Colorado Melons

I spent a few hours on it today getting the back corners in place. You can see how much narrower the top is than the sides… now that it’s 4″ further down.

With just some tack welds in place, you can see how the curve of the “B” pillar needs to be narrowed as well:


Since it’s double-paneled, similar work needs to be done on the inside. As you can see, I’ve still got a lot more to do here:
After the problems I had with the windshield of the ‘56 Ford,
I don’t think I’m going to adjust or weld the “A” pillars in place
until after I cut the glass. (I’ll have a much better chance of getting
them right the first time this way.)

I haven’t started to put it back together yet. All I’ve been doing up
’til this point is taking the roof off, grinding/sanding and then
putting it back on repeatedly until it fits properly and all the
measurements check-out.Although you can’t make out any of the final
adjustments, I’ve added some pics of different angles:

Click the Small Images to Enlarge

Actually, It’s been in the back of my mind to chop this truck since I
originally bought it. I guess I’m just finally getting around to it.The
masking tape was to help me make straight cuts. For comparison, here’s what it looked like pre-chop.

Just drove it out of the garage this evening… not anywhere near done, but being under it’s own motivation sure helps mine.

Not under it’s own power, but at least its not on blocks anymore.

‘ still a long way from done, but will probably wire ‘er up first to be able to move it in-and-out of the shop at times.

Neither Front nor Rear mountings are done at this time:

When looking at the photos of the front, you’ll notice the piece of
2″ ID Mechanical Tubing welded to the center cross-member, under the
radiator. This is for the front oscillation pivot. The visible square
tube (2″x2″x1/4″) on top of the axle will bolt to the axle using the
original bolts for the leaf pack. I will weld a bracket from this
square tube to another piece to create the pivot.

The rear frame is cut-out (C’d) for the rear axle and will have 2
1/2″ x 1/4″ flat bent in the shape of the “C” and welded to the inside
of the frame. Additionally, I will take another piece of frame – from
the 7′+ section standing in the rear of the garage – and “C” out of top,

slip this piece in from the bottom and bolt to the outside of the frame
and lower edge of the frame… somewhat hard to explain without being
able to use my hands to talk.

The wheels were definitely a trick with a lack of machine tools at home. Low-buck, but here’s what I did:

1. I took the Schrader valves out of the valve-stems to insure all air
   was out of each tire figuring the heat might make the air expand too
   much.
2. I then took my dividers and slid one end around the 4 1/2″ hub hole
   with the other end set to create the necessary diameter center to go
   inside the 16″ wheel.
3. I “rough cut” the center out of the wheel with the torch.
4. I set the axle up on saw horses and bolted a jig-of-sorts made from
   angle to where the leaf springs mount on one side. My hand grinder was
   band-clamped to the jig so as to place the grinding wheel up against
   the edge of the rough-cut wheel

   center. A stop was used to prevent me from grinding away too much material.

5. Bolt the wheel center to the axle hub and rotate by hand while running the grinder.

The 16″ Pickup Truck wheel are actually riveted together. The bolt
center is riveted to the “ring” (for lack of proper terminology) in 4
places with 3 rivets each. I left the rivets in, but cut the “bracket”
part free from the center. This allowed me to weld only to the riveted
bracket instead of the rim ring. My wheel is now assembled exactly as
the original except with a welded center instead of a one-piece stamped
center.

After doing the first, I tried cutting the center out of the
wheel with a jig-saw and metal blade… Slower going at first, but with
copious amounts of oil on the blade while cutting, it definitely made
short work of the finish grinding.

The dropped axle could create ground clearance issues on certain
terrain, but it’s what I have to work with at this time. Although our
yard is not flat by any means, there’s nowhere I can high-center so it
should work for me.