1929 International Truck

First time rod project for me. I've learned a ton from this site and have made enough progress that I figured it's time for a build thread. So here we go.

My great grandpa bought this truck new, but it has been sitting on our family's mountain property since the 60's. I've always thought about turning it into something. Here are the first pictures I ever took of it, when I was around 17 or so (10 years ago)-




I have pictures of me playing on it when I was only maybe 7 or 8, I'll have to dig those out and scan em in sometime. Anyway, my dad and I finally decided to pull it out of the ground last winter, so here's that process-







Now I haven't been as good at taking pictures as I should have been, I kinda get in a groove and forget to take step by step pics of what I'm working on, but I'll put what we have so far on here and try to keep it updated.

First step was getting the front axle figured out, along with wheels and tires. I want to reuse as much as I can from the truck, so I decided to keep the front end. We couldn't reuse the wheels, but we did find some cool artillery wheels laying next to in on our property. Blue Eyed Devil identified them for me as '36 Chevy wheels, not sure how they ended up on our property but that's half the fun of it I think.


Anyway, decided to go with those and after some research, figured out that 1980s Dodge Diplomat rotors were the same spindle length and right bearing areas as my stock International spindles. We had a machine shop turn the inside of the rotors to fit the stock International bearings and bam, we had a way to mount some wheels! Oh and we went with 5.25/5.50 front tires.



Next up was putting that axle under the frame...

Alrighty, so now the frame is all bare and sitting in the garage. Like so-


I had decided on a suicide front end, but wasn't sure if I needed to Z the frame or what. Definitely knew the frame horns had to go though-


Oh and you'll notice I've got a spring perch laying there, it was off the rear of this truck. thought I'd see if I could use it. Now as I looked at that cross member in the front, I couldn't help thinking I could reuse it as my cross tube to mount the spring perch. But of course, it's going the wrong direction. my first though was to cut it out, but I had had enough of heating up and banging out rivets. And since I kinda liked how it was riveted in and all, and I knew the front frame would need lengthened anyway, I just cut the frame and flipped it over-


Ok, so I was a little ahead of myself putting the stock front spring on there, but I was just trying to get a visual! So after playing with it C-clamping it on and off in different positions, I finally got it mocked up how I wanted. Side note, got the rear tires! Comparison shot to the front-


Anyway, all mocked up with a proper front spring-


You'll also see all the cardboard and such laying around as I was making the spring perch brackets at this time as well. Of which I did not take any pictures of as I was making them So fast forward to extending the frame. I cut some pieces of rear frame off and welded them into the front. I then boxed them and did some fish plates just for good measure-

Now time to weld up that front perch. First step was tacking it on and building is some caster (about 6 degrees)-


Then added some gussets on the back, and a big fish plate on the bottom, overlapping the entire frame and perch, and finished by boxing the back of the cross member-



The time came to put it all together and hope it works. And it did! You can see a little more of the perch brackets I made, I'll have to get a closer pic of the shackle set up and all. I reused the shackles and perches, and made all the brackets, so the only thing I bought on the front suspension was the spring, which is a trailer spring. I'll of course need to get some radius rods of some sort, but that can come a bit later-

I should mention at this point that I have a donor vehicle for the drivetrain for this project. It's a '71 Ford Ranchero with a 302, FMX trans and 9 inch in back. picked it up for $275 cause it "just stopped running one day". Dragged it home and looked at it for about 10 minutes until I found a broken wire on the ignition module. Touched the wires back together and it fired right up, after sitting for the last 8 years.

So anyway, next up is getting the cab on the frame and measuring to make room for the engine and figure out where that rear end is gonna go so I can get a rolling chassis and push this thing outside to work on it. So, cab goes in-



I'm currently trying to get an engine hoist, so until then the engine and everything is still sitting the Ranchero. So I figured we could some body work for a change. My dad was itching to get the wood off the roof as he wants to re-do it. I wanted to channel the cab down so I can really see what things are starting to look like. And as we we're in a working frenzy today, I neglected to take many pictures. Here's the efforts of the day-



And those pictures are current as of today. Next step really is getting an engine hoist so I can set the engine in there and make sure everything fits. Hopefully that'll happen sometime next week!

Neat

Nice project! Looks to be in great shape.
That sure looks like some big and wild country where you got it from.
Looks too high and cold for a South Carolina man.
I was raised around Huge Moss draped Oaks, palmetto trees,and Ocean breezes.
I love the summer heat,but cannot handle tempertures below 40 or so.
Toooo Coooold[cl
Sure is beautiful where you are.
Keep up the good work on project.You have a super cool ride there.[dr

rex1927 said:

Nice project! Looks to be in great shape.
That sure looks like some big and wild country where you got it from.
Looks too high and cold for a South Carolina man.
I was raised around Huge Moss draped Oaks, palmetto trees,and Ocean breezes.
I love the summer heat,but cannot handle tempertures below 40 or so.
Toooo Coooold[cl
Sure is beautiful where you are.
Keep up the good work on project.You have a super cool ride there.[dr

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Yes sir, 9300 ft. of rocky mountain high goodness! My great grandfather homesteaded the place, and it's been passed along the family ever since. I never met him, but I think he'd be proud of us getting the ol' International going again.

