Re: Jans 53
 

My friends are building a high end first gen Camaro for SEMA and incorporated in the roll cage are areas to mount (4) pneumatic rams that when engaged will lift the car off the ground to change tires. I think they do a similar thing with Indy cars. I thought it was a great idea. I had one better though. I suggested a wheel that could be added to each ram so once its lifted it could be moved around easily...

Marc

Re: Jans 53
 

if tilting the bed install the hinge points as far back and as low down as possible. that way the bed gets out of the way better and won't hit the back of the cab when tilting.
commercial truck power tailgate motor units would work well if motorizing and using hydraulics. prolly find a good used unit around for cheap at a truck wrecker. 12 volt as well.

Re: Jans 53
 

I was going to use an electric scissor jack, under $100 and lifts a foot, installed about one third from the hinge would lift 3 feet, more than enough to get a tire changed. slather the screw with grease, put a deflector in front of it, and wire it in.

but it worked fine with man power too. unscrew a pair of pins and lift.

Re: Jans 53
 

Funny you should mention hydraulic's. The last 5 yrs of my working career was working in a hydraulic shop in Chico Ca, mostly rebuilt cylinder's and motors in the winter and then in the summer we built pistachio harvesters. Loved that job but my knees had other ideas. Fortunately the owners wife is my BFF so I still have full access to the shop,free fittings, tig welder, lathe and mill. It's a 40 mile drive but it comes in handy.

Re: Jans 53
 

I have made a FEW hydraulic lines over the years, sure comes in handy now!

Re: Jans 53
 

Ok...i need to ask.

Is pistachio harvesting different than almond harvesting?

*they shake the "L" outta 'em :lol: (Some of the ranchers say its pronounced "Amonds")

Re: Jans 53
 

Almonds are shaken off the tree onto the ground then swept up. With Pistachios you run a shaker down on side of the tree with a receiver on the other, the nuts are shaken onto the decks which direct the nuts onto the belt of the receiver which then run out the back into a bin.
I was always told they're amens if you grow them, almonds if you eat them. Lol

Re: Jans 53
 

So lately I've been looking for a place to mount my Derale hyper cool transmission cooler. Real estate on this truck is getting tight. I ended up hanging it from the bottom of the radiator support. To mount the bottom I made a bracket that I welded to tongue that comes off the front of the S10 cross member. I only have about 5/8 of an inch between the front of the cooler and the anti sway bar and 5/8 of an inch between the fan and the crank pulley. (I'm holding my breath)

Re: Jans 53
 

:ack:So today I wanted to makes sure my trans cooler didn't hang down below the front bumper so I mocked up the front end, wow is it low! I may have to raise things up after it gets all the fluids and interior in it. The picture shows 6 inches off the ground but after standing on the bumper it dropped to 4 1/2

Re: Jans 53
 

FWIW my Derale (stacked plate version with an integral fan) is mounted to the side of the chassis outside the pass side rail and behind the running board, just behind my drop down battery box. There is enough space between the top of the frame rail and the bottom of the cab to run the lines there. Several others have done the same and it seems like a good spot if you can't get enough clearance up front.

Re: Jans 53
 

Last week I bought some 14 gauge sheet metal and had new bedsides bent up. So today I sat down and welded the 1 1/2 tubing on. Unfortunately the only 14 G I could get is hot rolled.

Re: Jans 53
 

Looks good...Jim

Re: Jans 53
 

Nice work! What the practical difference with the hot rolled steel vs cold rolled? All I know is there is a small difference in strength - just curious.

Re: Jans 53
 

Yes strength and it's going to be a pain to sand with 80 grit so the primer can get some bite.

Re: Jans 53
 

Nice work on your truck, and thanks for sharing about the door hinges.

Re: Jans 53
 

So I've been lazy lately and haven't been posting what little progress I've made. I finished building the bed and got it primered,I want to try to get inside the cab painted before winter so I can start wiring. My biggest hold up is deciding which paint and color. It will be a driver, so It will be budget job that I can drive anywhere and not worry about someone dinging or scratching. I had a 67 Camaro I spent a year on doing body work and paint,it was no fun when people would open their car doors into that. I really like the look of the hot rod flatz satin paints but I have read reviews that make it sound difficult.

Re: Jans 53
 

8man pm me, I'd be happy to press you out a set of hinge covers if you like.

Re: Jans 53
 

Jan,
So I know you didn’t exactly ask for suggestions on paint color - but I won’t let that old me back, ha ha.

I’ve saved this truck photo for a long time because I realy liked it. When my truck was in “shop truck mode” I didn’t want to paint it standard gray, black or red primer so I ended up using Duplicolor from a rattlecan. I liked the color but it didn’t hold up for schit.

Anyway, I sanded the whole thing down and rattled canned it Rustoleum 2X in Satin Sage green. Unbelievably, I had it in that for a couple years and it held up incredibly well. If something started looking a little sad, I touched it up extremely easily. People seemed to like it. Anyway, here’s pics of the AD truck and of mine:

Re: Jans 53
 

Funny I had looked at that color while at Home Depot, it is one of many that appeal to me.

Re: Jans 53
 

Went out to the garage today and built a new trans x member heavy enough to hold trans and gear vendor overdrive unit. Put the mount piece on upside down to be able to move x member as high as possible to make room for exhaust.
Still need to decide on a color, in the meantime there’s enough body work to keep me busy for a long while.

Re: Jans 53
 

nice fab!

Re: Jans 53
 

Nice work on the X-member.

Re: Jans 53
 

Crossmember looks good...Jim

Re: Jans 53
 

Just read through this entire thread as my build is in the beginning stages. Awesome work and details!

Re: Jans 53
 

Thanks everyone, it’s reading through all your posts that keeps me motivated and educated. I wish everyone who’s building a truck would start a build thread you never know what info my help someone else. I get excited to see new post and projects being finished.