1951 GMC 3 window half ton

[Old Jimmy]

Gale,

I was surprised at how low the CG was. This rotisserie was designed for cars. I have it set as low as it will go and the floor of cab is about 36" off the floor. I also have to strong arm it to turn. I can turn it 90 degrees tho.

Boom,

I think I'll try the .023" wire. I'm spending way too much time grinding and smoothing with the .035".

Thanks for the replies guys, Jeff

[gale]

I built the frame that rotates heavy enough to hold the cab square and I didn't allow enough. I moved my original guess about 12" and now I can easily rotate the cab and pin it at 45, 90, 180 degrees in either direction.

[Old Jimmy]

Ok, it's been a while, this that and the other. I finally figured out how to find my build back. I'll post pictures soon. Thanks, Jeff

[Old Jimmy]

Ok, here's some pictures of some progress. The cab is about done. Replaced a lot of sheet metal. Found some nice doors at the Kalamazoo street rod show last month. They came off a firetruck in New Mexico about 20 years ago. Push button handles, and the windows work very nicely.

I've stripped the old suspension off the original frame. Have Scott's front and rear suspension kits coming. If anyone can use the old axles, let me know. Thanks, Jeff

[Old Jimmy]

Still trying to remember how to post. Here's some pic's of frame, running boards, and radiator supports I had sand blasted and I coated with chasis saver.
I also included a pic of the SBC I built. Thanks, Jeff

[Advanced Design]

Looking very good! Those doors were a nice find.

[Old Jimmy]

Thanks Doug,

Yea the doors are very nice. Will save me many hours fixing the old ones.
The push button handles work very nice, much better than the old turn
down handles.

One of the new doors had many rust holes on the lower inside bottom.
I welded a new bottom on. Here's some pic's.

Thanks, Jeff

[Old Jimmy]

Thanks Doug,

I discovered one of the doors had rust thru under the lower inner door bottom seal. I welded on a new bottom. I posted this before, but, doesn't
show up on my thread unless I log in. Not sure why?

[Old Jimmy]

Making some progress. Received suspensions from Scott's. Really nice stuff.

[Old Jimmy]

So I set my frame at ride height, leveled frame front to rear and side to side.
Mounted front crossmember where old straight axle was, also leveled.
Tack welded it in. Installed control arms and spindle to see where the spindle was. It was right at 14", the same as the center of a 28" wheel with tire. Then I set the cab on, front inner and outer fender to see how it looked.
I'll go with this.

[joedoh]

youre really ripping through it, looks great

[oldman3]

Moving along, nice work...Jim

[Old Jimmy]

Thanks for the comments Joe and Jim.

Now, if anyone see's something that doesn't look right, please, let me know.

I have the front IFS tacked in, on to the rear suspension.
The instructions from Scott's Hotrods is generic and not specifically for my
51 GMC. I wanted my 4 bars to be level and parallel to each other, so I made my own boxing plages from 3/16" steel. I had to make a drop adjustment. Here's some pic's

[Old Jimmy]

I put some holes in the plates for access to plumbing and electrical mounting. Next I started mounting 4 link. Measure 100 times and start tacking. Cut some loose, tack it again. Here's some pic's of what I did.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work! That was a good idea to extend the frame boxing plate down in the front.

[maxdog51]

I am digging both the direction and progression on your GMC! Looking forward to seeing more of it. the new metal fab looks great!

[Old Jimmy]

Thanks for the comments guys. I wasn't satisfied with the way the 4 link brackets were mounted. Cut them back off. Gary from Alden suspensions told me what I needed to know. The brackets on the axle and the front brackets for the 4 link had to be plumb vertical. The bars needed to be level and parallel to each other. This was difficult due to the AD frame rails not being parallel to each other. I finally got it right. Here's some pic's.

[dsraven]

ok, here is a question. may seem dumb to you but I wonder why you fabbed the panhard bar with a heim joint that is not inline with the arc/movement of the bar? the frame end is inline but the axle end relies on the ball in the joint to move on every suspension movement and if the suspension moves past the point where the ball can move in the joint then there will be binding and/or bending/breakage of the joint. explain the plan? suspension travel limiters not built in yet? oversight? normally the ends of the panhard bar would have the joints line up in the same plane as the bar arcs in so the ball in the joint turns in the joint, like the frame end does instead of like the axle end does. am I seeing this correctly?

[dsraven]

do you have a side view of the 4 link set up? wondering how low the front brackets are and how they compare to the wheels (a flat tire which leaves the 4 link brackets sitting on the ground, lower than the wheel, could be a problem at highway speed if you lose a tire. the brackets become the rubbing block)

[Old Jimmy]

Thanks for the feedback dsraven.

My pic's don't give good side views. Below is some pic's that show the axle brackets in relation to the road at designed ride height. The lowest part of the axle bracket where the coil over mounts. The measurement is about 6.6". The 4 link bars sit level. The lowest part of the front bracket is at about 9". Should be adequate.
I see your point about panhard bar. I included a sideview and front view. The side view shows the panhard bar at 45 degrees from verticle. I lowered the frame end 5" and raised it 7" before any contact in the heim joint at the axle end. The coil overs have a total travel of 3.5". The panhard bar bracket on the axle is just tacked on. I'll leave it that way till I get the body on. I'll be able to adjust it then. I'll also install suspension limiters at that time. Some of these pic's were taken after I knocked everything apart for weld up.

Thanks, Jeff

[dsraven]

Ok, as. Long as you're aware. The Panhard doesn't need to be a straight tube either, in case a bent tube may make it easier to get around a driveshaft or diff housing etc.

[mongocanfly]

You could also move panhard bar to be behind the diff...then it would clear no matter what...

[Old Jimmy]

Thanks guys.
I had not considered bending the panhard bar. I could bend the bar over the diff and drop the axle bracket more towards horizontal. This would put the heim joints more square towards each other. Dropping the axle bracket would make weld up easier, the 4 link bracket and panhard bracket are perty close.

I've moved back to front suspension weldup. I had struggled with getting satisfactory welds. I'm using a millermatic 250 mig welder. My brother bought it used. The guy at the weld shop suggested checking the polarity hookup in the box. "THEY WERE HOOKED UP BACKWARDS"!!. The stinger lead was hooked to ground. I reversed them and it welds a lot better. The former owner had it hooked up for flux core wire.

Here's a few shots of front crossmember welded up. Not perfect, but good enough for who it's for.

[dsraven]

Panhard behind axle, that's what I did. Should be as long as possible and sitting level at ride height. Less sideways axle motion with suspension travel when bar is level and long.
On the welds, it is fairly thick steel so you may want to bevel the edges and then turn up the heat just a little. Better penetration and with a flatter bead as well. Also, watch out for long bead runs that will put a lot of heat in a concentrated area and possibly cause frame warpage.

[Old Jimmy]

OK, so I haven't posted in about a year. I have been making progress. Here's some pic's.