A different approach to a LWB to SWB conversion

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 65standard

Then I carefully aligned the rails and tack welded them together.

Next did a full penn weld and ground it down so it could be tested. Then swung the bed mounts back.

Cut the front drive shaft down, exhaust, and brake line.

Then drove it out to take a look and the new profile.

Next comes the bed...

95% of the people that read your thread are not going to have a clue what a penn weld is (including me) and what you mean by being "tested". I did a Google search for "penn weld" and not much came up.

Also wondering if you plated the inside of the frame at all.

Just personal preference I guess, but I would never use a straight cut to shorten a frame.

Thanks,
LockDoc

[shawno72]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

95% of the people that read your thread are not going to have a clue what a penn weld is (including me) and what you mean by being "tested". I did a Google search for "penn weld" and not much came up.

Also wondering if you plated the inside of the frame at all.

Just personal preference I guess, but I would never use a straight cut to shorten a frame.

Thanks,
LockDoc

Full penetration weld. Means there is 100% weld joining the 2 piece of metal instead of just butting the 2 pieces together. You can see he has a slight gap between the frame rails, then he adds a small piece of metal to one side and uses weld to join it together. Hope that helps

Great work btw

[65standard]

95% of the people will not like my frame since I am not added any fish plate. A full penetration weld is just that, the weld bead is the full thickness of the material. This is done by beveling the rails and leaving a small gap before welding. Once welded, you will have a raised bead on both sides of the rail.

I then ground down the weld so it could be tested. A machine like an ultrasound and jelly is used to look for and air gaps or disturbances in the metal. Also, grinding the weld smooth avoids any stress spots or sharp edges.

If the weld was not 100%, I would add a brake formed channel to fit inside the rail. This is much better than a fish plate or boxing plate.

Now, off to the bed. I completely disassembled the bed and cut down the floor pan. 12" off the front and 7.5" off the rear.



I drilled new front and rear mounting holes in the pan and bolted it to the frame.

You can see it still looks factory.


For the rear, I saved the rear cross sill and put it back on the frame and under the pan.



Then I started to tip over the 1/2" of floor pan I saved when I cut 7.5" off.



Once fully tipped, I plug welded the pan back down to the cross sill. The floor is now a SWB pan and no splicing like all others I have seen here. I saved over 10' of weld and kept my original paint.






Now off to the bed sides....

[bollybib]

Interesting. Looking forward to seeing how you do the bed.

[29od1]

What's your plan for the front of the bed floor where the front bed panel attaches? Will you form all the beads flat where the two bolt together?