Getting started on the choptop truck...

[Big D's 69]

That is a lot of work right there. SO was you going to repaint the engine and detail it up or are you leaving it as is?

[wolfpack]

alright keith the 67 is going to get jealous!!! you seen the movie " christine" right would hate for that to happen to you.......na looking good keith ... I really think you have enough parts to make 3 trucks if i'm right? anyway keep us posted....Bo

[71 LONG BED]

Hey Keith, I finally finished reading all of your project update on the home page. I had forgotten that I never finished. Anyway, you said you tried to run a die to thread the spring pack bolt farther down. I hate to tell you but that will be almost impossible. If the bolts are hardened (which I am pretty sure they are ) there is no way a HSS (highs peed steel) die is going to be able to cut it. You would even have trouble with a carbide one. I think you'll have to get another set to use. I figured that was some useful info you'd want to know.

[dablack00]

Make sure and take lots of pics of the guy bending the ibeams. I would really like to see how it is done. Like someone else said, a jig could be made to do the job with consistant results.

[Big D's 69]

Make sure and take lots of pics of the guy bending the ibeams. I would really like to see how it is done. Like someone else said, a jig could be made to do the job with consistant results.

Could be, but not every vehicle is the same so a jig would do no good.

[FORDification]

Yeah, thanks 71 LONG BED...I've been thinking I'll just pick up a couple new leaf-spring center bolts, they can't be that expensive. *knock on wood*

With this engine, I'm not going to worry about making it pretty, I'm just bolting it in. Since this engine is just a temporary thing until I get the 460 rebuilt, I don't want to waste any time or money on it that I don't have to.

As for bending the I-beams, believe it or not that particular task is about the only thing that's been on my mind lately. Any time my brain cells aren't required for a specific task, they've been alloted to work out the I-beam bending. .....and I think I'm going to try this myself. I've come up with a few ideas I think that must just might work. Once I get a final design in my mind, I'll build a mockup from cardboard and then use that as a template for contructing the steel version.

I'll try to sit down this evening after the kids go to bed and draw up a rough sketch of what I'm contemplating, and see what you guys think.

[wt4speed#2]

The set up the truck alignment shops use is a soild steel beam with equally space holes the length of the beam . With 2 large clevisis and a 100 ton ram.
The twin i beams are a little trickier to bend than a soild i-beam.

Tony B

[FORDification]

The set up the truck alignment shops use is a soild steel beam with equally space holes the length of the beam . With 2 large clevisis and a 100 ton ram.
The twin i beams are a little trickier to bend than a soild i-beam.

Tony B

Tony:

But isn't that 100-ton ram more for use with BIG heavy-duty trucks? I sure wouldn't think we'd need something that large for our little I-beams...but I'm totally guessing here, so take it FWIW.

I've got several spare pairs of I-beams, maybe I should just take one to a machine shop with a large press, and have them tell me how much pressure it would take to bend one. That's actually a pretty good idea, now that I think about it. It would sure help in figuring out how stout I need to make this apparatus.

[wt4speed#2]

Yea in the whole time I was there I never saw Bill "bend " a Twin I beam front end but I know he did them . I know we had all size rams ie 50,75, and 100 ton it was ironic that the 100ton (about as tall as a coke can cut in half) was the only one that would go between the beams and the clevis set-up for small vehicles . It is a smaller set up than the big truck unit for obvious reasons, and I doubt seriously that if one doesn't have a pit set up alignment machine that they would be able to perform such an alignment.
I personally wouldn't attempt bending them off the truck,1)if that SOB breaks you don't know where its gonna end up,2)adjusting the camber by "bending" changes the toe adjustment and that is easy enough to correct. With out the axle eye and radius arms to some what steady the beam you could get a twist that could affect the caster setting(king pin angle).
On a single beam set up this can be corrected with an angle wedge placed under one or both spring packs.And I might be wrong but on the twin I-beam once the caster angle changes the beam has to be replaced . I have never really under stood it but I know the caster angle has to do with the way the front end follows or hugs the road. And I also now that incorrect caster can cause a bump shimmy that in the instance of the twin I-beam might never be correctable.

Sorry so long just my


Tony B

[FORDification]

Yeah, the axle twist is something I'd already considered, and decided that when I do this (on the truck) I'll be temporarily replacing the radius arm bushings with large steel washers, to completely eliminate any flex there.

I'm definitely going to build this to do it on the truck. What I was thinking that since the clearance was so tight with the truck completely down on the ground, what I would do is so simply remove the shock absorber and coil spring retaining plate and then raise the rest of the truck so the I-beam will drop down. I could then attach the bender, make an adjustment, and then remove the adjuster and let the truck back down onto the ground and measure the change....and repeat as necessary.

[wt4speed#2]

I wish mine was ready to take to Bill , cause I would let him set up 'iron" and then take some puctires . But right now I can't afford the alignment never mind towing it down there and back.


Tony B

[FORDification]

Got to spend the whole day in the shop, and actually got quite a bit done, though it's almost not too obvious just by looking at it. The whole day was working on the front and rear suspensions.

I got the rear suspension completely reassembled and it's sitting back on the ground. I really wanted to leave the thick bottom overload leaf off, but the center leaf-spring bolts I had would have been too long, and since everything was closed today, I decided to just use it for now and see how it looks once everything was back together. I can always pull that leaf out at a later date, once I get some shorter bolts.

I then dropped the front suspension off the donor truck, intending to just swap it in as a complete unit. However, upon disassembly, I found that it really wasn't in as good a shape as what was already on the truck, so I ended up keeping what I had. However, I did have to almost completely disassemble the choptop's front suspension...to swap the radius arms side-to-side. The previous owner had the right-side arm on the left and vice-versa, which put the shock mounts pointing up instead of down. I then got the front springs cut down by 2 full coils on each side, and then got the front suspension reassembled. I couldn't measure the amount of drop since the springs that were in the choptop when I got it weren't from a Ford truck...I don't know what they were originally installed on, but they didn't fit right. The coils I cut were from the donor truck which had a 302. However, it appears as if the front was dropped several inches, and while the truck wasn't sitting on flat level pavement when I got done (it's sitting over the oil pit and the concrete is slightly slanted there), it didn't appear to have adversely affected the camber.

I got some pics taken, but I'm too darned tired to mess with them tonight, I'll get them posted to a new project update page within the next evening or two.

In the meantime, here's a couple shots taken towards the end of the day. That front fender is just sitting there, to get the visual on the amount of drop the front got. The radiator support isn't completely cinched down, so the fender will drop down another 1/2" or so when that gets tightend up.





Since the two coils I cut from the front springs hasn't adversely affect the camber, I'm probably going to try one more coil and see how that looks.

[jbanks]

Looking good. It's really coming together. That has to be a good feeling, hope I found out soon.

[dablack00]

I like it too. Take a measurement before you cut another coil.

[SmokeyBear]

Keith, I'd strongly recommend you wait before doing any more cutting, I'd let it settle and if you could even move it around a little before doing any cutting, I'm sure the front will sag a little and the camber will change.