The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Hey guys, I am back in the game. Picked up a pile of good parts from a good buddy, some of which I sold him. It consists of a good long bed 4x4 k10 frame and a decent 72 cab. Of course there is a good reason for this build.
We are about to be grandparents for the first time and its a boy, Jackson Monroe. Paw is gonna build him a truck and if he hates it, he can sell it and buy something he likes. Going to shorten it to a 115" length and paint it in the 72 theme of white/black/ white. Lots of metal work, lots of hard work and I can't wait for him to ride in it. I have almost everything to assemble this thing, but I will make a few changes along. Stay tuned as I will post often and update progress. When I get it home, I will get some pics up here.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Way to plan ahead for sure! This does give me an idea for when this day comes for me...

Can't wait to see the project begin.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well I got the frame home yesterday after work and rolled it in the shop. Too tired to fool with it after wrestling on and off the car hauler. Tonight I removed the receiver hitch that fought us tooth and nail loading. They had that thing bolted on like they were pulling buildings down. I sort of sized up the suburban mounts that I will need to cut off and looked it over pretty good. This thing needs a really good power washing and cleanup all over. It has a running 307 and I may wait until I hear it to decide whether she stays or not.A few pics below.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Very nice! That's one lucky grandkid!

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Thanks, I wish you the best. My son grew up around old trucks, so his boy won't have a chance!

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Thank you, I have him his own folding chair for the cruise ins as well, so when he gets old enough to go, he can tell everybody about his truck.


Today I spent chasing parts that came with it. I was lucky enough to buy the front cap back from my last project, and I had already assembled everything on the 69 , so it worked out great. I will have to buy a few things along, like body bushings and rubber products, but the sheet metal is all there. Getting ready for the frame cuts soon and I will document that in pictures. I have all my measurements and have located the rear body mounts and bed mounts. All we have to do is cut them off a parts truck. Some cleanup and paint and this project will be on its way.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

A long day today with some good progress. I got the shafts/exhaust off, pulled the eng/trans and case. Marked my cuts for the frame and cleaned up the back rails. it will be a short frame tomorrow if all goes well.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Today the long frame went under the knife. I still need to weld my inner frame gussets, but I am tickled about the progress. It went slick as snot. A few pictures but it has been a long weekend's worth of work. It is now a 115" wheelbase.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Quite the productive weekend!

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Yeah, pretty stiff today from crawling around on the floor all weekend. Got the 1/4" x 18 x5 1/4 gussets stitched into the inner frame rails and plug welded from the outside in several spots as well. The rear body mount will straddle my cut in the frame and the bolts that hold those on will further help to reinforce the cut area. I don't see this frame ever having problems due to the cut. I often wondered if the fact that it is a 4wd would torque it more, but I guess if it were so, Chevrolet would have beefed it up more from the factory. looks like the next phase will be scraping and brushing and painting. Oh joy.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well, the last hurdle was interesting. It seems that this chassis being a suburban, had " suburban body mounts on it. After cutting off the rear two I had to locate my cab mount and bed mounts. The front cab mounts are the same, except for the fact that they are not center drilled for the bolts. I simply elongated the hole on the passenger side and the driver side only needed a little finessing. After the frame shortening process, I measured for my rear cab and bed mounts, robbed some off a 69 parts truck and found out the hard way, that there are differences in the front bed mounts between the 2wd and 4wd. Studied youtube and posted a thread on the message board, and thanks to the help and reference of several board members, I have them on there.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

When I last left you all, we were done mounting swb mounts on this shortened suburban frame. That went well. I have been putting off this last repair and now the time is here. This frame has a rotted out 6 inch section under the bottom frame mount on the cross member forward of the rear axle.The rest of the frame is really solid, so once this repair is done, I will move on. First I will show you the rot and then, to keep everything in place, i welded in a makeshift x-member in front of the one I am removing to get access. On a 4wd ,I don't have another x-member for trailing arms, so this is a critical piece. It gets mud and salt, water and whatever else in it to ruin the metal. I guarentee there are a lot of trucks out there with this rust. You will see that I had to cut the top part in two to get it out, I will mount everthing loosely on reassembly and reweld the cut and reinforce it.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

