This is all I’ll need
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This is all I’ll need
Nice work! The cat may be worth a little at your local recycling scrap processor.
Man, I can’t sell Roxy
Well, you do know Ryan is more of a "dog person" right?!?!?! LOL..
Cute cat!
I've got a yellow lab you can have! :LOL:
Hmmm.... think it had enough spring?
Good grief, what's that thing at 3/4 ton or 1/2. Those Dakota leaf springs are going to be frowning if it's going to get loaded up like it used to.
The fire department must have really been loading this thing up to need all that. I'm going to rebuild the original spring packs but about half of whats there is going away. For now I'm just going to remove the overloads and bolt the rearend in loosely until I see what the front ride height is going to be.
The U-Bolts must be a foot long! LOL...
They were exactly 12” long
Got the Dakota rear swapped in; perfect fit. Even the driveshaft will work with a ujoint change. Just leaving it bolted in loose until I get the front clip in and see what the front ride height looks like.
Looks like a really good fit. Like it was there the whole time.
Probably the easiest one I've ever done. Length was exactly the same, I spent about an hour cutting off the old spring pads and shock mounts, threw on some new bolts and that was it. When I did the rearend swap in my 49 I needed some 1 3/4" leaf spring pads so I had bought some extra.
Nothing to do with your build, but just saw a local news clip saying that your little town has an influx of dolls showing up in odd places all around town, some of them headless? All different sizes & types, and no one seems to know who's behind it, but it's creeeeeeeeeeeepy!! :HMMM::eek::eek::eek::whacked:
That is creepy, I hadn’t heard that. I swear it’s not me.
Got it all stripped down; hopefully we’ll be doing some frame surgery next weekend.
The amount of work you get done in a short amount of time always amazes me. I love all the odd stuff that you find and build.
Thanks, man. As far as taking them apart fast; PB blaster the night before, air impact on anything it will reach, cut off wheel on anything that’s getting pitched
No turning back now....
And here we go!!! 8-)
Holy sheep dip, Batman.
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..... and your wife walks in with, "Oh! What happened?"
You definitely get things done!
Thanks; my wife is pretty cool with it all as long as the money isn't flying out of the bank account so I gotta pinch my pennies on my projects. Looks like by notching the Dakota framerails, I can slide about 6" of them into the original frame rails and then weld in supports. Also looks like the original underfloor pedals are not going to work so I'll using a firewall mounted master cylinder, hanging pedals, and converting the clutch to hydraulic.
Lucky guy to have such an understanding wife, cause that doesn't appear to be the easiest or most expedient way to install floormats and hubcaps.
After lots of trimming it fits pretty good. Time to start welding and adding suppers. Looks like it might end up with a C notch in the rear; it really lowered the front.
So I got the clip welded in solid; need to go back and put in some supports later but it’s good to finish the rest of the setup. I cut the front of the old frame off; this is where the core support and motor mounts mounted. Rather than trying to recreate this, I’m going to cut off the front of the Dakota frame rails and splice this in. I marked the location of all the mounting holes on the concrete using a plumb bob and a tape measure before I cut the frame so I should be able to get it back in the same spot.
Look at you go! That sure looks like it is fitting together very nicely!
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Nice work. I love clip swaps and frame swaps, they just make so much sense.
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How concerned are you about final ride height? Maybe it's the camera angle but to me it looks like it's very low once the motor is in.
It’s looking good! You seem to get more done in a day than I do in a month.
Leave it in the weeds.
I do like that look but to get the back that low will mean a C notch, moving the rear end to the top of the springs and cutting out part of the bed floor. I just don’t think I want to go through all that. Plus I’d like to keep it functional as a truck.
3" - that's quite a bit. So much for the frame clipped being a breeze. I'm certain you'll work it all out clean and easy.
It's never easy, that's for sure. I had a late night last night cutting it loose and remeasuring. I dont want to do anything crazy to the rear end other than have the springs de-arched to take it down a few inches. Taking the overload springs out already took it down quite a bit. So Im trying to calculate where the front end needs to be to have it sitting level after the weight of the drive train and front sheet metal are back on. So I think (hope) this is going to be the right place. Ended up with about a 4" offset between the original frame and the Dakota rails so I'll have to build some 1/4" fish plates to bring it together. We shall see once the weight of the engine is on it and I have the frame off the jack stands.
I’m glad I backed up and redid this; it came out much better.I set the motor in to see what it looks like loaded and it’s just about right. The weight of the trans, front sheet metal and radiator should bring it down a little more. Now I just need to add some more braces, clean up and paint the frame and firewall, and start on the drivetrain.