Dual purpose crap hauler

[91Bluestreak]

Great build so far cant wait to see it done.

 

[jps4jeep]

I spent about 5 hours working on it last night, Got the diff and most of the steering out last night. I got 90% of the bracketry on the drivers side off.

I ended up getting hungry and went out for wings and beers so it cut into a couple hours of labor, but the wings and beers were very good.

I need to find a pitman arm puller that fits between the cross member and steering box to get the pitman arm off. My puller is simply just too big.

Good news, for one reason or another, I always assumed I had a slip yoke on the front output and not the flanged output sinde I never saw a flange. So last night after I pulled the front diff, I tried to pull the slip yoke out and it wouldn't budge, so I pulled the straps on the t-case end of the front shaft and it appears I have a fixed yoke front output. this will save me a lot of time from having to build a 2 piece front shaft with a pillow block.

I took one pic of the front frame rails after getting into it with a plasma cutter. I'll post later.

 

[jps4jeep]

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[88GMCtruck]

Sub'd for another SAS build.

 

[j-l-1984]

Great build anxious for more

 

[jps4jeep]

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Drivers side all cleaned up. Was running out of time ( and desire to hold a grinder for another minute) so I did not start the passenger side. I did start mocking up some of the brackets for the coils and track bar. I should have enough room to keep the stock front cross member. If not I brought some 2x2, stock over to build a new cross member if needed.

 

[jps4jeep]

Due to family obligations, busy with work, and traveling I have not been able to work on the truck for almost a month. It sucks.


BUT I got to spend some time fabbing away today. I slid the front axle under the truck just to get a rough idea where my mounts were going to land and to get some basic measurements. After several cups of coffee and messing around with other projects that were in the shop, I started in on beefing up the front frame. I have read on several forum boards that when SAS on the gmt400's, specifically with leafs, thed frames can develop cracks where the frame tapers out at about the firewall. I am linking my truck so I was not super concerned with developing cracks, but with the cummins eventually going in, I want as much beef in the frame as I can get. Simply for the purpose of getting this truck on it's own weight, I only focused on plating the out side of the frame. when I pull the motor and trans, I will plate the entire insides of the frame all the way down to about the trans cross member.

Made some clay board templates and transfered them to some 3/16 plate.

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Cut them out with the plasma.

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Cleaned them up.

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Mocked them up on the frame, tweeking as needed

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Then burned them home.

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Got both sides done, probably hit them with a flapper wheel later to clean them up for paint.

 

[jps4jeep]

It was a longer process to get all that done than it should have been, I ended up having to run to Airgas to get some new consumables for the plasma to get clean cuts, then just as I was about to finished welding up the first side, I ran out of welding wire, so had to go all the way back to Airgas for another 11lb spool. Got it done then I started to assemble the frame end coil mounts and wouldn't you guess, ran out of gas. I was able to get the frame mounts tacked together though. trimming to the inner fender wells should be minimal.

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Oh another setback, I thought I had some 1/2x1.5 grade 8 hardware but I only had grade 5, so these are all temporary.

All in all, these are balistic mounts, I bought them a while back when people were having such a hard time getting stuff shipped from them, luckily all my order for them was received fairly quickly, the fit and finish on the pieces is very good.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Haven't heard of frame cracking issues until you mentioned it. Haven't noticed anything on my truck...

 

[jps4jeep]

I saw it on a couple builds on pirate and another on a thread on I think CK5. It appears to be prevelant in rigs that are wheeled fairly hard (not making assumptions about yours here) from what I gather the cause is;
your supporting the majority of the vehicle weight further forward of the frame than with IFS and it is simply more leverage on this location
also, drilling the frame to mount the shackle seams to also be a factor.

as with everything, don't believe all thats on the net.