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the rear beam behind the tank is also the trailer hitch mount.
It is 2 x 4 steel tubing 1/4 inch wall thickness bolted to the frame with six 1/2 inch fine thread grade 8 bolts. I figure that should be pretty safe... |
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Great ideas and execution! I appreciate the additional information on the engine mounts and brake brackets plus the reference to brake warehouse.
Appreciate your fuel tank mounting too. And the frame kick out just a bit where the exhaust manifold would intersect the frame....like I said great ideas and execution. |
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I really get into the fabricating stuff... Hope you like the rest! |
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I made the tranny tunnel removable for easy service.
The hole was cut out to about 6 inches diameter around the shifter. I'll make a boot later. The tunnel is bolted to the floor with 1/4-28 button heads in the flange area. I put rivnuts in the floor panel and where the clecos are in this picture. |
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OK,
that pretty much covers the chassis mods. I reused the rear tranny crossmember. Just needed to notch it for a newer style tranny rubber mount. The cross member below the tranny and above the cats is split in the middle for removal. It also supports a removable tubular skid plate that protects the oil pan. Obviously I added a couple additional cross members for stiffness, and to provide mounting spots for the exhaust, bed floor, shocks and sway bars and charcoal canister. |
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I just finished the exhaust system.
I bought stainless mandrel bent elbows, an X pipe kit, a couple of flex joints, a couple of flowmaster stainless mufflers and made clamps and mount points for rubber mounts. All 2 1/2 inch. I won't finish the tail pipe until the bed is back on the truck |
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made these brackets and heat shields,
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Excellent execution on the gas filler door/assembly. Looks better than factory. Although I can't see as well as I would like, your detail at the back of the rear fenders and the bumper filler panels finishes off the rear nicely. Really enjoying the quality craftsmanship.
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Looks really good. Did you buy the exhaust from mandrelbends.com?
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I'll be posting the rest so there will be better pictures of those areas too. |
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I think I bought some from them... I shopped around and mixed and matched, as long as it was cheaper and stainless steel. I think I got the x pipe kit from summit. |
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OK,
today's update... It started with the realization that getting the gaps between the hood and fenders to look good was next to impossible. I thought if I could bolt the fenders to the hood with spacers of equal thickness, that I could keep the gaps even and tilt the whole assembly and end up with a nice front end. Here is the original cut line I envisioned. |
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The metal by itself is too flimsy, so it needed a frame.
It was too heavy, with just the sheet metal and grill, for easy lifting so it would also need to be powered. I searched the web and found a nice overpowered 12 volt linear actuator that came in various stroke lengths that could easily lift it. I built the tilt frame around the actuator's dimensions. It has it's own sub-frame and has shims in 1/16th inch increments for final assembly alignment. |
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the frame extends back to the firewall and adjustable
stops with rubber pads limit the closing tension against the firewall gasket. the actuator just fits! |
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In the previous pictures you can see two rod end limiting
mechanisms. They have a die spring at the end, and just begin to compress when the hood is fully open. They are a safety device to keep the hood from going too far forward in the event the actuator rod cap comes off. I read on the web that it had happened to one guy at a show. It crushed his hood! The other picture shows an arm that serves as the lower actuator attach point. That serves two purposes. One, it moves the pivot forward of the radiator for more clearance. Two, it also has a limited amount of pivot travel itself, that allows the arm to rise at the closed position of the hood. A stiff spring that is adjustable for tension with the knurled knob serves to tension the hood "closed". This is also the disconnect point in the event of electrical failure. Simply undo the tension,pull a pin, and lift the hood manually. |
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It opens and closes in about 25 seconds, and can stop in any position
or it will shut off at the end of it's travel automatically. The sheet metal looks like this. Added some braces and modified the factory braces to the fenders. |
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going to need some custom inner fenders...
next week's update |
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Amazing work, really enjoying following your project!!
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Nice! That's too cool!
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Hitting the like button....
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Enjoy seeing the fine craftsmanship. very nice.
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This is some nice fabwork!
You had to spending a few hours to think this over! One small question: If you're down on power, can you still open the hood manually? I mean if the actuator has crashed, battery is under the cab I assume. |
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Yeah, There is a manual disconnect. Battery is under the floor passenger side. If you look at the last picture in post #64, at the bottom below the lower Pivot arm there is a knurled knob. On that linkage there is also a pin that can be pulled ( after you release spring tension by twisting the knob counterclockwise) that will allow manual opening of the hood. It's a little heavy, but my wife can do it easily by herself. When you lift manually, once it goes over center weight wise, it will fall to the full open position. The springs on the limit rods catch it smoothly. I did spend a lot of time figuring the linkage geometry of that lift actuator. My calculations were pretty close though, so it didn't need to be reworked too much after I tried it with scrap materials. |
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The finest build I've read to date here. I only wish I had the skills, patience and dineros you have Sir. I've learned on my build that I can live without perfection at this point as life is short and I've already got my mind on the next build. I'm a little disappointed in my self for that.
This truck will be a show stopping winner. |
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It's been over 3 years already, and I think I can finish it this year. I've actually learned to slow down and add features to the build because that's what I like doing most. As far as living without perfection, the photos make everything look a lot better than in person. I was lucky to find a good painter! And believe me, there are times of frustration and disappointment throughout this project. It's kind of like kids when they've grown up, you mostly remember the good stuff. My wife and I aren't going to show it, we are going to drive it! |
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