compartment are all currently in the works and should be done shortly.
let me know what you think, its come quite a long way since i got it, let me know what ya think.

 

[gauder]

Looks like you're having fun.

 

[blazerpro79]

that wood on the flatbed... you think it will hold up? i bet when you slam into a tree offroad it will give. i dig the truck man. i love flatbeds. good job...

lets see the d60 and Xover

 

[79k20350]

Im not too worried about it, and if it does break it wil be real easy to replace. Thats the nice thing about building your own parts, you also know how to fix em

 

[blazerpro79]

any front end pics of the susp/axle?

 

[79k20350]

Ill psot some tomorrow, right now its a 10 bolt, stock steering and no grill. once i get all the mechanical finished i throw a new 83-84 grill in it

 

[steve_kibbe]

Got Wood??

Shackle angle looks a little steep

Are you going to leave it or switch sides with your shackle flips?

 

[TLCOR]

Shackle angle looks a little steep

Hey you, that was exactly what I was going to say ! Oh, and that wood will be smashed up fast, why didnt you build it in steel ?

 

[mikey_d05]

Steel is expensive, heavy, and a lot harder to replace once it's welded in there. I'm torn about the bed being wood. Part of me says it economical and a good idea, and the other part of me says I'd rather see a steel deck. Either way, it's a nice looking truck and the shape of the bed is well executed. I'd switch sides on the shackle flip if I were him but otherwise I think it looks pretty good.

 

[TLCOR]

Steel is expensive, heavy, and a lot harder to replace once it's welded in there.

You *wont* need to replace it. I wouldnt mount some creaking and brittle material, in a place that suppose to take a beat..

 

[mikey_d05]

I've seen diamondplate beds wrecked, not raising a BS flag or anything, but **** happens and with the current price of steel, a wood bed is a lot more cost effective. If this is a trail truck only how tough does the bed need to be? It's narrowed in back so serious contact from the side is unlikely. I'd mount a toolbox to that in a hearbeat. If I were to put a spare on it I would Mount it to a crossmember under the bed but that's because there's only one potential mounting point when you throw a tire on there. Yes, I'd rather see it made of steel too, but he did a very good job with wood and I think it'll do everything he wants it to.

 

[79k20350]

I already had the side switched but because im running extended shackles it wasnt steep enough. I raised it to the 2" spot and now the angle looks perfect. Reasons for wood: Cheap, easy, fast, and with the welder that i have i definetly didnt want to do it. Right down the road from my house (literaly a quater mile) is a sand pit that i took it to just to try it out. flex's good, no creaking yet. I am a carpenter by trade so wood was an easy choice, and hopefully the way i designed it it should hold up very well. it is going to be a driven on the street but im not going to haul much, i got a trailer for that. Also im not doing anything (no real rock crawling in my area) thats really going to put the bed at risk to being smashed. Ill post pics of the bumper when im done. right now im thinking a stock one cut and narrowed, but havent decided yet. Thanks for the compliments, ill keep you all informed of how it works

 

[Kiwi John]

Congratulations 79k20350, on having the faith in your own work.

The guy is a professional woodworker and I think he has done a great job with his flatbed. The chassis is the structural member. He minimises damage with the narrowing. As he says, it is easily repairable for the above reason. It's 'built, not bought'. The flatbed provides a platform for whatever he wants to mount on it. Old horse drawn wagons were wooden flatbeds, they flexed with the right wood & joints and their wheels were even made of wood. (don't anybody start up on rock-crawling with wooden wagon wheels!).

And like most people, he has used what he has available to do the job he wants.
Well done, again.

Just one thing: could someone explain what you mean by switching sides re: the shackle flip?
Thanx.

 

[BL1TZKRIEG]

real nice dude

 

[79k20350]

The shackles mounts are offset to the front by an inch and a half i think. this provides a better shcakle angle when put on a reguler truck, say w/ 52's in the stock mounts. If you run 56's w/ the mounts in the holes in the frame for 52's then you get an awsome shackle angle if the bracket are offest to the rear instead if the front(you have to switch sides w/ the brackets to do this). i am running extended shackles so when i did this the angle wasnt enough. so then i switched them to the sides the regularly be on (offset to the front) and the angle was too steep. as of then i had only used the 1" extended holes, i just recently moved it to the 2" holes and the angle is perfect.

 

[Kiwi John]

Understand. Thanks.

 

[diesel4me]

You might be suprised ...

Wood is actually stronger than steel pound for pound!..I know of a guy with a one ton dually who scraps stuff for a living--he had an aluminum flatbed--very pretty,but it lasted about one year before it started cracking and peices got torn off from dragging stuff up on it with a winch..he was looking for a steel bed,but after we weighed the one he was thinking of buying,he decided it was too heavy(1000 lbs,a thousand less he could haul in scrap if we went with it!)...he ended up making his own bed from some 4x4 pressure treated 8' posts he got cheap,and covered them with 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood..it weighed about 600 lbs,more than he wanted,but it was nearly free too--the steel bed's price was 700 bucks!

He's had that truck at least 5 years now,and he's not gentle with the wooden bed at all--the crane at the scrapyard has dropped engines on it many times when the magnet lost its grip,and it only splintered the plywood a bit--he's even diven ricer cars up on it and hauled them to the crusher with no damage!...a car rear ended him at a stoplight once,and the 6x6 wood bumper only lost a few toothpicks!..the other car had to be towed!..

Trailers use planks for a floor all the time,they take a lot of abuse before failing(most of the time they ROT rather that crack)..and if you could get some of that "engineered" lumber,(laminated beams) that stuff is incredibly strong..

 

[sams78chevy]

Do you think if you went 6'' lower on the long side boards would the tire hit it at full flex?

 

[79k20350]

i was thinking about going lower, i actually bought the wood to do it, and i was goin to cut a wheel arch but the shape of that wouldnt have looked right. i kept that side board high just so it wouldnt contact the tire

 

[TLCOR]

Okay lets finish up this "Wood vs Steel Debate": Take this:

And roll it. Then take this f.ex. and do the same:

And at last, lets compare !