I made some unexpected progress yesterday. I had taken the day off from work to swap out a noisy front axle on the daughter's Jeep. Before I started taking her Jeep apart, I decided it would be a good idea to replace the upper control arm bushings on the Jeep axle that was going to be installed. By the time I got that job done, it was already noon-thirty and I did not want to chance not getting the job done and leaving her without a vehicle.
After taking a break for some lunch, I decided it was time to move the crossmember that supports the front of the gas tank. It is held in place on the top of the Dodge frame with four rivets. I knew from measurements that I would need to move it forward on the frame about 3", but figured it would be best to hang the tank and see just where exactly it would need to be. I cut the heads off the rivets with my angle grinder, then drilled down in to them, just like I did with the subframe when I shortend the truck. Once drilled, the crossmember popped off with a few light hammer taps. The remaining rivets were tapped out of the frame with a hammer and punch.
I ran in to a glitch when it came time to hang the tank. Somehow I misplaced the rear strap that supports the fuel tank. At the time I did not know there was a front and a rear strap, until i went to hang the tank with the front strap at the rear and realized it was too long. As far as the rear strap, I guess it went with the Dodge cab that was hauled off for scrap, because I will be damned if I could find it. $32 buys a new pair, so it is not a huge crisis. In the meantime, I used a tie down strap to hold it in place.
Once I had the gas tank hung and the crossmember relocated, I fabbed up an adapter to relocate the transmission mount. I need to move the engine and transmission back about 2" for there to be adequate room between the fan and radiator. With the transmission sitting level, the fan is about 1/2" into the radiator presently. I also want to raise the engine and transmission about 1.5". Since neither movement is enough to warrant a new transmission crossmember, I made an adapter out of 1/4" plate stock and a piece of 1x2" 11ga box tube.
I drilled the plate steel to match the stud holes in the transmission crossmember and the studs on the transmission mount, one for the top under the mount and one for the bottom at the crossmember. The plates were offset to move the holes back about 2.5" There is also about 1.25" of movement to the rear available at the crossmember.
With this adapter installed, I now have 1 7/8" room between the fan and radiator and can move back an extra 1.25" if need be. I still need to add flat stock to tie the top and bottom plates together on either side of the box tube, to protect the adapter from torque loading the box tube. The beauty of this is it bolts in, so it can be removed if needed.
-Joe