MAIDEN Build. 46' IH Rat Truck

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I ended up beefing up the coilover mounts with 1/4" plate on the inside. It also allowed me to trim the notch evenly with the 1/4" plate so it sits the same on both sides. I need to box them up on the ends but gonna wait until an idea pops in my head on how to pretty them up some.
 
That's some impressive fabbing right there! Any way you can attach the coilover mounts temporarily - in case the angle is bad? That looks like it will be a nightmare if you weld it all up and then want to move them.
 
Sam_Fear said:
That's some impressive fabbing right there! Any way you can attach the coilover mounts temporarily - in case the angle is bad? That looks like it will be a nightmare if you weld it all up and then want to move them.
Click to expand...

LOL. They slide on the crossmember and I plan on just a tack or two to hold them from sliding. I won't weld them until I have the back of the truck loaded up so I know how it sits. They are just sitting there right now, not even tacked in place. I could even just put a clamp on the inside of each mount to keep them from sliding.
 
Still making progress on the crossmember. It's tacked in place. Just need to order up the last rod ends so I can finish off the torque arms.
Big set back though. The GMC Yukon my friend was gonna let me gut fell through : ( The bank ended up sending a recovery company to repo it from him even though it was totaled. Sucks. So now I'm trying to work with him to find me something else through auction. A close to new Truck/SUV rollover that is very low mile but totaled so is being sold to part out. He's telling me I will get something for well under a grand. We shall see. I'm going for a 2500 truck. Something that will have the 6.0L/4L80E combo in it. Fingers crossed I come up on what I want!!!
 
Dirtyrat said:
That really sucks that you lost the truck you had intended on using...
Something better will come your way!
Click to expand...

Yeah. I was seriously bummed when he told me. Had I got it, it would have put me close to having most of the bigger $$ parts for the build. Oh well.
 
Well, ended up getting the 04' Yukon I thought I wasn't getting. It's to tear down for the drivetrain. Was told it had less than 50K and can't check it as hooking a battery up did nothing. I tore it down a bit and I'm not so sure about the claimed mileage. Lots of oily gunk in the intake runners and into the heads..










 
Got the motor pulled today. All in all not too bad. One of the exhaust manifolds had a stripped nut at the collector so I couldn't drop the Y-pipe out of the way. That and some of the electrical connectors were tough to get at but once we knew it was free, it slid right out like nothing.
A buddy is loaning me his engine stand so I will split the motor and trans and get the engine on the stand. Pull the heads as I had 3 header bolts break off in the heads : (
I will run them up to the shop up the street from me and have them fix em. Maybe see what they will charge to have the bigger valve upgrade done to them.
What should I look for on the botom end when I pull the heads? I will pull the pan as well for inspection and to do some upgrades.
And curious. The 4L60E. When I pulled the driveline out of the back of the trans, all the fluid dumped. Is that normal? Blown seal/bearing? Or is that a normal thing? My brother was here and said it is, I was saying no. Who is right?
No clue how to do a leak down test. I have no test equipment to even do compression testing.
 
You would just need a compression tester, and power the starter to spin the motor over.
There are plenty of how-to descriptions online.

And pulling the driveshaft out will dump the fluid on the transmission, yes.
 
Got the truck turned around so I can start working on boxing the front of the frame
and getting the drivetrain mounted up.
First time it's been out of the garage in ages. Nice to see the front end again.
And for the record, the rear end is sitting on all 4 coilovers in the pic with no real weight to compress the suspension to ride height.
That's why there is so much rake.






 
still watching

We have a 46 behind the barn, and jag suspension on pallets in the shop. I took a panel Fab class at UVU a few years ago and the instructor Criss boggess (The Willys Guy) Helped a student do a modified top chop. Criss has done a few IH. He removes the interior metal panels, then cuts the windshield header loose. He splits the A post down the center, then takes out 2 1/2 or 3 inches from.the windshield side only. He slides the header with the pieces of A post down and welds it back. He does a lot of pie cuts on the roof to take out the big bubble, sometimes he will trim and make a smaller rear window, He does not do anything to the doors. when he is done the top of the door glass and the top of the windshield glass are the same height. I wish I had take some pictures. but that was before we found out IH. He has posted a lot of Youtubes of his willys builds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIm3ptWE-kY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUtgNlCEcdE
 
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I had thought of chopping the top but a bit too much work and I want to save the headroom. I'm tall. I decided to go with an old Fulton visor so it has the low brow look without having to chop the top.
Plus, it's a longbed. the more I looked at the truck from the side, the proportions would be all off if I chopped the top with the truck being so long.
 
I agree with not chopping the long bed. A visor should look cool on it and give it that attitude. I love Felton's on old trucks like this[cl
 

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