Frame Rebuild (again) - 8-7-07

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It's finally happening!!!  I'm finally, after almost 7 years, able to begin the process of rebuilding.  I had to take a hiatus due to two boys, lack of money, getting our house ready to sell, and work......just like alot of us, I'm sure.  We are in the process of trying to sell our house, and I want to try to at least get the frame on all fours for ease of transport.  Once we sell the house, we should be able to get some land pretty quick, and then the long-awaited shop build will begin!

Well, it's not much, but it's a start!

 

 

Since I last posted (in '04!), I've been able to acquire a new cab in great shape for $200; the '66 cab is just too far gone.  I saw an ad for a parts truck for sale for $500; a week later, on a whim, I called the number hoping to see if I could just get the cab and hood.  Turns out, it was sold, but the seller told me the buyer had commented he didn't need the cab.  He gave me the buyer's number, and the deal was made.  It's in really good shape!  I've put it on this boat trailer so I can move it around easily.
Well, here goes!  Man, did I dread uncovering the frame.  I just had nightmarish visions of it rusted badly; it was wrapped up in a tarp behind my shed for 2+ years!   Much to my delight, the frame is in almost the same shape it was when I covered it up.  A few spots, but nothing I'm going to worry about too much.  Hey, it's not going to be a show truck. The first thing after uncovering was to put the frame and setting it on jacks.  Next was to bolt on the '75 crossmember.  Easy, right?
Wrong.  I pride myself in planning ahead, but for some reason this slipped by me; maybe because I was so excited I was going to have the frame blasted and painted.  Well, when I set the crossmember on the frame, I noticed the bolt holes were off - two of them majorly.  If you notice, the bottom (actually top, it's upside down) hole to the left looks pretty good.  The hole to the right-nonexistent.  How in the h-e-double hockey pucks did I miss that?!?
This is the '66 crossmember; if you look at the top two bolts and compare that spacing to the lower two bolts in the above pic, you will see that these are just ever-so-slightly closer together than the newer crossmember; the actual dimension is just under one inch difference between the two.
Really, the hole not being there is not all that bad; insert the right size drill bit, and you're done.  The next problem, though, was alot harder to fix; the two fwdmost bolt holes on the bottom were skewed slightly for some reason.  Those would have to be wallowed out to accept the bolts.  Proved to not be fun; three dremel bits later, and it was done.
 

I took some much needed R&R last week in an unlikely place - the junkyard!!  I took off last Friday with the plan to get some bolts for the crossmember from a U-pull it close to the house.  I spent around 4 hours under the hood of a '74, wrenching away.  Hard work, but worth it.

Stay tuned; I'll be putting the upper and lower crossmembers on soon!