1963 Chevy 4x4 conversion

[rcbildr]

I recently bought a 63 chevy truck from a friend I've known since high school. His Dad bought it when he was 3yrs old and gave it to him when we were in high school. He did a mild restoration on it and got it looking real nice. About 5-6 years ago he started converting it to 4wd, around the same time he met his wife. He got the suspension started, but life took him a different direction and he came to the conclusion the project will not get finished so he decided to get rid of it. I found out and we struck up a deal and I got it home last Sunday.

Here it is loaded up and going home.


At home,. the front clip is in the bed.


Here's the donor truck. I didn't want to sacrifice it, but it makes the project a little easier and all in all I would rather have the 63



The truck came with the stock rear end (unknown gears and A LOT of miles), and the front was from a 91 Blazer with 3.08 gears. He got the suspension where it should be, but it's only held together with enough bolts to move it around. The front springs are 4" lift and the back has 6" lift springs with 4" blocks. IIRC he used front hangars from a 67-72 chevy and I can't remember whet the rear hangars came from.

I have an 83 chevy shortbed 4x4 diesel that I'm going to use the axles and hydroboost from. Today I finished swapping out the front axle. I'm not going to bolt the 83 axle on the 63 just yet because I want to clean up and paint the frame and firewall. It won't be anything fancy...just gonna use some rustoleum.

Here are some pics of the front.





This bracket will be replaced, I have the correct one in the cab of the trtuck






Here are the seats I'm gonna use.


Here is the donor truck. I didn't want to sacrifice it, but in the long run it makes the project a little easier and I would rather have the 63.

[gmjim4x4]

Glad to see the build thread, it will help alot. I will be watching and will contribute when I can.

[rcbildr]

Thanks!!! I didn't do much work on the 63 today, but I did get the rear axle out of the 83. Now I have to figure out how to safely support the 63 to do the swap.

On a side note, my girls had a blast helping out today. My oldest daughter (she's 9) has been asking me when will I take apart an engine I have in the shop (I have a blown 6.2L diesel sitting in the shop) because she wants to help. Well today she, her sister, and Mom got to help. I have another blown 6.2L engine sitting outside that I want to scrap out. The only way for me to load itup in the truck is to take it apart. So she and Mom got greasy taking apart that engine...not too sure who had more fun, but both really got a lot done.

[rcbildr]

Didn't get too much done on the truck over the weekend. I got the old rear axle out and bolted up to the 83, and then I pulled the hydroboost and and steering column off the 83. Right now the 63 is sitting with on stands without axles. The next step there is to double check where the spring hangars need to be and get it all bolted in permanently.

That's on the back burner for now tho, I've got to finish getting the 83 ready to haul off. It's on the trailer, but I want to swap out the wheels and load up some more scrap metal.

[gmjim4x4]

Sounds like the wife is understanding about your projects....I think mine (30 years with me!) would have the ones I am doing just go away! She realizes however that it is an addiction and would rather I have this one over something alot worse...

[rcbildr]

Actually, my girlfriend (soon to be wife) is as big of a car nut as I am. Although she's glad I got the 63, she's wanting me to start work on her toys/projects too.

[rcbildr]

Made some more progress this morning. I got the front driver side spring hangar where I want it and got the rear shackle mount out to figure out how to go about fixing this/making it better. Couldn't get a good pic of the front mount but I'll try to get a good pic of the passenger side.



I'm thinking about cutting out that area and welding in a plate with the right sized hole for the shackle mount and also to make the frame flat right there (the frame kinda flares out by that back hole) and then making another plate to go on the outside for added strength. Does that sound like a good plan?

[gmjim4x4]

That sounds like a plan. It looks like that spot in the frame needs to be flat (?) so a plate looks like the way to go. It looks like it needs to be reinforced at that hole also (like you say) I quess i am assuming that the frame was streched out where that hole is and should be flat and straight their. Looking forward to the pics on your repair and how the hangers bolt up. Keep up the good work...you got an old dog trying to learn new tricks watching! thanks again

[rcbildr]

I'm not sure why the frame is shaped like that, its the same on both sides. I was hoping to just clean up the area where the shackle mount goes thru (the PO used a cutting torch to make that hole), but once I got a good look at it I think only 3 of the 4 bolts holding the mount on will actually be strong.

Thanks!!! I'm really learning as I go on this. I've done some welding at work, but nothing on a truck frame. I'm anxious to test out my welder. I hope to have a template made up tomorrow if the weather is good.

[Don Pratt]

I'm watching too. Hopefully will learn something.

Is that truck sitting on beer kegs?

[rcbildr]

Haven't made much progress, still formulating a plan of attack for the frame there. I'm also fighting the front passenger side spring mount, it doesn't want to sit square to the frame...I'll take some pics tomorrow of that. Today, my girlfriend and I cleaned up and painted the frame a little.

Yeah those are beer kegs. We were going to use them as gas tanks for the 54 chevy farm truck, but they are too dented up and I'm not sure how to go about removing the dents. I wanted to recycle them, but the recycler requires documentation on where I got them from...they were given to me from a friend. I didn't have the paperwork so I am stuck with them. Then I got the 63 and discovered that they were the perfect height to support the truck...I only have one pair of 6ton jack stands and the last time we used them to work on the truck, the stands were not that stable. I've got a 4x6 across the kegs and two beefy saw horses supporting the back...it's plenty stable now. I do give them a good look-see before I start working on the truck tho.