More pictures

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well I got the driver's side bottom part of the brace cut out today and patched. You will have to wait to see it ground down and finished as I burned up my grinder . Spent lots of time crawling around on the floor and laying on my back. Here is a little of the progress. Take a look at this nasty section of frame, I don't believe I would want to be driving it like that.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Great Progress.
I would like to make a Suggestion on the rivet removal.
People have different ways of doing this.:smoke:
1st step: If you make a center punch .
Then drill a pilot hole.
Maybe 1/4 inch hole.
See how close you are too the center:uhmk:
So on and so forth.
Lots of options
Drill next size up.
Then use a Air - Hammer With a thin shim between the chisel and the frame.









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Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

[QUOTE=Getter-Done;8770627]Great Progress.
I would like to make a Suggestion on the rivet removal.
People have different ways of doing this.:smoke:
1st step: If you make a center punch .
Then drill a pilot hole.
Maybe 1/4 inch hole.
See how close you are too the center:uhmk:
So on and so forth.
Lots of options
Drill next size up.
Then use a Air - Hammer With a thin shim between the chisel and the frame.



Man, don't I wish I could. I don't have the air volume to use an air chisel in my shop. And yes, it would pay me too I guess. I have cut a lot of rivets off fooling with these old trucks. I guess if I would just buy short beds in the first place, I could save myself a headache.
Today, I rebuilt the bottom half of the rotted cross member. My frame in that area was about as thin as a dime after all the rust was knocked off.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Sounds:metal: Good









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Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well today, I got my rear cross member back in and bolted up. And my welding hood gave up the ghost, so I had to go get another one. this run of bad luck with my tools is breaking me. I am now ready to finish scraping and painting.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Keep on keeping on.;)

Great progress.

You will get it.
About the tool stuff.
Some day the windshield / Someday the bug:uhmk:

I just want to suggest one thing.
If you leave the bolts turned up like the ones circled they may hit/rub the bed.


Attachment 2032021









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Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

They are all heads down now.
That was so I could adjust the cross member to perfect level. Everything is back like it should be.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Cool :metal:
You are the man:metal:

I see you used those to level the frame.:metal:









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Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well, after a solid week or so, of scraping, wire brushing and painting, I have the frame ready for the eng/ trans. I didn't do anything yet to the tranny cross member, cause, withe 203, I will maybe have to swap it out. I will cross that bridge later.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well, this is the 2nd time I've owned this 350. It is a GM crate motor that I drove 4 hrs to buy from a guy that had to have an LS in his 68 short bed. We cranked it on the floor and it sounded great. The rest of the ownership transfer is a long story. Anyway, it's back and has found it's new home in this ride. Next, I will work towards the trans/case.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well, the t 350 and np203 is in place. Had to do a few mods to the mounts and use a later cross member, but it all worked out smoothly. I plan on shortening the rear drive shaft and I am not sure I won't have to have a front one built for it. A square body front shaft might work without mods. We'll see about that. Most people go to a 205, not the other way, but I happen to like 203s. I have had a dozen or more square bodies without one single issue. Here is an updated chassis pic before I start metal work on the cab.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Things are going to slow down a little now. I have my cab home along with a lot of the parts to put it all back together. Now for pictures of the condition and rust repair. first ones are the positive, next the not so positive and some of the minor repairs along the way. The floor is toast, so I have a one piece floor ordered. That should speed things along in that area.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Some more. Had some unusual rust around the rear window. I had some thick shelving with pre bent corners that makes excellent patch panels.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Finally got my set of shocks from Summit Racing after 29 days. Glad I wasn't in a hurry. It wouldn't be right to put anything besides Monroe shocks on a truck named " Monroe".

