84 Crewcab...AKA..Patches

Then it was the front spring brackets that need to go on next. Slip it over the 3 bolts and then down under the frame rail.



To get it to suck up tight(er) under the frame and align with the holes through the cross member and frame, I installed a nut and washer on the lower bolt.



This got things "close" but it was still a lot of banging with the rubber mallet, and prying with a tapered round pry bar to try and allign all the pieces to get the bolts through.



Didn't install the nuts on the front cross member this evening though. But I did do the main center cross member.





It was after 9pm, and my back was killing me so I called it a night.
 
69.5CUDA said:
i feel your pain on the holes....i did them on a ford van...worse was there is a angled brace inside the frame in that spot(never knew it was there till the drill tore my arm off fracturing a few fingers)...NIGHTMARE!!!
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Yeah I shattered one of my specialty 7/16 drills when it caught the frame metal going through the other side. Those 1/2" drills back a wee bit of torque!
 
torque is a bitch when its wound up in a tight lil package.....

im looking at your frame just going..holy crap thats a TON of holes....its making me want to look at my old cracked "bare" ramcharger frame just to see how many holes are in it
 
69.5CUDA said:
torque is a bitch when its wound up in a tight lil package.....

im looking at your frame just going..holy crap thats a TON of holes....its making me want to look at my old cracked "bare" ramcharger frame just to see how many holes are in it
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Yeah I know...seems to have a ton of "extra" holes everywhere from the factory!! I really hope I don't have any issue down the road. Guess I could always weld plates on the inside of the front frame rails.
 
71ChargerRT said:
That's a bunch of work! Definitely worth it though.

Looks good!
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Thanks 71! Yeah it's a lot of work....wish the frame from the donor 93 had been in good shape....I would have probably just cut the front section off and installed it on the crew cab.
 
cow..are you planning on "wheeling" with it any?....if not i wouldnt worry about plating the frame....if you expect to bottom out the shocks EVER i would atleast plate behind them...its the absolute weakest link in the frames and they will stress crack all the way from bottom to top
 
Not sure if it's the later trucks, or if it's due to them being cummins powered...but the donor 93 had plates on the back side of the frame to help brace the shock mounts.
 
dunno...but its the real weak link on the trucks...i mean heavy abuse is going to break things..thats a given..but of all the places ive seen cracked..the shock mount holes are #1..everyone seems to think the steering box mounts crack but in my hunting for frames i only ever found the 2wd style box ones crack....my RC frame had a dozen cracks in it but..i was NEVER gentle with it..curbs at 45, massive air, slamming 4low at 45mph hit a mud pit and leave it at 60 slam it into high and keep going..a friend of a friend had pics of it in arizona dune jumping.....i spent 10-15 years hunting for a crack free RC frame...90% of them were cracked at the shock mounts...i even looked at other truck frames..specificly short box cause its only a lil longer..and they had the same spot...

a simple "plate" bolted on the back is NOT enuf for real wheeling..light offroad..maybe ...it must be full welded...if your worried about hard pothole hits and such by all means a bolted plate that fits in the frame as snug as you can get will indeed help....it was one of the initial things i did to my RC when i found the cracks..and it slowed them down for a while..before i full welded em in over the cracks..which lasted me till i found a good frame..even knowing my frame was just shy of actualy busted in half i never let up on it...passenger side had 1/4 inch of rail that hadnt cracked ...driver side stopped at the top shock hole
 
From what I have heard the RC frames are a lighter duty then the 80-93 1 ton gasser trucks, and the 89-93 cummins trucks. The frame on the donor 93, and the crewcab are both .250 thick. I think the RC frames are only 1.8-ish? So that alone could be why the RC frames are so prone to cracks. And on the cummins powered trucks, especially the 4wd trucks, the frame cracking at the steering box is a huge, and very common problem.
 
So today it rained like crazy...thankfully around 1-2pm it started to let up. I raced out and got the rest of the bolts tightened up. And I then decided to hang my Parabolic front springs.



Finally starting to look like a 4wd!!


Rolled the front diff into the garage so I could clean up, prime and pain the spring mount areas.






And since it's only about 6*C (45*F) and humid as heck...it's a little hard to paint. I have started heating the parts with the heat gun, then spray them...then more heat from the gun. Seems to be working OK.

 
The other day I also picked up my parcel from Silicone Intakes...my boots, T-clamps and spacer for my Power stroke IC install. These pieces should allow me to use my stock tubes....I hope!



Very nice pieces...and their site was great with all the measurements for every little part. And the prices, and shipping were good too...I'd recommend them!
 
Another name for frozenboost.com. I was wondering if that's who it was. I sold a lot of their "Allflow Non-Catalytic Converters" for them back when I was at Auto Value. Check it out under "Exhaust Parts". :dance: :D
 
Spent over half my day running around trying to find more nuts and bots....Sheesh....[dummy] I was looking for bolts to secure the steering box plate to the frame. They were 9/16 x 20 x 1.5" and grade 8. I needed 3 of them....I finally found them at Raider/Hansen. But I needed to go with 2" long ones since I was installing the inner steering box brace.

All installed...



 
Then the most satisfying addition to the project so far...Front diff is under the truck!! Halfway there to becoming a 4wd!!



Quite the gasser look to it.....

 
I still stagger when I think of the trouble you have finding common, everyday hardware. There are at least six places in this area where those bolts could've been found.

Good idea on the steering-box backing plate. The weight of that diesel, or rather the effort it takes to make all that load change direction, is why those suckers break all the time in that area. It's looking really nice, HarshingHolsteins.
 
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