[rcbildr]

I finally figured out how to go about bolting on my passenger side front spring mount and got the driver side on.

Here's the driver side.


I thought I had a pic of the passenger side but I must have spaced it. The problem I had was the front was about a 1/4" lower than the back which would probably cause problems when I go to mount the core support. Sometime in it's past, someone had welded the bottomg part of the core support bracket to the spring mount...guess the rivets weren't strong enough...which is what I'm thinking is causing my problem. So I did some grinding and have the bracket bolted together and will do some final adjusting tomorrow. IIRC the top of the original bracket for the core support was a little higher than the top of the frame. I'm mounting the 4x4 ones flush (or maybe a little lower) to give me some room for adjustment. The original bracket had a 1" hole (approximately) and the 4x4 ones have about a 2" hole for the core support bolt. So I'm hoping by mounting them a little lower I have room to work with when it comes time to deal with that.

Then I get to fix this vision of nastyness...the passenger side is just as pretty.


I pretty much have it figured out, I'm a little nervous about doing the repair...never done this kind of repair work before. I've also discovered the rear shackle mount needs to be moved towards the rear of the truck more. So I'm going to make the hole for the mount a little longer (front to back) so I can get the mount where it needs to be and then weld in a filler piece in the frame and then put on an outer plate to make it stronger.



From what I've read, the shackle needs to be a little more towards verticle than it is now. I found on a website some info that says that when a straight line is drawn from the front spring eye to the rear spring eye, the shackle should be at a 90* angle to that line at ride height. So from what I can tell in that last pic, I think the rear mount needs to be moved back a little. Every shackle I've seen on the front of a 4x4 truck is pretty much verticle so I'm hoping my thinking is correct.

[rcbildr]

I got the front spring mounts finished up today and started work on the shackle mounts.


This is what was giving grief on the passenger side. The front was a little lower than the rear so I took it apart and put in a washer to make things right.


Passenger side is done.


The front springs mounts bolted in.


Started working the driver side frame for the rear shackle mount. I got it cut out but couldn't get a good picture. I'm going to change the location of it a little and then weld in a filler piece on the frame and then make a plate to go on the outside to be welded in. I'll have to do something like this on the passenger side too.

Once the front suspesnion is how I like it, it's all going to come apart again so I can paint it and install grade 8 bolts.

[mknittle]

Looks like a fun project!

[wyomech]

anymore progress on this ?I got the front clip off of mine and I am removeing the front end now.

[rcbildr]

Nothing lately. The project has been on hold while I get my 83 chevy ready to deliver to a friend of mine. He bought a 25ft camper trailer to replace their tent trailer and his 1/2 dodge is not enough to pull the bigger trailer (the truck has issues). So we traded my 83 1 ton for their tent trailer and I've been working on the 83....had to do a few things for it to tow. I should be done with it in a couple days and then I'm going back to work on the 63.

[wyomech]

I got started on my 63 conversion this weekend, frontend removed motor and transmission pulled. Now I need to remove the front axle from the suburban and start building spring mounts

[rcbildr]

Awesome. I'm going to start working on mine again this week...weather permitting.

[rcbildr]

Made a little progress today. I got the shackle mount for the front springs about where I want it to be.

Went from this:


To this:


I made a pattern out of cardboard of the cast block that bolts to the frame and marked where it originally was and then used the jack to lift the spring up there and then moved the top part of the shackle to where I think it should be. Now I get to test out my welder and weld in the plate and figure out how I want to go about drilling the hole in the frame for the shackle mount. Thanks!

[wyomech]

Just curious what year your front springs were designed for, 63 or something newer?Also what is the length eye to eye? I am going to try and use the 52 inch rear springs from the rear of my donor suburban, I've seen where a lot of guys use them under the front of 70s trucks to get a better ride.

[rcbildr]

Originally Posted by wyomech

Just curious what year your front springs were designed for, 63 or something newer?Also what is the length eye to eye? I am going to try and use the 52 inch rear springs from the rear of my donor suburban, I've seen where a lot of guys use them under the front of 70s trucks to get a better ride.

I'm not exactly sure. My friend bought them when we started the coversion a few years ago. I remember seeing a rancho part number on them, I'll write it down and see what I can find about them tomorrow.

[1985-GMC]

Nice project! I like your jack stands!

[rcbildr]

Originally Posted by wyomech

Just curious what year your front springs were designed for, 63 or something newer?Also what is the length eye to eye? I am going to try and use the 52 inch rear springs from the rear of my donor suburban, I've seen where a lot of guys use them under the front of 70s trucks to get a better ride.

From what I've been able to find, the springs are rancho 4" lift springs for a 73-87 chevy truck...part number RS86206A-F. They measure 45 3/4".

[rcbildr]

I decided to shift gears and get the rear end finished up. As I was working on the shackle mount for the front springs, I realized I need to move my beer keg/jack stands so I can remove the transmission and crossmember so I can work on the inside of the frame there. I figured it would be a little safer have wheels/tries supporting the back of the truck instead of sawhorses. So yesterday I got the rear axle under it and bolted up. Today I took off the driver side spring mounts so I can trim them up (the front mounts are a little tall for the frame, I think they came off a 1-ton) and drill some more mounting holes in them.

[wyomech]

keep at it, it takes a ton of work to build one of these old trucks,especially when working outside in the dirt !