No engine hoist.
Mike, technically the joists may be strong enough, but when I take into account twisting of sub-par cheapo lumber along with the fact that I would have to poke a few large holes in the sheetrock, I think the ceiling is off limits.
No engine hoist.
Mike, technically the joists may be strong enough, but when I take into account twisting of sub-par cheapo lumber along with the fact that I would have to poke a few large holes in the sheetrock, I think the ceiling is off limits.
what about one of the 90 degree drill adaptors. That should give you enough room.
Chris
Start with a much smaller diameter - therefore shorter drill bit. Then, ruin a cheapo Harbor Freight unibit to open the hole?
cdowd wrote:what about one of the 90 degree drill adaptors. That should give you enough room. Chris
That's not a bad idea... I'll look into it.
4cylndrfury wrote: Start with a much smaller diameter - therefore shorter drill bit. Then, ruin a cheapo Harbor Freight unibit to open the hole?
Would a unibit really get me up to 1/2" through a framerail, even four times?
I know you can use a unibit on heavy gauge DOM tubing, Id imagine you could do the same thru flat steel. Ive never tried it, but seems to me its worth a shot...theyre like $3 if you get a coupon.
2x4 rafters are weak in the middle but out near the walls they are much stronger. Two cargo straps used as slings attached near the ends where the rafters meet the walls will hold the bed no? Think hammock.
i have a friend who strapped 4ea 4x4's to the frame rails to form four legs to set the bed on. he only had a car and half garage and was not allowed to set any parts outside. he just used ratchet straps to hold the 4x4 to frame which went from floor to bottom of bed if i remember right they were 5' tall and that gave plenty of room
4cylndrfury wrote: I know you can use a unibit on heavy gauge DOM tubing, Id imagine you could do the same thru flat steel. Ive never tried it, but seems to me its worth a shot...theyre like $3 if you get a coupon.
OK, we're doing this. Will keep you posted.
ebonyandivory wrote: 2x4 rafters are weak in the middle but out near the walls they are much stronger. Two cargo straps used as slings attached near the ends where the rafters meet the walls will hold the bed no? Think hammock.
Plus lifting strap sized holes in the rock, hammocking my bed, currently on on extreme side of the garage across two bays... A good idea, but I don't think the application fits.
tuna55 wrote: Plus lifting strap sized holes in the rock, hammocking my bed, currently on on extreme side of the garage across two bays... A good idea, but I don't think the application fits.
Yeah, I'm thinking of my place which is unfinished. I got ya.
btw, I'm following this because a friend of mine and I had a landscaping business out of highschool and we had two '68 Chevy's. Previous to that I owned a '69 Suburban 3 door 4x4 with rear ambulance doors. Early 70's Fords and '67-'72 GM trucks have a soft spot in my heart.
Enough about me, just please keep up this excellent thread!
tuna55 wrote:cdowd wrote:That's not a bad idea... I'll look into it.
Do any right angle adapters -not- suck?
I'd think about getting a couple of 2x4 studs, setting them across the frame of the truck, and standing the bed on it's "nose" (front panel) so it will be out of your way. It will cost you a beer per friend that comes over to help and <$5 worth of 2x4s.
Unless you're like me and try to do it yourself. The cost is the same but the beer makes you bleed more, evidently.
If the 2x4s flex too much for your comfort while laying on the 3.5" side...cut 18" off each end, stand them up and screw them together with the two 18" pieces for strength and stability...to keep them from rolling over on you.
Clem
While typing the above post, I was forgetting that this is a longbed truck. You may or may not have enough height in your garage for the plan I suggested.
tuna55 wrote:4cylndrfury wrote: Start with a much smaller diameter - therefore shorter drill bit. Then, ruin a cheapo Harbor Freight unibit to open the hole?Would a unibit really get me up to 1/2" through a framerail, even four times?
I have a gin-you-wine Greenlee step bit that has been through some horrendous stuff and still cuts fairly well. Use a cobalt 3/16" bit to drill a pilot hole, then use the step drill with WD40 or etc till you get where you need to be.
Weird night.
First, I wanted to raise the bed a bit more. I did it, and it went better. Here is what I ended up with.
And then I knocked the rivets out of those damper brackets
And then began thinking exhaust.
I think I will do a Y pipe to a single 3" rather than this mess. I can mount the muffler off to one side and then a single turndown right below the frame rail below the axle.
Then, I took John's advice. I got a great idea and decided to remove the remaining half of a crossmember. I am going to trim it, use bolts to attach it, and attach it to the bottom of the frame rail instead, as a driveshaft safety loop AND a crossmember.
Each side is held on with two rivets. The rear rivet on each side is shared with the bed mount on the top. The front rivet is hidden under the cab. I ground off the head of the forward rivet on each side from beneath, and drilled through the head on the rearward rivet from above. After much hammering, cursing and prying, I got the passenger side off.
I went to repeat the procedure on the drivers side, even going as far as using the floorjack under a prybar (don't try this at home, folks) but it didn't budge. OK. Grow a pair. Get rid of the jack. Get the long bar. Stop thinking like an engineer, and get it done.
Come on, grow a pair. Put your back into it!
Come on!
Finally, I got up on top of it, and pulled really really really hard. BANG.
I punched myself in the mouth with the prybar. Oh well, it came loose. I won, it just wasn't a flawless victory.
