[Jacfourteen]

Well the rain let up a little a few days ago and today so I got some work done. A few days ago I was talking to my dad and telling him how since I had the rear down this much I would really like to bag it and chop it to a swb, but I'm gonna do that next year. Well we were looking at how well attached the bumper was and I was thinking how much easier it would be to clean up the rear of the frame with it chopped off and I decided to go for it. So first I popped about 40 more rivets loose to get unneeded stuff off and to take loose the carrier bearing crossmember. Then I hacked the rear 8" from the frame rails to get the bumper off.Next I started laying out my cut lines, most guys on here do a 12" step cut when they chop a frame down and they make the cut under the cab. I wanted to leave the cab in place so I moved the cut back as far as possible, and I felt that an 8" step would be adequate. Here it is ready to cut:



So then I made my first cut all the way through the frame to get it loose from the truck and out of the way:





Then I went back and got the crossmember out and finished the step cut under the cab:







Now I just need to get the step cut on the rear section of the frame and clean up and paint it (easier to paint if with it off the truck). then I can start weld it up and start assembly. Oh and for now I found some 6 lug wheels and tires off of CL for $150 to throw on for the time being. They are 16" star wheels off of a 98 suburban with 27" directional tread bridgestones on them. I know that the hub bore is too small, but I have a solution to that. sorry I didn't take pictures of them but I get some up when I modify them to fit. also I ordered some 2600 pound airbags to throw on here when I start assembly, I got the whole set of 4 for $140 shipped off of amazon. For now I will just run them with tire valves and fill them manually, but eventually I will run the rest of the air system.