Starting to work on the '39 Dodge again

[donsrods]

It was too much to take seeing Blue and all of you guys building your trucks, so I started doing some things to my '39 Dodge pickup again. When I left of to start building my 23 T it was pretty far along. The frame is done, the engine is rebuilt and installed, the front suspension is pretty wrapped up, as is the S10 rear.

We chopped the top a while back and a couple of Xmas' ago Dan surprised me by doing my cab subframe for me. I still have lots of body work to do, including cutting the window frames down on the doors and trimming the bottom off of the cab ,

I'm running a 30 over 394 Olds with a mild cam, flattop pistons, and an aluminum intake with 3 rochester carbs. The rear end is set up with a three bar suspension setup and coil overs. Originally I had the slicks on it that I ended up putting on my T, so I am going to have to order some new wheels and tires from Coker. I am not going to use the slicks again because I plan on driving this one pretty much every day and I can't afford to be spending $260 per tire very often. I will just put some 8:20 x 15's on the back and use the 5:60's that I have already on it on the front.

Here are some pictures of where I left off a year and a half ago.

Don

 

[donsrods]

So what I started doing today was getting my steering box mounted. I am going to use a '56 ford Pickup box and am mounting it atop my frame rail. To do it I made up a single bracket out of 3/8 steel plate that will do three things. It will mount the steering box, it will mount the drivers side radius rod, and it will be welded to a big section of the front kickup and strengthen that area.

My plasma cutter wouldn't do the thick 3/8 plate I wanted to use, so I used my cutting torches instead. I used a straight edge and got a pretty clean cut, and after some grinding it was presentable. Now I just have to make a similar one for the passenger side, except it won't have a steering box mount obviously.

The mount is just temporarily bolted in place, but we are going to mig weld it and gusset it some more before we are done. Here are some pictures of how it worked out..
Don

 

[BruceR&C]

Nice work on the box mount, Don. This should be an interesting build to follow with your T being a benchmark for the work you do.

 

[24dodge]

Don , I like those trailing arms , did you make them ? very nice work as usual.....`24

 

[RoddingRon]

Nice job Don. I like the way you tied everything together there and make it reinforce the frame to boot....very cool idea. I'd like to see a little more on those trailing arms too. Looks like a pretty neat set up.

I gotta ask though...how much did you do and how much did this guy do?

Sorry couldn't resist

 

[rustywrench]

can't wait for more progress don. i'm positive i'll learn a ton. i sure wish you still lived in pa. i'd visit your shop more than you know, pete.

 

[Blue]

Yaaay!!
You know I'll be watching this one for updates!!
Looks good, I love the way it's turning out so far!
What are you going to run for a grill?

 

[Ike]

Looking Good

I'm still gathering parts for my truck. That's a mighty fine truck you have there. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks guys. None of the stuff from here on in will be super interesting, mostly grunt work, but I'll try to post anything that might be meaningful to someone thinking of doing the same things.

'24..........No, we had those made by Suicide Doors. They developed these for the S10 lowrider guys and they solved the problem we had with no room lengthwise for another form of suspension. Basically it is a three bar system where the top Y bar keeps the rear end from shifting sideways as well as allowing the rear axle to travel up and down. The lower bars act as normal bars and go below the axle. The nice part is that they supply a plate that bolts on behind the center section cover and it supports the top Y bar. With a addition of a couple of coilovers the suspension is done and pretty compact.

Roddingron.....I've posted a couple more pictures of the rear suspension for you. Funny about the cat helper. Actually, my two are not real happy because I have to keep them in the office right now because Dan is doing lots of grinding and welding on his frame and so am I, and we don't want them to get hurt.

Blue......... I was going to go with a '39 Plymouth grille, but it presented some problems where I was limited on radiator space. I need all the cooling I can get for the Olds engine, so I probably will be running something like a '35 Chevy grille. Won't know for sure till I find one at a swap meet or Ebay though.

Don

 

[chopper tom]

I like that rear set up looks real nice and simple!

 

[Blue]

I like that rear set up looks real nice and simple!

I would have to agree

 

[RoddingRon]

Thanks for the extra pics of the rear set up. I've been going back and forth on what kind of set up to put under my 47 Studebaker pickup (after I get my 40 Studebaker Commander on the road), and this is an interesting alternative. Like you say it is compact, and that's a good thing...and different. Thanks again for the details

 

[RoddingRon]

Thanks guys. I was going to go with a '39 Plymouth grille, but it presented some problems where I was limited on radiator space.

Don

Yeah...On that note I can agree with you that the Plymouth grill doesn't allow a lot of room for cooling. I ended up spending a lot of money on different setups before I found the right combo to keep the two 4 tunnel ram small block cool in this one

 

[35Mastr]

Don,Its good to see ya back at the truck.I have been waitin to see this for a while now.Keep up the progress pics.

Now that the steering box is mounted.In the pic it dosent look like you goin to have any room for the exhaust in that rear cylinder.

 

[donsrods]

The picture is a little deceiving George.......it actually clears the last cylinder by enough for the header pipe to pass it. Not tons of room, but just enough.

I didn't get anything done on it today as I was busy helping Dan finish up the frame on his '29. We started about 1 this afternoon and just got done (it's almost 5 am ) I'm beat, but we really got lots done and it is now out of the jig and ready for him to start putting in the rear suspension. He says he is going to start posting pictures on the HAMB, so I can also post some pictures as soon as he does. It looks really good though.

Don

 

[luckyfasteddie]

grunt work

Keep it coming Don ,the grunt work is where the rubber meets the road. You are an insperation and teacher to us all.LFE

 

[donsrods]

Got a few more things done today on the Dodge. It was a little chilly in the shop to get real serious, but I got a few hours in anyway.

One of the things that had to go were the metal panels below the doors. They stuck down about 7 inches and needed trimmed off to look better and give me some ground clearance. I used a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade because I am not good with an airsaw or cutoff wheel. It worked fine and I got both sides trimmed. I left an inch to roll under for a lip, and will get that done sometime down the road.

I also finished up the two radius rod/steering box brackets............well almost finished, I still have to blast them, shape them some more and then weld them to the frame.

Here is the little stuff I did today. The first picture is the area below the door before I cut it off and the second picture is after I did it. Third picture is the passenger side radius rod mount.

Don

 

[donsrods]

Some of you have asked about the rear suspension. We had very little room fore and aft to work with because of the short bed we are going to run, so a conventional suspension would be hard to engineer in that space. What we used was a setup made by Suicide Doors that they designed for lowrider pickups that are bagged. We had them make the arms to our specs, and basically they are a three bar setup with the top bar being like a wishbone and the two lower bars being just like a conventional four bar setup.

The idea is that the top one not only moves up and down but locates the rear side to side too. We are using 180 lb coilovers to complete the setup, and the rear axle is out of a 97 S10.

I took some better shots tonight so that you can all see how it is set up.

Don

 

[onemintcaddy]

Wow,,, Nice work Don. By the way,,, Your flash is broke on your camera.
Can't wait for your frame build shots.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks. No, actually I turned it off. Usually the shop lights are enough and if I used the flash it washed out the pictures and changed the colors. I guess for certain pictures like these I need to turn it back on, I wondered too when I saw these shots.

Don