dodge truck chop

[cornfield customs]

this one came back in to have the frame shortened. i am personally not a huge fan of the super stretched out chassis look, and the owner wanted it to steer and drive better. so i am taking out 15 inches of the chassis. which makes is 134 inches long, still a little long to me, but much better. and not as much work as making it shorter.

front of the old chassis cut off

had to cut the floor our to slide the engine and trans back 5.5 inches

tapering the front rails

internal gussets, will leave a 1/16 inch gap to burn in deep, plus be plug welded

new rails tacked in place

motor mounts tacked in

 

[cornfield customs]

more progress from today

 

[tw7256]

I had to restrain myself about mentioning that It looked too long. I try not to be negative. I really like it now! Great workmanship!

 

[cornfield customs]

some more progress from today

worked on getting the grill shell fit up

got the steering mocked back up, at a much better angle, the old set up ran the drag link at a 45* angle

vega box

the steering off the pitman arm hangs low, heated and bent the pitman arm to get it level, just forgot to snap a pic of it afterward

 

[cornfield customs]

started getting the headlights back on as well. used an early ford head light bar, cut it down to used the forged ends. heated and bent them into shape

 

[maverickmk]

Nice stuff, keep the pictures coming. Loving this build - or should I say rebuild.

 

[cornfield customs]

got everything all mocked up, ready to blow it back apart to weld everyhting solid

and here is a pic of the pitman arm after i heated and bent it to get the steering lined up

the steering looks low to the ground in the pic, but it is an optical illusion

 

[Dirtyrat]

You have done an amazing job to make that truck look way better than the original build!
Is it lower than the bottom of the axle?
Was just curious, as maybe a straighter steering arm would let you move up the box, and not be below axle level?

 

[cornfield customs]

no the steering does not hang below the axle, it is just a super weird angle. if you look at the front shot you can see that it does not hang very low. the problem is this not an ideal set up with parts that are on this truck ( owner wanted to re uses all the hard parts ) i cant raise the box because it will hit the bottom of the radiator or the fan.

 

[cornfield customs]

got the truck all finished up on friday morning and put about 60 test miles on it. everything is great. here are some pics of the finished product

here is the tunnel in progress, welded and seam seam sealed and some in between

 

[cornfield customs]

a dress up piece i made for the grill shell around the spring perch

the front of the frame rails welded, rounded and smoothed

 

[Bamamav]

Nice job! That truck is very close to the way I envision mine to be one of these days.

 

[maverickmk]

Very nice work my friend, very nice.
Can I come work for you? For free?