Double drop builds
 

This is my first truck build. I seem to be jumping in head first. Its just the way i am i guess. I have been into building and running pulling tractors for many years. I have always liked these trucks and wanted to try a build.
This pic is of the truck currently. I plan to start over from the begining, so this is just a teaser. The truck will be setup with 454 stroker, tremec 5 speed, Porterbuilt dropmember front and 4link Porterbuilt rear/ my notch and bridge setup, and accuair.
The reason for the name " double drop builds" is that there are actually two trucks being built side by side. One is mine and the other is a friends that will be similar with a sbc and 3 ott. More soon...
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Re: Double drop builds
 

Waiting inpatiently....................:smoke:

Re: Double drop builds
 

To start on my truck build i went looking on craigslist. That seems to be where we all ge into trouble. Its the starting point to spending too much money and time on something. Oh well. I found a '70 c10 stepside locally. I called about it and happen to know the owner. It was setting in a field for about 8 years. It really did not do the truck much good. It had a lot of pennsylvania rot. More than most. About the only things going for it were that it was strait where not rusted and had a title. Not much , but i just could not let it sit out there and die. This is a pic after bringing it home and removing the junk bed

The other truck is a '71 short step truck. The owner has had it for about 10 years. He worked on it some after he orignally got it. It basically showed up at my shop after we discussed what i was doing on mine. It just seemed to make sense to do them side by side. Pics to follow on it.
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Subscribed
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This is a pic of the other truck that is being built. This is how it currently looks. I dont have any other pics of it. I will be getting more pics as we go. It also has all the same rust problems. If i had to do it all over again i would head to AZ and get a rust free truck.
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Once i got a chance to remove the cab and bed i was able to see exactly how bad it was. It was worse than i expected. The bed was not worth anything. The cab was very bad in all normal spots and also below gas tank. The front fenders were also rotted out at the bottoms. The doors were not much better. Its a shame since they are so strait of pannels. It was at this point that i decided to start to look at craigslist again. I knew that one big obstacle was out of the way with having a good title, but that might be about all. I looked around for replacement pannels. It took a few weeks but i came across an ad that was about 1.5 hr away. It was a truck that had a tree fall on it and crush the cab and hood. Not too good for the cab, but good for me. It was a poorly done rust repair/paint job. It happen to have all the body parts i needed to fix mine including the swb fleet bed for 1300. It looks better in the pic than what it was.
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SWEET ! double builds i like that !

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I got both trucks apart and made some decisions on what to do. Basically i have a frankin truck. Two trucks in one. I used the cab, doors, front fenders, and hood of gold one. The blue truck donated the frame and bed. The rest of the blue truck pannels were used as patch pannels because the were too dinged up to use. The blue truck frame ended up to be in excellent shape. Thats good because the gold frame was rusted thru.
As we get into the fab work on the chassis i will have more on the second build truck. That is when it came into the shop for the start of its build.
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Re: Double drop builds
 

Thanks
It makes for a lot of work. My truck usally gets worked on first so the second one is much easier. Sometimes the second one actually gets better stuff since it is the second time around.
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Kinda had to take a break this week from one hoddy and focus on another hobby. Will have more on the trucks asap. Till then this is a video of my run at the national farm machinery show in the 8000lb super stock alchohol class. 2nd place in finals. http://youtu.be/UEisaozjYXA
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Back onto the build. The first piece i wanted to try to get finished was the extensive amount of rust repair. I took the cab and blasted the floor top and bottom. It only got worse. Someone took siding off a house and made rocker and cab corner patches. I guess it worked for a beater truck. I am looking for something a little better. I cut below the body line and tried to use as little of the patch pannels as possible. I used LMC pannels. They dont fit. I had to cut the corners into sections to get them to fit.
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After the cab corners and rockers i took on the floor. It needed a few small patches in the front. No big deal. They were easy. The hard part was the rear floor. I decided aginst a full floor change because it seemed to be overkill. It was hard to remove the rear half that was under the gas tank. What was left of it was spot welded to the cross brace on about 2 inch centers. After removing it all and treating the rust under, i put the new corner patches in. I was not able to find the center patch i needed so i just made my own
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nice job on the repair work !

Re: Double drop builds
 

Ya why he said. :-)
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Thanks. If i had to do it all over again i would start with a better cab. It took a lot of time to get it into decent shape. If it did not have a title it would have been changed.
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After the rust removal was done i went onto the mods. First up was to shave the drip rail. Its a little difficult to do along the top of the windshield. Just cut and do about 3 inch at a time. This is where i stopped on the cab and started on the chassis mods on both trucks
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Next up was to strip the rear to get ready to c notch the rear and install the 4 link. Basically the crossmembers wher removed near the rear where the notch goes in. You get tired of cutting rivits after a wile. Also it was braced in front and behind the rear to hold the frame during the notch cutting and welding. I decided to go with the 4 link setup. I just liked it better than the trailing arm setup.
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first time ive seen a double build thats awsome keep the pictures coming

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Ather the rear got stripped, the four link got mocked up. Little trickey tryin to get it all in place but very strait forward. As always it is a pleasure to use Porterbuilt parts. I only went with their four link parts and not the rest of the rear dropmember because i found a deal on these parts from another board member. I just wanted to try to do my own bag and c notch setup.
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Got to work on the c notch and bracing on both trucks. Basically built the c notch in place on the frame then cut frame after all the top sides went on and welded out. The notch are the same on both but the bracing and bag mounts are a little different. Just did not want them to look the same. These two pics are the same frame. One after notch and one after final bracing
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These shots are of after one of the trucks c notch bracing and upper shock mounts were done. Other truck is a little different and pics to follow soon
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Looks and sounds like a good build or builds I should say!

Re: Double drop builds
 

Thanks
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This is the rear of the second truck. It was done a little different just so they would not be the same. Sorry its been a wile since i posted much. I purchased a cnc mill a few weeks ago and am tryin to get it all up and going. I am hoping to be able to make some parts for me and possibly some for others.
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