Shortchevy’s longer short Chevy. Ccsb

swervin said:

Deffinatly seems like the best way after hearing your opinion of it! How much of the frame did you cut out from the cab area? Thanks for the pics and info!

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Exactly 14” is removed right behind the cab and 4” is removed from the rear of the frame

swervin said:

And did you just use a shortbox driveline?

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Since the truck is 2wd it has a 2 part driveshaft,I just had the rear shaft shortened by 14”, only cost like $60 and works great. You can adjust the angle of the driveshaft by shimming the carrier bearing down if needed. Mine never shook so I left it alone. (About 1500-2000 miles since shortening).

Thats is deffinatly tempting... i want to do this to my 90 but i dont have the time so im thinking about doing it on a square body down the road because short box square bodys are pricey compared long box from what ive seen atleast

just a thought, but would it be stronger if the seam was under the middle of the cab? using a donor rear frame 1/2 & your front.
also using staggered seams, instead of 14"ea side, you do say 17 on one side & 13 on the other.
I've seen guys talk about a cut step seam in addition to the above. basically if the frame is 8" tall, you cut up 4", go left or right 2-4", then continue up. do opposite direction on the other side of the truck.

I ask because some of these trucks that I see w/ collapsed frames are almost always between the cab & frame.

mars2878 said:

just a thought, but would it be stronger if the seam was under the middle of the cab? using a donor rear frame 1/2 & your front.
also using staggered seams, instead of 14"ea side, you do say 17 on one side & 13 on the other.
I've seen guys talk about a cut step seam in addition to the above. basically if the frame is 8" tall, you cut up 4", go left or right 2-4", then continue up. do opposite direction on the other side of the truck.

I ask because some of these trucks that I see w/ collapsed frames are almost always between the cab & frame.

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This topic always comes up when I mention it this project. People wonder if it’s safe, is it fishplated, is it ok to cut the frame where I did ect ect.... I am not an engineer so I can’t tell you tensile strengths and comparisons of different types of cuts and all that but I used to work at the shop where I shortened the truck, I would have done it all myself in my garage but I wanted the skill and experience of people who do this work every day. They literally take brand new trucks (usually straight trucks or large moving van type trucks) and alter the wheelbases on them and they do it in the exact same fashion that my truck was done. A straight cut finished with a bevel and welded from the bottom up will be the strongest part of that frame.

I don’t like stepped cuts personally because square cut corners create a stress point. Fishplates are personal preference on a 1 ton truck, I chose to go without. I would never grind the weld flush, this will decrease the strength of the weld and honestly I have nothing to hide. As far as using 2 frames I’m sure it could be done but I don’t think it is necessary, it’s all about building something to a reasonable strength, you could weld another 100 lbs of steel reinforcements on the frame so it could survive a meteor strike but if it’s just a 1 ton truck there’s no need. I would not choose that method mostly because without removing the cab it would be very difficult to align the frame pieces.

What it really comes down to is your frame job will only be as good as the weld holding it together, if you have a frame failure and it fails at the weld it’s because it was a bad weld. A common weld test is you weld 2 coupons together and then it gets installed in a machine that literally pulls the piece in opposite directions until it rips or tears. If it breaks on your weld you fail. If you have a good weld the metal will tear nowhere near the weld.

Dude this thing is sweet! Always liked CCSB squares, but a DUALLY!!! This is so awesome I'm jealous.

gstubbz said:

Dude this thing is sweet! Always liked CCSB squares, but a DUALLY!!! This is so awesome I'm jealous.

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Thanks man! It’s so hard to stay excited about the project right now, I have no heated indoor work space for it. I’m just collecting parts at the moment and working on little pieces that I can bring in my basement. The 19.5s just got a fresh coat of primer. I’m making new lower door panels too out of hardboard and will be covering them with the vinyl I used on the headliner. Here’s a picture of the headliner... the dome light is a couple of led strips between the layers.

Got the wheels painted and the tires mounted. I also remanufatured the lower door panels out of hardboard, they will be wrapped with the brown vinyl used on the headliner.