1949 Ford bobber build

[gold03]

Spring has sprung. I might be able to use one of the original front leaf springs in my front end set up. A little clean up and a new set of bushings might make this situation a go!

I think I will pull the pack apart and take a belt sander to the leaf ends and taper them a bit to smooth out the ride. Then remove or add leaves as needed. I think remove, but we will see.

I also trimmed and squared off the front frame horns. Had to buy a new 4" grinder. The smoke came out of my new Makita

I GOTTA GET SOME SLEEP i've only slept about 7.5 hours in the last 72 hours. Me tired!

gold03

 

[earthman]

I'm thinking more than half of those leaves need to come out.

 

[gold03]

The nice part is, it has a mitary wrap on the main leaf. I would like to be able to reduce the spring pack significantly.

Gold03

 

[sgtpontiac]

Spring sure looks BEEFY!!!

Curious how many of those buggers (apologize to the englishmen out there)..you are going to have to remove???? But shaping up nicely!!!

 

[hillbillie hotrods]

Looking good bro but it might have a purdy stif ride with that front spring good work non the less , i like were your going with it.

Mike

 

[gold03]

Another busy morning. I trimmed off the back of the frame. My intention was to use the back half which is tapered to do the rear Z, but there is so much crap welded and riveted to it I will have to reconsider the idea. I may just do the Z with rectangular tubing. Depends on the budget and my energy level I guess.

gold03

I'll throw on some pictures so you can see where I'm at. The truck is really looking different from when I bought it.

I'm planning on the bigs and littles look. I have some old Ford 14" rims that will give me just the right ride height in front. I'm going to look for a set of Hoosier Dirt track tires and cut my own tread for the rear.

 

[gold03]

I forgot to mention, there was a huge angle iron grafted to the bottom of the frame for additional strength. This all had to be cut off. Sure glad whoever did it din't go crazy with the welder. Small grinder and a cutting wheel and I cut through the welds pretty easy. I just need to clean up the frame rails where it was all welded in place.

gold03

 

[Dirtyrat]

Ford rivets are downright evil.... They really knew how to rivet things together...
After grinding off the head of the rivets, I still couldn't drive them out of the frame, still had to drill them out first... I feel your pain! Looking good on the build though.... I noticed some lines drawn parallel to the ground on the A-pillars, I'm guessing those are not planned cut lines?

 

[ratrodney]

Looks very nice. RR

 

[gold03]

The lines are just a brain storming session. I was trying to determine how much comes out of the pillars compared to the back. This will be my first chop, so I keep thinking about it a lot. Reading all the posts I can on chopping and a couple books as well. Its actually the chop that got me interested in the project. I was going to just buy a cab to chop then sell it. The 49 Ford is definitely not the easiest roof to chop, but I think I will get it done. I am trying to figure out a way to avoid splitting the roof down the middle. I would rather have the seams close to the edge of the roof so they are easier to work on. I am thinking about trying to replace the roof skin. I have an English wheel and would like to try wheeling up a new skin to fit with out the seam down the middle. [S

Right now I'm concentrating on the suspension. Welder series out of Ontario Canada sells a nice parallel four link. Thats what i'm thinking of using with a couple of air bags and a small compressor.

The rivets are a bugger. Some I can drive out with the air chisel with a drift in it. Some not. This truck was worked real hard and some of the rivets were actually loose on spring shackle mounts. They welded the big angle iron to reinforce the frame for hauling gravel. Considering what they did to it, its in pretty good shape.

Thanks for the input.

gold03

 

[icebox]

i bought my 50 ford cab already chopped. the guy that did mine chopped it 4 inches with out splitting the roof. he leaned the front posts back.
icebox

 

[gold03]

I'm not sure I like the looks of the leaned posts. I'm not hard core convinced yet and would like to see a picture of your truck.

gold03

 

[icebox]

i will post some tomorrow
icebox

 

[gold03]

I need some advice on my front cross member. I'm going to put in a round front cross member that will support my suicide front end. I have 3 1/2 inches of space between the upper and lower frame flanges, so I'm looking at three inch tubing. How heavy/thick should the tubing be? I tend to overbuild and am trying to avoid the same with this one.

Input from guys with some experience would be very appreciated.
(I'm going to post this in the frame section as well for better coverage)
gold03

 

[Tim...Ok]

I need some advice on my front cross member. I'm going to put in a round front cross member that will support my suicide front end. I have 3 1/2 inches of space between the upper and lower frame flanges, so I'm looking at three inch tubing. How heavy/thick should the tubing be? I tend to overbuild and am trying to avoid the same with this one.

Input from guys with some experience would be very appreciated.
(I'm going to post this in the frame section as well for better coverage)
gold03

this is one place its fine to overbuild..I would consider 3/16ths wall a bare minimum,1/4th would be better..I found a chunk with 3/8ths wall thickness for mine and I'm happy with it..

 

[gold03]

I picked up a three inch 3/8 wall DOM tube yesterday. Hope to start getting it welded in today.

Thanks for the help.

Gold03

 

[Tim...Ok]

I cut holes in the inside of my tubing, cut the front crossmember to where it would fit all the way to the inside wall of the outside of the tubing..if that makes any sense..that way i could weld around about half the pipe in two places INSIDE the rect tubing, then all the way round on the outside..
this pic kind of shows it.. I'll cap the end eventually

 

[gold03]

Got my front cross member installed today. I welded it to the frame rail then wrapped the end of the frame around it to make it round on the end, and welded it all up. I used a small portion of the left over tubing to fill in on the end a little.

I also started cutting the boxing plate for the front frame horns. I can't install yet because I want to mount my shock mounts with recessed tubing so I can get at the nuts/bolts.

gold03

 

[Dirtyrat]

Looking good!

 

[icebox]

sorry it took me so long to get these pics up