Gee , its fun talking to myself , no one makes comments anymore <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />

Anyway , I got the top half of the frame all spreayed today , have to flip it over and get the bottom yet before I start putting it back together.I also managed to get my lock right installed , just have to torque the ring gear bolts when I get the torque specs , and install it back in the carrier and onto the pumpkin again.

I took all the measurements for making my fuel cell holder , gonna have to go with a little different plan than using the stock tank holders , they are just a little too far out , so they are coming off , now that I got my angle grinmder replaced , just need another disc.The cell will be hanging off some brackets on the frame itself , and drop 12" , so it will be sitting at the height the stock one was , and I can still use the stock skid plate.Its just a matter of making the brackets and the cage to support the cell.Hopefully this weekend can get that done.

I do have a couple of pics , but my camera died and is recharging , so they will come a little later.Slowly but surely its coming together. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Hey, man, i think alot of us are just struck by how large this project really is. No offense, but i thought you would have given up long ago (I know i dont have your will power!). Kudos to you for getting this far. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Everything looks really great so far. What is your reasoning behind putting your tank at the stock location? I think it is Onebadtrooper that has pictures up on his cardomain of pretty much exactly how he did his. I think its really just a matter of cutting and re-welding, even for the skids. Gives alot of clearance, and makes your rear end look alot better. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />
Just my .02
-J <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I am not sure how much I can adjust the fuel cell for height and stuff.Even with the 3" body lift , I have to leave room at the top for the filler and the fuel lines as they stick up a little.The fuel cell is 33x12x12 , so its not as wide as the stock tank , so I might have a little maneuvering room there to do something.
I still have to get some pics and stuff of what I did today.Also , I had a call , might have my 2.6 sold finally <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />Should be someone coming to look at it this weekend , so that should work great.

As promised here are the pics from yesterday.Nothing too exciting , just go tthe top of the frame all sprayed.No pics of the lockright install.

Well , accomplished a little more today.I was mainly playing around with my hitch and bumper to see how I would mount them.I flipped the frame over , which isn't easy , with the lower control arms and stuff on , its still pretty heavy.Its a good thing I'm a strapping young lad <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" /> I drilled out a couple of holes that the bolts had snapped off in for different crossmembers , then finished off a little welding on the gussets , as I hadn't done the bottom yet.I then brushed on the rest of the blue steel , so tomorow , I should be able to spray the rest of the frame <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

If its sunny , I am going to take the body off the other truck and start grabbing my upper control arms , brakes , manual hubs , and the rear end so I can get all the suspension done and together and move onto other things like the fuel and brake lines , mounting the tank , etc.I think I have the bumper and hitch figured out , might have to play around a little with brackets and stuff , also because I didn't get a 3" crossmember , I will have to add something between the hitch and the crossmember so I can either bolt it to that or weld it , can't leave it with just the bumper bolts holding it on.

Anyway , more pics eventualy when I get the camera up and running again.

Ok , got all the stuff prepped to put the hitch on , had to modify my crossmember a little as I used 2" instead of making it go down 3".No big deal , I made it work.Played around with bumper brackets a little more trying to figure out wxactly what I want to do.I also sprayed the bottom of the frame , so its all done now too.

Now , I hit my first problem.I was gonna start putting a few of the crossmembers on while its upside down still.The first one I pulled out was the tranny/transfer case crossmember.I knew the crossmembers were a little different between the 2.6 and the 2.8 , but I thought the brackets that they bolted to were all the same.Nope , not even close.I have a couple pics of the difference between the crossmembers , and one kind of shows the mounting bracket on the frame.

Now , I was wondering if I can use the one from the 2.6 , and just put new holes where everything goes to make it line up.It would be a lot easier , and save me a lot of time instead of having to wait untill I strip the other frame down , get everything off it so I can flip it over and cut off the brackets that are on it , then weld them to the frame I am using.This could be a couple of weeks delay <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

I would rather just modify this crossmember to work , even if I have to weld a little and do lots of drilling.I don't want to waste a lot more time when I can be starting to put everything back together now.Anyway , here are the new pics.



