My 40 Dodge Truck Build - Maybe a 41 LOL

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Couper

Well-known member
RRR Supportor
Joined
Aug 26, 2020
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1,309
Location
Northern NJ
This what she looked like when I bought her
 

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I wish I knew what I was buying,,,,geeze ton's of rot but wasn't turning back
 

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Some chop pictures.....before & afters
 

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New Sill & Rocker Panel. Area of Floor at rear of cab to tie in sill. Piece of 1.5" Angle to tie in the front of the sill
 

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Body Work on roof, passenger side and rear panel is close enough for a high build primer.
 

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This is the condensed version.... There has been a lot of other stuff that almost had me throw in the towel. Like when I pulled the "T" trim out of the roof joint and found the joint so rotted that I had to seal weld the complete joint. Or like after I chopped and fitted the door passenger side door that looked awesome outside but was a wreck with wide ass gaps on the inside. I had to "clad" the jam to make it look right......
 

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Then we have a complete rebuild of the passenger door you see there
 

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So there ya have it....that's where I am at the moment. I'm waiting for a driver side door to show up and then I can finish the left side and get the whole cab in high build. I have to do the driverside sill and the complete floor. Have to decide on a drive train (I's like a Hemi or Nailhead), front end (transverse leaf spring) rear end (no idea) so I can do a mock up and start building a frame.

I'd love to hear from some of you guys on rear frame kick up, front z or stack,
which front end would be best.....ect.

Thanks for looking and thanks for any ideas you might have for me.

Very interested in hearing from Bruno....

Couper
 
It looks like you took on a huge challenge and are winning.

There are 1000 ways to build a frame and they are all right. As long as they are safe. Look at some of the frames guys have created around here. They are simply amazing. Traditional to wild.
 
Man you had the market cornered on the rust but, looks great now
Most of the time the rear kickup is 10" to get over the axle.
If you do a Z frame the front is usually 6" and the back 16". This'll give ya a starting point.
Bruno's truck is out of site :cool:
[P[P[P
 
That is some excellent body work.[cl My frame has a 4" kick up in front and a 14"in the rear. Your kick up in front will depend a lot on what front suspension you choose. Spring over, spring behind, stock axel or dropped. Mine is a 4" dropped axel spring behind. Parts were from Speedway and the old Total Performance. I should have gone with a 16" kick up in the rear because i only wanted a 4"ground clearance and i only have 3" between the rearend and frame. The rear suspension was Total Performance pro street rear leaf spring package. Your frame specs will also depend on what you want your ride height to be. Hope this helps.
 
That is some excellent body work.[cl My frame has a 4" kick up in front and a 14"in the rear. Your kick up in front will depend a lot on what front suspension you choose. Spring over, spring behind, stock axel or dropped. Mine is a 4" dropped axel spring behind. Parts were from Speedway and the old Total Performance. I should have gone with a 16" kick up in the rear because i only wanted a 4"ground clearance and i only have 3" between the rearend and frame. The rear suspension was Total Performance pro street rear leaf spring package. Your frame specs will also depend on what you want your ride height to be. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input Bruno. I was thinking of stacking the engine frame rails on top of the cab rails. 2" x 4" tubing....that would give me the 4". I got a total performance catalog in the mail today but was disappointed that they only showed one front end but there are options that are all greek to me. I'm thinking 4" of cab clearence when static, but I'd like 2 air shocks out front next to each other to give me some lift when needed. I thought i had a picture but cant find it. Do you have a part number for your front end?

I see the rear in the total perf catalog....

I want to buy good stuff but want to make sure I don't waste money on buying the wrong stuff.

Thanks again for any suggestions you can offer

Couper
 
It looks like you took on a huge challenge and are winning.

There are 1000 ways to build a frame and they are all right. As long as they are safe. Look at some of the frames guys have created around here. They are simply amazing. Traditional to wild.

Hear you on the safe bro.... I'm a good welder and I'm going to use internal gussets so I'm not worried about failed welds.... just buying the wrong components. I'm gona search the frames here. Once I get my front end / rear end I can do a mock up and hopefully it will be clearer to me.

Thank you
 

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