1940's International Crew Cab Diesel

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I've been really busy on about everything BUT this project. But, I was able to put some time in this weekend on the chassis. The main rail components are now in place, and I think it's looking pretty cool. For fixturing I drilled holes in the concrete and installed 1/2-13 female threaded anchors, and then used machinist fixturing studs to clamp the rails to the floor. I was getting tired of chasing it around the floor!

I also had to machine more of the "ladder rungs" for the back. They are very short, only 3" long before the notching. So, I made a block to hold them in the mill vise and then cnc notched them on both ends in one operation.

I did have to heat and tweak a couple of the bends, but it really fit together nicely!
 

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Love the truck and the plan.
(Sarcasm voice)But might have to make it a double size sleeper so the kids will still fit.(sarcasm voice off)

Seriously though lots of cool fab work going here.
 
This cab is really rotted out pretty bad, which was why I decided to shorten it at the bottom. This is a good thing, as I'm not sure I would have been willing to do so much cutting on a good cab! I trimmed about 6" off all the way around, though in areas it barely required cutting. Here are some pics of the rust and the trimming. It was quite a relief to see that the cab fit the chassis as intended!


36Binder - at this rate the kids will be grown and out of the house by the time I'm done...
 

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This weekend's work achieved an important goal - I was able to finally prove out my ideas on how the body, chassis, and suspension would fit together. Up until this step I was relying heavily on some crude measurements, a lot of thinking, and a lot of luck to make this 3 dimensional puzzle work out. I now know that the cab fits the chassis nicely, and that the frame rails will be exactly where I wanted them. Plus, I have lots of room to fit the suspension components where I want them.


The attached pictures show the last major trim to the cab - using a laser to mark the cut line to cut the entire back out, and then a lot of mock-up. I also blocked the frame up to ride height. Now that this is all proven and a ton of pictures were taken, I can remove the cab and do a lot of the work to finish it - including building the sleeper. I can also get to work building the front suspension parts and mounting them.

I should probably point out that I'm doing this in a back corner of my shop under a very low ceiling mezzanine. It throws the scale off a bit - this truck is actually not very tall despite appearing to be close to the rafters.
 

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