Progress 39 PU

Gary in Mozarks

Gary in Mozarks

Senior Member
Well I got the cab off the chassis today. Time to run new brake lines and sandblast frame. in preperation for putting the panel truck body on it.
Gary


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Gary, you are FLYING along! Looks great, I'll have to come by and see the progress for myself. I'll get back to mne soon - had other "home type" projects recently.
 
Hey Gary, looks llike a great project. Looking forward to seeing more. My boy and I just pulled the front clip off my 50 F-1 today. I'm going to clean up and paint the engine and frame. I also have a disc brake kit for the front to put on. Jim
 
Gary, this is Dean, aka oldandtired. I have a 1/2 ton 39 panel delivery that I am in the process of redoing. Does the chassis that you are replacing have the extenders that you need for mounting the panel body? The pickup frame will not have them.
 
oldandtired said:
Gary, this is Dean, aka oldandtired. I have a 1/2 ton 39 panel delivery that I am in the process of redoing. Does the chassis that you are replacing have the extenders that you need for mounting the panel body? The pickup frame will not have them.
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Dean,

I have two frames, The 39 pickup frame, and the frame under the 38 panel. The panel body was purchased less the front clip, engine, trans, front wishbone and rear traverse spring but included the frame. I hope to take whatever I need off the panel frame and transfer it to the running gear.

The story is I had a 35 pickup when I got home from Viet Nam, which I later sold. I wanted to have one again, and the closest I could find at the time was this 39 pickukp.

I discoverd that my 6-4 300+lb frame no longer fits in a standard pickup so I decided to go with the panel to give me more options for room. I made this discovery after I had the drive train in the pickup. (nobody ever accused me of being overly quick)

The next step in the process is to lift the Panel body off its frame and hopefully transfer it to the working running gear. If I discover it won't work for some reason, I will have to transfer the drivetrain to the panel frame.
Gary in Mozarks
 
Ross in East Texas said:
DK Industries in Marshall, TX charges $275 for cleaning, sandblasting and powder coating a frame. For this they cooked the grease off and put silicone plugs in all threaded holes. Just can't beat this price in my opinion.
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Ross that sounds pretty reasonable to me. My problem is I live so far out in the sticks its a 50 mile trip to go to a McDonalds. I would imagine I would have to go to St louis to find someone that does that.
 
Gary, your'e a big guy, heres a problem that is going to present itself, in the panel there is a section of white ash that squares the cab and eliminates motion at the door pillars, Im 6 foot and I cracked my head on that thing twice already, you may want to figure out a fix early so you can plan a bit.
 
Gary in Mozarks said:
Ross that sounds pretty reasonable to me. My problem is I live so far out in the sticks its a 50 mile trip to go to a McDonalds. I would imagine I would have to go to St louis to find someone that does that.
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Well, I loaded it all up one Friday and hauled it to Marshall (25 miles) only to find that they had closed early that day! I had to haul it back home and take it back the nest week! If I were you I would just take all that I plan to have coated at once so you only have to go once.
I have had the front axle, wishbone, running boards, lower radiator shield, frame and inner fenders powder coated the same 60%gloss black. I plan on having the Fenton cast iron headers ceramic coated too.
It is sure nice to get this stuff powder coated and not have to mess with painting.
 
gary, that panel will be killer when it's rolling. i have the same issues with my truck, no room! i'm 6' 6" and "way to fat!" and would love to have a panel instead but i have always lved they ugly trucks.
 
Re: Progress 39 PU panel

Got the fraem out from under the panel truck today. Now the delima, the panel truck frame is in better shape than the pickup fraome. Is it better to patch the frame or move the drive train? :p

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If the panel truck is already sitting on the better frame, I'm thinking it would be easier to switch the running gear to the better frame.
 
Be careful with that panel body, you can really twist them if you dont support them just right, the back doors wont sit right if you twist her, they really are kind of weak in the middle. The frame thing depends on a few factors, is it rotten, is it cracked or twisted or bent, are you boxing it for added strength. You sort of have to look at them as formed I beams, you really don't want to heat the center steel too much or you will lose strength and temper to the beam as a unit. If you do heat a section you should box it to give the beam another plane to absorb motion. Another excellent thing to do is to preheat your weld area, this shocks the steel less and the weld metal is more forgiving to stress. No quenching, ever.
 
great pic's gary! use the panel frame and just transfer the parts. do you have any close up pictures of the frame damage? great project.
 
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