This one you can see where I modified the crossmember by adding a couple pieces of metal to it , and welded in some nuts to bolt the hitch to it later.







These 2 are the crossmember from the 2.6 and you can see in the left and right pics how it sits on the frame.The next 2 pics are left and right pics of the crossmember from the 2.8 and you can see how the mount brackets aren't even close.Maybe I could even weld it in and still use it?Jerry , help me out on this one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />






Any suggestions or comments as to what I should do would be greatly appreciated.Do I use the old one and modify it , use the 2.8 one and weld it on to the frame , or do I waste a lot of time and effort to get the brackets off the 2.8 frame ?I want the easiest and quickest way as I want to get this bad boy done soon so I can go out and play.

This is unrelated to your question, but i just thought of it.
When you lift the suspension that 3" (which i assume you are, correct?) you may have some driveline vibration from the angle of the rear driveshaft. You might want to go ahead and go to a solid onepiece driveshaft right now, instead of down the road. to do this, you will need to cut the center crossmember to let the driveshaft droop down. My thoughts are that you might want to do that now while you still got the body off, and nothing else in your way.
Just my .02
-J <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I will be doing a 3" body lift yes , and I thought about the one piece drive shaft , but I can't really afford to get one right now as I still have other things to do yet.To get onemade up here is almost 350 bucks <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> I looked into it before.As for cutting that piece out , I can do that later as my fuel cell is going to be easy to drop down , plus I don't have the stock size tsank in there , giving me a little more clearance.

Things were starting to go quicker now , untill this crossmember snag.I just have to decide what I can do to fix this without taking lots of delays.My biggest problem is room.I don't have the room to take the body off , then start flipping the other frame around to get those brackets.So , I'm kind of leaning towards either modify the old one , or just weld the one from the 2.8 and make it work with what I have.

It figures , theres always something that comes out and bites you when you least expect it.Everything else is pretty much made to go with either engine with these trucks , so I thought the brackets would be dual purpose too , just change the crossmember and your good to go.But of course they had something else in mind.

HEY DAVE I WOULD NOT GO TO THE TROUBLE OF MODIFING THE 2.8 CROSS MEMEBER , I WOULD USE THE 2.6 , ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS MEASURE FROM THE CENTER LINE OF ONE OF THE FRT ENG MTS ON THE 2.8 AND THEN BACK TO THE CENTER LINEOF THE REAR MT FOR THE 2.8 TRANS , IF THE CROSSMEMBER IS FROM A 2.6 AUTOMATIC YOU MAY HAVE TO REDRILL THE 2 STUD HOLES FOR THE REAR MT IF A STICK ***** THEY ARE THE SAME FROM THE 2.8 AUTO, OR THE 2.6==2.8 AUTO OR STICK THE USE THE SAME REAR MT CUSHION , WHERE THE CROSSMEMBER WILL SEAT AGAINST THE FRAME ,LEAVE ABOUT AN INCH OR SO OF PLATE ON EITHER SIDE SO THAT YOU CAN SLIDE THE CROSSMEMBER FRT TO RR FOR SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENT, IT MAY BE KINDA HARD TO MEASURE IT DEAD ON WITH IT UPSIDE DOWN, BUT IT IS LOOKING MAN JERRY

Hello Dave,

Too bad you hit this hurdle. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />



Now, I saw what crossmember you were referring to but I'd also like to know if the crossmember in front of that one is also different. The crossmember that I am speaking about is the bolted on one (two long thru bolts/nuts on each side) that is directly below/behind the front differential. The crossmember that Darlington adds the spacer blocks to when doing the diff bracket drop. Are these the same between the 2.6 and the 2.8? I don't think that manual/A/T transmission would make a difference at this position. Keep the great work up! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Jim