57 Chevy Wagon - Californa Dreamin'

[mongocanfly]

Thing about those gas struts is the stouter you get them ,the more pressure it takes to close it...could easily bend something if you went overkill...

[swamp rat]

Digging the chassis! The way my legs are going I’m tempted to do the same with my rat, still kicking myself for installing a 4” lift 😊

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

chassis looks great Vic....

Thanks, Greg.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

X2 on the chassis. The tail gate is coming together nicely too. I believe you can buy the gas struts in different strengths too (weight they'll hold). It may be worth a call to the manufacturer.

Thanks, Dale.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Thing about those gas struts is the stouter you get them ,the more pressure it takes to close it...could easily bend something if you went overkill...

I'm inclined to agree with you, Greg. The hinges and liftgate are pretty flimsy and could possibly bend if they see too much torque. The stock support mounting points are only about 4" down from the flat area where the hinges attach. From there to the bottom of the tailgate is another 32" which gives approximately an 8:1 ratio. That's a lot of leverage when you pull down on the gate to close it. Too much resistance and something has to give. The big unknown for me is how much the glass will stiffen up the liftgate frame. For now I'll stick with the old supports and when I get everything assembled, I'll test the Madmooks gas struts and see how they do. If they're not up to the task or the one piece tailgate doesn't close properly, I'll buy some new supports and go that route.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Digging the chassis! The way my legs are going I’m tempted to do the same with my rat, still kicking myself for installing a 4” lift 😊

Hey Mike, I hear you. Anymore, I need a stepladder just to get up into the bed of most trucks. This chassis is supposed to lower the wagon statically a couple of inches. Looking at the adjustable coilovers, there may be another inch available there as well. I'll see what works best when the chassis is fully loaded. No matter what, it should be easy to get in and out of.

I removed the tailgate and have been patching up the open spaces on the sides. I ended up cutting the corner off the liftgate where I'd previously repaired it but it made for a nicer transition. The sedan deliveries have a continuous rib that runs thru that area. The side of the tailgate is also flatter than mine where the tailgate and liftgate meet. It would have been a heavy lift to construct my sides to look like a SD, but it should pass the quick look test.

[Vic1947]

So the more I looked at the sides of the tailgate, the less I liked what I'd done. I realized there was no point in keeping the raised area where the liftgate stop attached. There's another stop a little further down on the tailgate that's in better shape anyway. At any rate, out came the cutoff wheel and I removed the hump and some of the adjacent area. I formed a piece that connects the liftgate and tailgate on the sedan deliveries and welded it in while I was at it. It may not be exactly like the SD's but looks better to me. I then duplicated the look on the other side, removed the braces and mounted the tailgate back where it belongs. I had to tweak it about 1/8" in the upper left corner, but other than that, it fit just fine. I reattached the sliding supports and tested it and it works nice and smooth.

When I was in St. James, MO last week, we dropped by the big salvage yard there. They advertise a lot of seats on eBay and I wanted to see if they had what I had in mind for the wagon. They had four sets in stock and as luck would have it, there was a 20% off sale on all their seats. I picked out a pair from a 2008 Silverado that are full power, etc. The upholstery shop will cover them with new material in the color I want, so I was mainly interested in the size and style. If they look familiar, it's because they're exactly the same as what went into CRLS. I knew from experience they were comfortable, so there was no need to reinvent the wheel.
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