After checking measurements and looking everything over closely, moving the drivetrain back 5" is well within safe on either end of the fuel tank. I dummied up the tank mounting and found I have much more room than anticipated. Before the move, I have 12" between the back of the transfer case and the front of the gas tank, and math says 7" after. The rear of the tank is referenced by the crossmember ahead of the rear axle, there the tank is notch to fit the crossmember. There is more than a few inches there between the tank and axle, as fit checked when the frame was shortend and the crossmember was removed and remounted, so all is good.
While checking everything, I discovered that the 2" box tube that I had laid on top of the frame between the rear section and the front arch was not quite parallel with the frame and I needed to raise the front at the arch about 1". I picked up some 1"x2" 11 ga. tube to rest on top of the arch and extend forward for the core support and front bumper mounts. From the front axle centerline to the center of the core support is 19". the frame needs to extend another 10" to accomodate mounting the front bumper, so this morning I began making my mounts.
In the pic, you can see the rectangle stock under the box tube. The end of the rectangle stock is 29" from the center of the front axle. I will drop a leg down to the Dodge frame at the end to start fixing my bumper mounts. Once everything is located and good, the extension of the Dodge frame forward of the mount will be trimmed off.
One of my favorite tools ^^^^. This was a replacement for my first welder, a simple Campbell Hausfeld flux core welder, (Flux 80 I think). After 10 years of building barns and fence and fixing this and that, the little CH needed more cool down time than could weld. The Lincoln 3200HD can run gas or gasless and welds single pass up to 1/4". It also has a built in cooling fan, so no long periods of down time in the middle of a project. I don't recall how many years I've had it now, maybe 8 or 9, but I love this heavy bastard.
I had to notch out the legs that will be welded to the Dodge frame. After marking, I used the DeWalt and a metal cutting blade to trim things up.
And now its all ready to tack together before final welding.
With the extensions all welded up, I set them aside for the time being, until I finish disassembling the front clip on the Chevy and check final fit on the core support. The other day I started cutting the welds on the motor mounts to remove them from the frame, as they will need to move back one full thickness (5"). The top weld was cut with an angle grinder, but there is a weld along one side as well as two small arms that act as gussets on the bottom. I cut the gussets with the sawzall with the intent of replacing them with my own, and then set about cutting the side weld.
With the sawzall and a good metal cutting blade, I was able to cut the side weld pretty easily and remove the mount intact, ready to be relocated and welded in place again. My first inclination is to tack them in to place and check for fit, then final weld if all is good. Hanging them on the motor, then using the motor as the guide for placement could also work, but leave little room to tack weld.
With the top weld and the gussets cut, I was able to make a little room with the hammer and chisel.
Engine mount removed, just some welds to clean up now. One down, one to go.
And the right side is out for future reference.
-Joe