As I was bleeding all over my shirt and the garage, I decided to call it a night. I'll make it pretty and bolt it in this weekend.
Awesome to see the truck being brought back to life! I have always wanted a 68-72 SWB 2wd Chevy, seriously cool trucks!
Just post a photo of "sweat" and one of "tears" and you're all set! Ouch!
Thanks for ruining breakfast ya jerk! 
Seriously though, good progress. The exhaust idea sounds good, too.
Holy crap planning.
I had to work on the DD today. The Cruiser got oil and a load of ATF+4. My wife hates it now. It idles rough, sounds like a domestic four cylinder and surges a bit. I ran it on the OBD2 diagnosis tool while driving it around to warm up the transmission fluid to check the level. Same story as last time (http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/obd2-scanners-not-code-readers/31738/page2/) Looks like the downstream O2 sensor is failing slowly, but from what I understand it has no bearing on driveability and is just used as a check that the catalytic converter is working.
Oh well. Nothing is wrong. It needs the brake fluid flushed, dampers, and maybe swaybar links, but it's DDable again.
So I had no time on the truck, and just checked out the crossmember situation. I am going to use the upper piece of the crossmember on the bottom frame rail as a driveshaft safety loop while maintaining some frame stiffening (although I am not going to brace it with an additional plane as we talked about earlier). I went to Tractor Supply and stocked up on 3/8 grade 8 stuff for that task.
Then I made a list. I have to locate springs and I have to figure out what right angle drill thingie to use. They all suck or are crazy expensive, or both. I may end up threading a chuck onto my angle grinder, the RPM would be crazy high, though. Does anyone have any bright ideas? It seems ALL right angle attachments are Chinacrap, no matter where you get them, and no stores carry them so you can't check them out first. Money is tight enough that I am not going to just buy four for four holes. I am thinking a used right angle drill at the moment, something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MILWAUKEE-1107-1-1-2-CORDED-RIGHT-ANGLE-DRILL-/370769121792?pt=Drills&hash=item56538fd200
So the list. It's crazy long. I'll just repeat the rear suspension part of the list:
Add leaf springs
Replace leaf spring and shackle bushings
Relocate upper and lower damper mounts
Check pinion angle
Flip front spring brackets
Add driveshaft safety loop
Install driveshaft
New dampers (probably won't happen until I am ready to drive since nit can wait)
Does anyone have a lead on 67-72 chevy/GMC 3/4 ton leaves?
I think I am buying this. Old tools rock.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Angle-Drill-Converter-with-Jacobs-Chuck-/160984194030?pt=Drills&hash=item257b67dbee
It probably works, and it can come apart to be repaired. And it's cheap. And it was probably US made.
OK, It was negative seven hundred degrees. My wife first had me dig through the garbage full of leftover rotten food, poopy diapers, soggy dog food, dog poop, packages covered in raw bacon, and nasty egg shells to find a bag from Target that had nothing in it, so I could find her psuedophedrine in the cupboard after proving that it wasn't there.
Then I took a picture of my hot crotch.
It hurt!
That was very thick steel.
I test fit the driveshaft and tested it at full droop to see if my brilliant driveshaft safety loop (the top piece of the old crossmember) would work. It will. Then I cut it to trim it and ground the crap off, and whammo.
It left a fair bit of crap on the floor. I should have used a thinner cutoff wheel, but they break SOOOO easily.
Bad news. While I was under there, I did some fastening. I screwed the bed mount to the frame with some 3/8" bolts since the rivets had to be removed to get the new 'driveshaft safety loop' off yesterday. Then I put one bolt in the damper upper bracket reusing one of the holes on the frame (shifting it towards the axle) to check full droop and compression lengths for the damper. It's ugly. Something like 6 1/2"-17" is what I need. The "7" lower damper" I listed earlier is 12"-18", not even close. So I have to investigate other methods of mounting the damper. I can get another inch or two with the brackets, but I'll need much more than that. Perhaps some 'universal' dampers.
Actually, I may need some help selecting dampers. I see lots of them available, and it looks like their entire range (compressed and extended lengths) via Summit if like 4-5". I have like 4" or 5" in either direction from ride height. What gives? Am I measuring something wrong? These things as installed by stock at an angle must be what changes, so that means I have to lay them back some to use the suspension travel? Is that right?
tuna-
Not sure if you got that 90 degree drill adaptor thing, but I believe I have a 90 degree angle drill in my barn or garage. I'm planning on heading back to SC this weekend coming up. Or let me know if you want to go hunting for it yourself. ;-)
volvoclearinghouse wrote: tuna- Not sure if you got that 90 degree drill adaptor thing, but I believe I have a 90 degree angle drill in my barn or garage. I'm planning on heading back to SC this weekend coming up. Or let me know if you want to go hunting for it yourself. ;-)
Yeah, I already bought it. Too bad. I knew you had one but I assumed you moved it to Maryland already. It's in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet against the outer front wall to the left of the leftmost bay as you look at it from the outside. A nice Milwaukee piece, too.
I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Literally. One kid woke up another kid who then woke up the first kid. Finally got everyone down around 2:30 and then another kid got up to go potty and started the process again. I am not sure how much of an update we'll see, but I want to remeasure the dampers, that is really bugging me.
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