Nice tutorial. Not saying we are Dummies but this taught me some things. Stainless Steel for Dummies (1 of 3) - YouTube Stainless Steel for Dummies (2 of 3) - YouTube Stainless Steel for Dummies (3 of 3) - YouTube I like to use Simichrome for polishing.
I started out like the guy on stainless for dummies did by using the anvil part of my voice but on my vice there are swirl machine marks and that put those same swirls on the stainless. Then I got a piece of hardwood and cut it to the shape I needed, put it in my vice and went to work. I basically did about what the video showed. It has been about 6-8 months since I did this so I don't remember exact procedure. Your results may very!
I had an idea on repairing some of the stainless. My stainless is flat side to side and curved top to bottom. So I was wondering if I had a bead roller with to flat wheels close together could I roll out some of the dings and dents in the stainless? If anyone knows the answer let me know. I know it won’t work for everyone. But just trying to come up with ideas
They itemized everything on my grill they want 450 to fix my name plate. He also sent picture of each bar with a price some are much worse than others and the price is close to or simaler to the ones that dont need much work. It dose not make sense to me when you see the parts side by side.
Have you looked into having the grill chromed? That's not cheap either, but may be doable? I got an estimate of $2,000 from Ogden Utah Chroming to do the grill on my 1939. I was told that the biggest cost would be putting it back together after chroming all those pieces. That includes them having a shipper coming to my home to picking it up, & delivering it back to me once completed. But of-coarse once they have it, who knows if the price will change? An estimate is only an estimate...
Nice to see your photo up-dates. How well will the cab/floor miss tilting over your radiator? My hinges are lower so I had to lay my radiator down to totally miss the firewall when it tilts.
Everything clears when the cab goes up I did have to notch a cross member for clearance at the radiator cap because it sticks our the back of the radiator. I am going to put a couple more cross members in the pedistal area but some other things have to be done first. Maybe I will try calling the company you got the price on for chromeing . I was told the place I send my parts to is extremely high. I was hopeing for a price of 2000.00 when i sent the parts out. In the 80s i sent out a lot of stainless trim with a lot of grooves in them which are much more complicated to repair and twice as long the cost was about 50.00 each. Some of the parts where smashed so bad I did not think they could be repaired. They came back looking like new. Work is slowing down so I will probably have time to work on the truck soon. If the honey do list dosent grow.
I checked 4 or 5 different Chrome shops all over & they all came back with the same average pricing for my grill. Ogden chroming is the shop that does all the chrome for******es Rides on TV. They are the only shop that takes care of all the shipping, included in there quote. Right now they are aprox. 3 months out to get it done. Hard to swallow but That's the cost of building cars/trucks these days, so I got to swallow & go forth...
It's a 2 part problem for me... Getting the SS trim straight enough to use is one... Polishing, painting, powdercoating, whatever is number 2. As always, Blue, yours looks spectacular!
I've never bought one of the "Fancy Dan" type, but I've built my own a couple of times. Factory stuff just wouldn't fit where I had to put my steering gear, so... BTW, that is both tilt and teli and the wheel comes off for theft prevention. (and to let fat old men get out of the cab) This one had Lucas switches and I hate Lucas switches! So I went with toggle switches for everything No self cancelling turnsignals, but I got used to that quickly.
If I remember, your doing a tilt cab? So you will need a real short column, like the one Steve made. See his swivel u-joints, they are long so they can bend probably over 100%. Those new shiny u-joints for steering only bend about 40%, not enough to let the shaft/column follow the cab as it goes over all the way. As you tilt the cab you need to align the bottom u-J at the box so it won't bind. The top U-J will turn as it need, so as not to bind. You also need a sliding DD shaft like Steve's. Start with the longest shaft you can find & cut it down as needed. IDIDIT makes a 12" tilt column.
