Skunkworks DCSB

Holy shit....8 months later. I thought they forgot about it.

 

This build in a nutshell.

 

It’s been slow but it’s about to get real

 

Stoke leaves are high to see this thing go together! I hope to follow suit one day with my rig

 

Love the project, very cool to witness your personal levels of ambition and determination! Be safe, work smart!

 

Knocking the dust off of this build.

I removed the bed (again), along with the fuel tank and exhaust. That's when I realized I just might have enough room to weld from underneath the truck, which means I no longer need to drop the frame!



I installed 4 legs on casters so that when I cut the frame I can just roll the back half out, which will make it easier for me to relocate the rear cab mounts. I detached, from the rear half, the brake cables, brake lines, fuel line, and wiring.





I will be the frame this Saturday and will use the chopped off part to practice

 

Last summer when you started this project I meant to follow it. Never did and now that shits about to get real I'm getting caught up. Godspeed @cruser. This is going to be a helluva build.

 

About to have one of the more unique trucks on this site!

 

what does that mean?

 

I go over rocks

 

I was waaaay off. I though it said something about the government lmao

or I govern Kansas

 

Ever wonder what the cross section of the frame looks like? There’s 3 separate pieces.



I knew I’d have difficulty making a straight clean cut under the cab so I cut an inch away from the final cut line and went to town.



Will need to replace the stupid front legs to get the frame off the ground.

 

awesome

 

What did you use to make the cut? It looks super clean!

 

Just a sawzall. Shit is crooked

 

Nothing a grinder can’t fix

 

Is it even possible to cut a straight line with a sawzall?

 

If you do it everyday like I do, no, not even then

 

The absolute best part of this build is where it's happening. Who needs a garage when you don't have a shitty ass HOA telling you what you can do on your property.

 

Did a do over on the legs and tacked on some angle iron.



Then I built a jig out of the excess frame that I will use as a cutting guide to get the same cut each time

 

Now that's some progress.

 

You gotta change your information to show your new location: Balls Deep

 

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to relocate the rear cab mount because it will be positioned right above the leaf spring hanger. I thought about purchasing the DRT relocation kit (for the front mount) and try to figure out how to make it work but that $290 could be better spent on something else.



To me it looks like a piece of DOM welded to a square tube





Make something like this? I want to use the hanger as the backing plate like DRT uses.

 

Do you think that adding a body mount would make the spring hanger sag over time? Would it be better to make something that straddles the mount so it distributes the weight through the frame, instead of the mount?

 

What if you made the base of the mount attach to the frame to the outsides of the spring perch and then taper to the tube part?

 

To be honest I have no clue but my logic is that the forces (cab weight pushing down/leaf spring pushing up) will (kind of) cancel each other out. If it does break, then it'll be back to the drawing board and build something beefy from the ground up.

 

Wouldn't I need to reinforce the frame with a backing plate? It would get pretty wide to disperse all that pressure.

 

Here's the rear body mount on a CM. It's pretty much in the same position as where I need mine but higher. CM mount is welded to the top of the frame and on the side of the frame around the hanger.