Tube Frame 53

[Guilty By Design]

Got this truck in the shop for a full tube frame, LS swap, air ride, fuel cell and some cosmetic sheetmetal repair. The customer gave me full freedom to do what I wanted, only thing he needed was a trailer hitch.

Ive build dozens of frames out of square tube but never one out of round, and me and the old man have been cranking out rock crawler and rzr cages like crazy lately so I decided to build this one out of round and take advantage of all that space under these trucks. I really like how tootsie was built so I first laid everything out in bend tec


Then started bending and notching


sleeved my joints


And got my front clip installed. This is a modified mustang II frontend I designed and have used on a few of my builds. It uses the same spindles, rotors and calipers, rack & pinion as a mII setup but I played with the geometry to get up to 10'' of travel with only 3* camber change and just works better laying out with big wheels. It uses offset tab inserts in the upper arm mounts to get its adjustment, its similar to the new GM and dodge mounts, only with the inserts the arms can never slip out of adjustment.


Cab mounts




4.8 LS going in. It fit like a glove.


4 link tabs


Center section


That's what 2 days have got me. Ill be ordering the frontend parts and all the air management on Monday.

[Russell Ashley]

Can't wait to see more of this build. You work fast if you did that all in two days.

[Rednek13x]

wow looking forward to this build! should be a quick one if you got that much done in 2 days!

[xpickup]

Guilty by Design, Great looking chassis. I love the design of it. I started to build one for a buddy years ago. It was made out of 1 5/8 tube. It never got finished because he lost his job and then started a business. But at least it was a roller. I can not wait to see more.

Shannon

[_Ogre]

i like what i see already

[oldman3]

Wow, I'm amazed at the talent on this site...Jim

[Guilty By Design]

Thanks for the words. I ordered all the air management, balljoints and reamer bit, and front brakes today. Tomorrow the customer is bringing the cab over so I can mount it with the running boards and get my final placement of the motor. Speaking of the motor we realized today that the drivers side head is cracked (junkyard motor) so if he can get the yard to replace it he may pay up and get a 5.3. Our biggest hang up right now is the wheels, he wants 15'' steel rally wheels and finding a matching set locally is difficult. I think were looking for 2wd front wheels and 4wd rears (the 4wd wheels being wider) so I gotta get those located pretty soon.

[Guilty By Design]

Originally Posted by xpickup

Guilty by Design, Great looking chassis. I love the design of it. I started to build one for a buddy years ago. It was made out of 1 5/8 tube. It never got finished because he lost his job and then started a business. But at least it was a roller. I can not wait to see more.

Shannon

That blows, but if theres one thing I know its seeing your work go nowhere. I had 6 trucks in my shop get wiped out by a tornado a few years back. BTW why 1 5/8''? Just like doing math with odd numbers?

[Guilty By Design]

Got a few hours his week to work on it. We located the wheels and tires were gonna run.

Most of the parts showed up late today so I couldn't do a lot. Got all the air management, balljoints, and rack & pinion.

Fixed some rust while I waited on parts





And got the motor mounted

[FarmerSid]

Nice progress. Did you put in a new cab mount? Did you coat the area in between the inner and outer cowl area with anything before you welded in the new inner cowl? One thing that irritated me with the new floor pan is that my original battery cover doesn't fit in the new opening. The radius in the corners is larger than the cover.

[Guilty By Design]

I got some weld thru primer on the underside, we will have it rhino lined before it hits the road. I didn't replace the cab mount piece since it was ugly, but still sturdy. These panels fit great tho. He said he got them through LMC but I cant recall the brand name.

[FarmerSid]

I got mine through LMC too. I think they said Tri Plus on them.

[Budman56]

Almost to afraid to ask, but what would a chassis cost like you have built, just the chassis no running gear? I have a 54 gmc I am looking for a chassis for and this one would fit the bill.

[69CST-V]

Nice work.... Subscribed.

[Guilty By Design]

without a rearend too? I would imagine i could have the rails, crossmember, and 4 link build for around $3500-4000.

[Guilty By Design]

Had some time to play with it between jobs. Got the cab, frontend, and running boards mounted, 4 link done, 23gal alum fuel cell fabbed and mounted, and im getting all the air management placed under the cab as well.

[youngrodder]

Your killin it. it looks really nice.
Keep it up.

Marc

[Bomp]

This truck build is slick

[oldman3]

Sweet...Jim

[Guilty By Design]

Finally got some time to work on it lately. Its a full roller for now and the owner will be bringing it back over the fall and winter to finish up some details. We ended up getting another 4.8 LS1 for it and sending the harness and computer off to get tweaked on. After throwing on some shorty headers and clearing out some sheetmetal she fits in there snug.

Just some shots from underneath. The best part of him bringing me a pile of 65 year old parts is its leaving with a modern frame and drivetrain... but still looking like a 65 year old pile of parts.




Ill get some full pics of it outside tomorrow.

[oldman3]

Looking good...Jim

[Guilty By Design]

[oldman3]

Now that's on the ground!!!...Jim

[Chris.]

Looks really good

[69CST-V]

X2