3/4 Ton Long to Short & Static Drop Square One

[kitsbeach]

I just got this truck back on the road after shortening and dropping it, thought I'd post a few pictures of the build.

As I found it:




Today short test drive:

[kitsbeach]

A couple more before and after:

[kitsbeach]

I call her Square One because as soon as I bought it I accidentally ended up with another that I call Square Two:



Square Two is actually a nicer truck but they are both great low mileage trucks with great patina and very little rust.

[kitsbeach]

Square One (I believe) was some kind of work truck up in the Fraser Canyon, British Columbia, four or so hours north of Vancouver where I am now.

She's got the bumps and bruises of a yard truck but lots of obvious maintenance. Everything is greased up and running nice. Nicer now that I've cleaned the heck out of it and gone over everything.

[kitsbeach]

Ripped the landscape bed off:





That was actually hard work. I was told the truck had a service truck bed on it but the guy threw it in the dump so that he could build this and landscape his yard.

Gone now anyway...

[kitsbeach]

The first thing I did was backdate the grille to the 73-74 style to get the vibe I wanted:

Before:



Old grille off and orange marker lights added:



This truck is a 1980 so there was a little change to where the 1973 lower grille bar attaches. I just cut the tabs of the lower grille bar and used some trim tape to install it (pic doesn't show it that well):

[shambles]

Looks great. What static drop did you use? I'd like a nice driver drop.

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by shambles

Looks great. What static drop did you use? I'd like a nice driver drop.

It's 2 1/2" drop spindles and 3" lowering springs in the front, and just a flip kit in the back but it now has 1/2 ton leaf springs in the back because short beds have 52" springs and long beds have 56" springs and I wanted stock back bumper brackets.

It also has the 16" wheels so it sits a bit different than a 1/2 ton truck would. I kind of like it. Looks short and tough. The front is about a 1/2 inch higher than the back, which I'm also happy with but it may settle.

The 3/4 ton springs up front are a bit bouncy, I may go to 1/2 ton front springs, but I think it would end up a bit lower.

No rubbing at all, its very practical.

Tires are 225/75R16 so pretty skinny

[kitsbeach]

Not many people drop and shorten a 3/4 ton but it had very little rust and great patina so I couldn't help myself I had to grab it.

I probably could have done a 1/2 ton conversion all round, but this is what I did.

[kitsbeach]

I did a bit of googling and talking to people this time about the frame cuts and fish plates (I've shortened my '67 too).

I like the thoughts shown in this picture:



Also the idea of the fish plate welds going different directions than the stressors, like this example:



So what I settled on this time was rounded ends on my fish plates so that the welds would be in different angles to the stressors, and also not to weld the plates continuously (used skip welds), so the plates actually have ability to flex.

I got quite a bit of advice on this from pro welders.

[kitsbeach]

BUT...I also knew that the chance of me getting the zigzag cuts perfect would be near impossible.

The zigzag cuts are the most popular on this site and all over the internet, but that means 6 different cuts ON EACH SIDE. Getting them to match up perfectly would be difficult.

So I settled on nice big strong fishplates, with a good design, along with straight cut frame cuts.



Basically wrong on the frame cuts and best on the fish plates.

[shambles]

Originally Posted by kitsbeach

It's 2 1/2" drop spindles and 3" lowering springs in the front, and just a flip kit in the back but it now has 1/2 ton leaf springs in the back because short beds have 52" springs and long beds have 56" springs and I wanted stock back bumper brackets.

It also has the 16" wheels so it sits a bit different than a 1/2 ton truck would. I kind of like it. Looks short and tough. The front is about a 1/2 inch higher than the back, which I'm also happy with but it may settle.

The 3/4 ton springs up front are a bit bouncy, I may go to 1/2 ton front springs, but I think it would end up a bit lower.

No rubbing at all, its pretty practical.

Tires are 225/75R16 so pretty skinny

Cool, Thanks for the info. I've been thinking about the 5/7 or possibly 4/6 drop.

[Shifty One]

Following!

[kitsbeach]

Some of these pictures are out of order but I swapped in a Saginaw 3-speed manual in place of the (I think) SM465 "bull low" 4-speed.

Adjusted Hurst shifter on the bench beforehand:



Dropped this old hunk out myself, probably wasn't the wisest idea because it was heavy and almost killed me:



Compared input shafts and I didn't need a new clutch disc (yay.!).



Side to side comparison of length and shifter position:

[Android04]

Truck is looking good. Unfortunately that dent/wrinkle on the body line will be a doozy to make it look right.

Leaving this as a patina-ish build?

[Shifty One]

Fix the front fender, and you'll have to fix the bed crease....fix the bed crease, and then the door ding will need attention, fix that and....

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by Shifty One

Fix the front fender, and you'll have to fix the bed crease....fix the bed crease, and then the door ding will need attention, fix that and....

You know it.!

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by Android04

Truck is looking good. Unfortunately that dent/wrinkle on the body line will be a doozy to make it look right.

Leaving this as a patina-ish build?

Yes for sure this is a "patina build"

The reason I couldn't help buying it was because it had great patina and no rust through. It has one cab mount that is in need of attention and I will do that.

It came with no bed so the colour match and patina on the back is "faux".

[kitsbeach]

Ended up painting the frame as I went.







This started as a quick and dirty driver/patina build but the paint does make it look better even though it is not perfect.

[kitsbeach]

Started cutting the bed floor. It needed 14" removed from the front but I decided to lap it and stitch weld it to save a whole lot of welding on bumpy dented bed floor, therefore I removed 12" or so.

I figured butt welding would be too time-consuming with all the waves in the bed floors, not to mention various dents and scars from the years.

"Measure twice, cut once" is the saying and I almost cut too much out. I was scratching my head thinking about this but finally got going and it all worked out.

[kitsbeach]

Here's some pictures of the bottom front of the bed and the stitch welds





Later on I will seam seal the whole thing

[kitsbeach]

The bed supports nearest the wheels were both rusty but I managed to save some money and used the deleted bed supports to get me what I needed.

The front just needed a patch piece.

[kitsbeach]

Here is a pic of the top before I welded it

[Android04]

Killer work man! Keep the motivation going.

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by Android04

Killer work man! Keep the motivation going.

Thanks man.! I'm probably forgetting about 100 important details but getting the main strokes posted here. If anyone has a question just ask I'll probably have a picture.