I used the steering transfer boxes to move the steering shaft forward and now its also straight up. Now the slideing steering shaft will only have to move 3 inches because the steering transfer box is at the center of the cab travel .Also I was hopeing to use a normal tilt steering column like 1 of those street rod ones on ebay. I was going to use a cadillac column i had in my garage but that is not going to work out here is a picture. It would help if the ujoint at the column would move 90 degrees for pivot purposes. Is there 1 I could get that would fit the 1"dd shaft? I may still have to us a short steering column .The power steering hoses are just in place to keep dirt out and will be changed after I paint the frame
Even with my crazy set-up, I will have to disconnect my lower u-joint to tilt the cab. That area of the cab floor moves almost straight forward as the cab tips. I plan to be able to check oil and coolant without tilting the cab, so loosening up the u-joint won't be an everyday event.
I know what you mean about the shaft moving forward at the floor level, I haven't completed my floor yet, I was thinking maybe a rubber boot in the floor with a slit, covered with the carpet? Pull the carpet back go forth... I haven't though about that much. " not yet"
WOW, that is a wild looking setup. I wish I had a better understanding of were your steering box is at the floor? I can't help with a name of my yokes, I started with the parts off my GM P30 donner chassis. The step van had a similar setup as we are doing. But the GM's shaft was short & didn't slide. One end yoke was 36 spline, bolted to the steering box. At the other end of the shaft was a yoke with 36 spline bolted to the column. But the two yoke ends welded to the shaft I couldn't use. So I took the u-joints off the yoke welded to the shaft & took them to a drive shaft shop & told him what I wanted to accomplish. He set me up with two new U-joints & two matching yokes, one with 3/4" hole, one with a 1" hole. I was able to weld them to my sliding shaft. The only down side of mine is, I half to use a 36 spline steering column/GM. That will cost extra to get an after market column with 36 spline shaft. But that's OK, I'm trying to keep my truck as GM bolt on parts as possible.. Maybe take a photo of Steves yoke/U-joint to A drive line shop, they have catalog books & can order anything. I didn't realize how many different types of yokes there are, from baby buggy;s to rockets.
Well I got my steering working. Everything works with no binding. I can tilt the cab the full amout without disconnecting the steering. the radiator fits and front end fits. I could move the front transfer box about a 1/2 inch foward but Im saying to myself if it works dont fix it. 2 Problems I had was my steering box was almost laying flat and the steering shaft would of had to almost rap around the box. I thought of trying to install other boxes but nothing seemed to work for 1 reason or another. I thought of rack and pinion but I still would have to use the transfer boxes. Also my steering column would have gone down through the floor that you would have 1 leg on each side of the column. My cab moves forward 28 inchs as it gose up. So the next 2 problems are throttle cable and trans cable movement as the cab gose up. So thanks everone for helping with steering and I would like to know if anyone has Ideas for throttle or trans cable. Im thinking that they will both have to go front to the hinge point and then back. Another idea I had is to have the cab drop into a bracket as it comes down But im thinking that may not work because there will be to much play for the shifter and pedal to work.
I got the idea from you wetskier. I was at a large antique truck show yesterday 1000 + trucks here are some coe pics.
I was to the point that I had to make my running board brackets. The running boards have to move with the cab otherwise I was thinking they will be in the way if they seperate when the cab Goes up. The only way I could figure out how to do that is to put the fenders grill splash pans and steps on the truck so I could get the running board brakets in the correct spot. I also wanted to make sure the hood would fit.So I got the running board brackets roughed in now and can finsh the welding when I dissasemble the sheet metal.
Thanks Guys. I am hopeing to get most of the welding done on the frame so I can get the frame and bottom of cab and firewall sand blasted so i can paint it before winter but I dont know if that will happen. They are hydrualic cylinders with a 28 or 30 inch stroke and about 2 or 2 1/4 diameter. I got a 12 volt pump and tank of ebay I think it was about 250.00 for that. its mounted in the right front of the frame in front of the engine I will see if I can find a Better picture I still need to do more with the hoses they are just temperary so i Can lift the cab up and down
that's a sweet setup... probably a far better choice than my linear actuator which is rated for the job, but has an increasingly difficult time as I add more stuff to the cab and sleeper...
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