How about some pics of '73-'91 Crew Cab Short beds?

[joe231]

cool man, Thanks!

I look forward to seeing yours also

[bjcaldwe]

Joe, did you get to bring it home yet?

[OJOE]

Originally Posted by dieseldr4

joe231- thank you! that is exactly what in looking to do.. so when you remove the rear 1 ton cab mounts, the half ton ones take their place correct?

you can reuse the same mounts, it will bolt thru both frames all of the holes will line up. also this way when you put short bed on the front 2 bed bolts will go in the one ton part of frame and the rest will go into the 1/2 ton frame. good luck joe

[dieseldr4]

youre welcome, i will be starting on it in a month, i will get alot of pics and post up a build..

[joe231]

Originally Posted by bjcaldwe

Joe, did you get to bring it home yet?

yes sir!
I started a build thread, link in my sig

Originally Posted by OJOE

you can reuse the same mounts, it will bolt thru both frames all of the holes will line up. also this way when you put short bed on the front 2 bed bolts will go in the one ton part of frame and the rest will go into the 1/2 ton frame. good luck joe

thanks for the info!!

Originally Posted by dieseldr4

youre welcome, i will be starting on it in a month, i will get alot of pics and post up a build..

[dieseldr4]

Originally Posted by OJOE

you can reuse the same mounts, it will bolt thru both frames all of the holes will line up. also this way when you put short bed on the front 2 bed bolts will go in the one ton part of frame and the rest will go into the 1/2 ton frame. good luck joe

thanks ojoe! sweet truck man!

[kevinr1970]

Originally Posted by joe231

Originally Posted by OJOE

...also this way when you put short bed on the front 2 bed bolts will go in the one ton part of frame and the rest will go into the 1/2 ton frame. good luck joe

Is this an important point?
What I mean is, if you shortened the crew frame closer to the cab and conversley trimmed the lip of the swb frame closer to the cab (saving the bed bolt hole) would it make a difference?

[joe231]

Originally Posted by kevinr1970

Is this an important point?
What I mean is, if you shortened the crew frame closer to the cab and conversley trimmed the lip of the swb frame closer to the cab (saving the bed bolt hole) would it make a difference?

I'm not 100% sure I'm following you, the front bed holes on both frames will line up, so you will want to cut the 1 ton frame just behind the front bed mounting hole, and the 1/2 ton frame just to the front of the rear cab mount bracket, once you remove the cab mount brackets from each frame you can just bolt them back on through both frames practicably lining up both frames perfectly. as you can see in the pic, those gold-ish bolt heads are the bolts on the cab mount brackets that sandwich it all together. I personally would weld it all together after bolting it together, I believe OJOE did, not sure about toomanytoyz, but I would assume so. I would also angle the bottom of the 1 ton frame up and weld it for aesthetics.

[OJOE]

Originally Posted by joe231

i'm not 100% sure i'm following you, the front bed holes on both frames will line up, so you will want to cut the 1 ton frame just behind the front bed mounting hole, and the 1/2 ton frame just to the front of the rear cab mount bracket, once you remove the cab mount brackets from each frame you can just bolt them back on through both frames practicably lining up both frames perfectly. As you can see in the pic, those gold-ish bolt heads are the bolts on the cab mount brackets that sandwich it all together. I personally would weld it all together after bolting it together, i believe ojoe did, not sure about toomanytoyz, but i would assume so. I would also angle the bottom of the 1 ton frame up and weld it for aesthetics.

x2

[kevinr1970]

If I understand correctly, you need to trim off the top of the 1/2 ton frame for clearance when inserting it into the 1-ton frame?

Do you start trimming after the bed mount holes? So the front-most bed mount holes will overlap between the two frame sections.
When mounting the bed the bolt will pass through both frames?

[joe231]

No
the 1/2 ton frame is much shorter, look at the pic.
No trimming required.


The front bed bolt holes will line up on both frames, as well as the rear cab mount bracket holes.

[kevinr1970]

Originally Posted by joe231

No
the 1/2 ton frame is much shorter, look at the pic.
No trimming required.


The front bed bolt holes will line up on both frames, as well as the rear cab mount bracket holes.

Hmm... well maybe I am misunderstanding what is meant here then?

That was in response to this.

Which got this response.

Please don't take this as arguning. I just don't want to miss anything important, no matter how trivial it might seem.

[joe231]

Ok
now I see what you are talking about.

By toomanytoyz pics it does appear that the top of both frames are in line.
Makes sense to me if you want all the holes to
line up.

[kevinr1970]

Here is my progress.
Due to time restraints and having to get the parts truck out of my hair I had the work done. By a member here incidently.
He is going to send me some pictures of the work in progress and I will create a build thread at that time with all the pictures I have to date. Which isn't a lot...

The truck is sitting on jack stands that are 6” lower than with the wheels on.
That is roughly how low it will sit after I do the flip kit on the rear axle.

BUT…. I made that measurement with the roller wheels (31x10.50) on there; I will be running 275/60-15 tires which are roughly 28” tall.
So it should be around 1-1/2” lower than that.
Also, the rollers on the front now are 235/75-15. I will be running 255/60-15 tires on the front.
That is about 1-3/4” difference, so about 7/8” lower in the front too.

I think the 3” coils in the front are too much (with the 3" spindles) and will have to go and either cut one coil off the stock springs (1” lower) or buy 1” lowering springs.
The front suspension was pretty beat-up/warn-out so it might be best to just buy new springs. Everything else is new in the front so why try to cut cost now?
I saw Bigarmz post about lowering his truck 5/7 and it doesn't look too ridicuously low so maybe 2" springs in the front?
I will have to see just how it sits when the rear is done.
Right now, I might not even be able to get it out of my driveway…


PS; frame is done I just don’t want to put the short-bed on until I see if I need to c-notch the frame.
I am going to clean up the gas tanks a bit, get the driveline shortened, alignment and it should be road ready.

[joe231]

Looks nice Kevin!!!
What wheels are you planning on running?

[kevinr1970]

Actually, 15 x 8 chrome rally's.
With brand new OEM GMC centers.

I understand that with the 3" spindles I am going to need to trim the LCA's, but I rally like the rally's.

Ultimately this won't be a show winner, but a cool driver. A stock-but-not look using GM (looking/mostly) parts but in not so stock applications.

[sickshortbed84]

well, its official, i finally pickud up the sawzall and joined the ccsb clan! last weekend my crew cab dually met its fate and started down the path to its new life. and i am psyched, i have to say these trucks look even better in person than the pictures! ill get pics of mine up soon! but heres a couple b4 pics for a teaser

[scotts62]

Very cool truck!

[joe231]

Nice!
I can't wait to see that as a short bed!

[BGRAFX]

Very nice wish you were closer I would buy the dually bed.

[scotts62]

Road trip!

[joe231]

Originally Posted by BGRAFX

Very nice wish you were closer I would buy the dually bed.

I was hoping he was gonna keep it a dually

[Tow Me]

That truck is a BAMF! I'd hate to buy new tires.

[sickshortbed84]

thanks guys, yeah it always was a pretty badass rig, but it was time for change, this truck has had many transformations. when i bought it it was 2wd but that didnt last long. up here in the northeast we like them big trucks lol

[lester622]

Originally Posted by joe231

i was hoping he was gonna keep it a dually

x2