If I may get a little sappy here, I'll also interject that along with making grandpa and great grandpa proud, I'm doing this for my dad as well. 2 years ago he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. They took one of his kidneys, but the cancer came back so he's on permanent chemo pills, along with a myriad of other drugs. 2 years ago they gave him 6 months to live. I left my life in Wyoming and moved home to help out my mom and dad, as they (now we) run a small plumbing business.

My dad and I have never been very close, but I moved back to help out and do what I could. Well like I said, here we are 2 years later and dad's doing pretty damn well! And he wanted to do a hot rod project, so he's funding this build and it's the "father son project" we never really had. Though admittedly, he's given me the reigns on the whole thing. Dad mostly helps in the designing and mulling over ideas, and he really wants to redo the wood on the top lol. He likes to do the little things like that, loves leather work and knife making and those types of things.

Anyyywayy, that's the back story of this build. I tend to feel a sense of urgency sometimes when working on it, like I need to finish it so dad can get some enjoyment out of it. So it may be a lofty goal, but I'm shooting to have it rolling by August.

reptar_head said:

Yes sir, 9300 ft. of rocky mountain high goodness! My great grandfather homesteaded the place, and it's been passed along the family ever since. I never met him, but I think he'd be proud of us getting the ol' International going again.

If I may get a little sappy here, I'll also interject that along with making grandpa and great grandpa proud, I'm doing this for my dad as well. 2 years ago he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. They took one of his kidneys, but the cancer came back so he's on permanent chemo pills, along with a myriad of other drugs. 2 years ago they gave him 6 months to live. I left my life in Wyoming and moved home to help out my mom and dad, as they (now we) run a small plumbing business.

My dad and I have never been very close, but I moved back to help out and do what I could. Well like I said, here we are 2 years later and dad's doing pretty damn well! And he wanted to do a hot rod project, so he's funding this build and it's the "father son project" we never really had. Though admittedly, he's given me the reigns on the whole thing. Dad mostly helps in the designing and mulling over ideas, and he really wants to redo the wood on the top lol. He likes to do the little things like that, loves leather work and knife making and those types of things.

Anyyywayy, that's the back story of this build. I tend to feel a sense of urgency sometimes when working on it, like I need to finish it so dad can get some enjoyment out of it. So it may be a lofty goal, but I'm shooting to have it rolling by August.

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That’s awesome; love the history behind this and it’s a perfect way for you and your dad to spend time together.
Looks like the project is coming along very well, you’re certainly on the right site to get any help you may need along the way.
Best of luck with it.

looking good... cool history on the truck

Lots of progress in the last few days! So here's the Ranchero that I picked up real cheap-


The time came to yank the engine out and see how she fits


Everything looked good, so time to start fabbing some motor mounts


Engine and tranny are all in, motor mounts are almost done. Transmission cross member is now done as well

I had to chop up the Ranchero and take it to the scrap yard. I didn't have a title to it so I couldn't just take the whole thing, the scrap yards won't accept a car that way. So here was the process lol



After 3 trips I ended up getting $232 out of it. After only paying $275 for the car, I'm pretty happy

Very cool project, great history too. I hate to be a critic, but did you try to find a home for the Ranchero before bucking it up?? Looks like it was really solid, plenty of guys would have given you the same money for it without the work - probably could have posted it right here for nothing..
Just sayin'......

It may have LOOKED solid, but it was far from it. Absolutely no rear floor pans left, and the rear corners of the bed were the same. Along with the fact that it had no title and the guy I bought it from had no intention of doing the paper work to get it, it would have been a lost cause. Plus my neighbors are ***** and call code enforcement anytime we have a project vehicle in the driveway, so it needed to go away quickly.

OK, no harm done then...
I sympathize with you on the neighbor situation, some people just don't get it when it comes to playing with old cars....

Love this project. Great thread. [P

looks like you are going full steam ahead! looks good. I like the history too. [P

Looks like my back yard

Where in the Rocky MOuntains are you?
That truck is too cool [cl

Gee, I can't understand why your neighbors would not like a car being disected in the driveway right next door to them. Not busting your chops, man, but what do you expect them to do..........looks like a pretty well kept neighborhood. It is one thing if you are out in the boondocks with no one around for miles, but in a close residential setting it is different.

Don

Whinners are evrywhere

People should just live their lives and no one else’s. They are constantly trying to keep pace with the smiths..And have their noses in the neighbours business.Not me...

offroadrolls said:

Where in the Rocky MOuntains are you?
That truck is too cool [cl

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I'm down in Pueblo