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Not much to update on the build, but I got the last of the rear window patches tacked in. I do have news though, Jackson was born 3 weeks ago and is doing fine along with his Mom and Dad. I did tell him all about his truck, but at this point, he is only interested in a meal and a nap. We spent some time with his other Grandparents, who by the way are car people too, and they will be following along with the progress. Tim has some correct mirrors for the doors and maybe some more of the few parts we are shy of. I'm waiting for Southern Ky Classics to call me with a full floor and other patch panels..

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well I am back at it. It has been a crazy fall but i took a week's vacation hoping to get the passenger door skinned and the floor cut out. I managed to get the old skin off the wrecked door and a quick test fit looks really good. I would have just got a used door but it being a 72 door, it is worth the trouble..

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Looks like nice work on the door skin! What did you do to take care of the surface rust inside the door?

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

I haven't yet. I have a patch or two to make and then I will wire brush it down and cover the inside of the door and skin with Por15. The driver door is solid but I am going to try to treat it as best I can in the same way.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Today we fix door bottoms, a lot of you have done this before and I know a lot of you have not. For those that need too, here is my method. This only will work with the skin removed, but for 30 bucks plus the 85 for the outer skin, it sure is an attractive option. First drill out the spot welds on the door skin edge and remove it completely. Clean up the edges with a wire wheel and then this is what to gather next. A piece of carbon angle 1", some good rare earth magnets, cardboard, sharpie, tape measure, ruler, scribe, a cut off tool and a good angle grinder. Plus you will need a mig welder.
1. Make cardboard etchings of your door contours and label them
2. Measure at a well marked place a few inches in on the inside of each door to
bottom edge of the existing panel . I used a ruler and recorded the meas-
urements on my cardboard.( see pics)
3. decide how much you want to lop off. In my case 3" took care of any rust I
had. Plus it got me below the lower hinge.
4. set your angle with your magnets on your cutoff line and cut your panel.
Be careful not to cut the hinge reinforcement metal in two. Oh yeah,
there is a brace in the middle.
5. Move your door and clamp the repair panel and cut the patch panel just
like it. Leave a little extra on each side to whittle away for a good gap
6. Now this Taiwan panel will have to have some dolly work and slicing to
make it fit, but take your time, you will pull it off.
7. put your patch on and groom to fit by grinding, hammering, measuring, and
slicing until you are happy with the results. Tack it and MEASURE again.
After all this, you can double check your contours with your etchings and lay your outer skin on it and trim the edges to fit. Take your outer skin off and finish welding , SLOWLY, a little at a time as not to warp them.
Here is a few pictures of the process.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

More Pictures of this. It has been 35 years since I last put skins on first gen Camaros and Chevelles, but Chevy is well known for rusty doors in just about all those years. This way I feel like my mostly GM doors will fit and give me good gaps.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Finish welding pretty much done on the door bottom. Next will be the outer skin.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Subbed in and nice work on the doors!

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

^^^^Thanks, got some more done today and last week. Rustproofed the insides and replaced the window regulator. So much easier with the skin off. Finished fitting and bent my edges. I have not tacked anything in case i need to adjust. I made a foam covered jig on my bland ex to keep from damaging the outer skin while I beat on it. Here are a few pics.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Well guys, sorry for the lapse in updates. It has been a tough year, but things are settled down a bit. I have a 14 day plan to install a new complete floor pan , rockers and cab corners. I will post pictures as I progress. I really am tired of walking around this thing, and my buddy is probably ready for his cab dolly back. Let's see if we can't make that happen. Work starts tomorrow.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Looking forward to the progress

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

Today is measurement and prep work. The rockers and front and rear pillars are so rotten, I will have to go measure door openings on a solid truck. I drilled out every other spot weld on the back of the cab.

Re: The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb
 

skillz to pay da billz !