Another round of projects.

Gary Lewis wrote

But I'd worry about breaking the carb off if it tilts sideways very much.  

So long as my adapter doesn't fail...

I did not do any work with the project today, but it was a good day.  The previous owner's son was available today, so I took the trailer to town to show them the welder.  They where pretty excited to see and hear it run.  The son said he almost teared up when he heard the welder fire up.  I let him weld a few rods.  He had a pretty big smile when the welder came up off the idle.  His son (the grandson of the previous owner) was there and didn't remember seeing the truck move before or the hearing the welder run.  He even got to burn a few rods.  There was some discussion if I wanted to sell the welder back, but I don't really want to sell and I am pretty sure they where only half serious.  All in all, I think it was worth the drive for me to let him take a trip down memory lane.  

That’s really cool!  I’m sure they were very pleased.

Another merit badge earned.










Now, get back to work!  

I was an eagle scout after all...

That was cool! Kudos!

Does anyone know if stepside bedsides are available aftermarket?  Trying to get an idea of what it will cost to build a stepside bed without having one.  I see bed front wall, tailgates, and wood support cross members are all available.  The fenders themselves won't work anyway so I do not need to source factory stuff.  The bedsides are not that complicated of a steel section.  I imagine a convincing bedside could be made from scratch.  Since it would ultimately have to be shortened anyway for the bronco chassis if I go that route it might be better to just build something.

I have been busy lately catching up on some firewood and helping my brother move a mill into his shop.  Getting close to getting back to the welding truck.

The fun news today...

Upon walking around the bronco I noticed a crack I had not seen before.  Which led me to look closer in a couple other areas.



This crack was above the driver's door, and I noticed maybe another 5 or 6 I had not seen before.  With the top off I found several suspect welds around the back edge of the roof that I imagine were to repair small cracks.  There is also a crack I knew about at the base of the passenger A pillar beside the windshield.  

As much as I like the bronco body I am getting more and more of the opinion to drop the weld truck cab on this frame and build a small flatbed or modify/build a stepside to suit.  

The previous owner (who had swapped the diesel) was very upfront on how the bronco came together when I purchased it.  He had taken several months of time cleaning the chassis with the body off, prepping it, and painting it, went through the brakes, and all new suspension bushings.  Swapped the motor and trans all over from his f250.  He had planned to restore the body before putting it on the frame.  At this point in the project his life priorities changed and he had to sell his daily driver and needed the bronco as a driver right then.  The bronco body was tossed on the frame and quickly made to be drivable.  It had a lot of loose ends left to figure out.  HVAC was pretty much unoperable, power steering had a leak, brake booster had an issue, trans lines had an issue, wipers didn't function correctly, no interior lights, etc...  I drove the bronco before I bought it and you could tell it drove nice.  It is mechanically in very good shape now (I have addressed and corrected most all of the issues).  I even had the AC lined out last year.  It is very lacking in the body department and is coming apart all over.  I think the time to retire the bronco body is approaching quickly.

Cory made his Flareside box sides.
There was some discussion in his thread about bedside availability (or lack thereof) in Canada.
Edit, starting here:. http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/1980-F150-4x4-Flareside-Project-tp67555p82808.html

The Bronco roof thing has come up in recent discussion too.
Evidently Ford created retrofit braces meant to reinforce the roof corners.
I'm not sure if those braces might create hard points that might be contributing.

<quote author="IDIBronco">
Does anyone know if stepside bedsides are available aftermarket?  Trying to get an idea of what it will cost to build a stepside bed without having one.  I see bed front wall, tailgates, and wood support cross members are all available.  The fenders themselves won't work anyway so I do not need to source factory stuff.  The bedsides are not that complicated of a steel section.  I imagine a convincing bedside could be made from scratch.  Since it would ultimately have to be shortened anyway for the bronco chassis if I go that route it might be better to just build something.

As much as I like the bronco body I am getting more and more of the opinion to drop the weld truck cab on this frame and build a small flatbed or modify/build a stepside to suit.<quote>
Before you get more of us Flare Side owners on you, step side is a Chevy thing LOL

Because it would be so short I dont know if going through all the trouble of a flare side would be worth it?
When I rebuilt my flare side bed all I had was the sides with most of the bolt lip gone on both sides, part of the rear sill, running boards w/braces and fenders with cracks.

After pricing out the needed parts, all metal cross members, front & rear sills, wood blocks and wood bed flooring, metal strips plus all the hard ware it was over $1000 and I paid $800 for the truck!
I still needed the front panel & tail gate!

I had a long bed parts truck that rolled over and caved in 1 side of the bed but the floor was in great shape, it was bed lined.
After measuring a lot I used the metal ribbed parts truck floor, had to shorten the floor, fixed my bed side panels to bolt to the metal floor.
I took what was left or the rear sill outer part and grafted it to the metal bed floor,
Took 1 of the long bed cross braces cut down to fix the bottom of the front bed panel.
And was able  to get the running board braces to bolt to the front cross member.


It was a lot of fab work but in the end it looks like a factory metal ribbed flare side truck.
Thing is if I want I can unbolt the bed sides get the needed parts for the wood and bolt my finished side back on and have a wood floor flare side.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

Before you get more of us Flare Side owners on you, step side is a Chevy thing LOL

Noted.  

I remember Ford having flareside designation on the f150 later, but for some reason I remember on my ranger them using the phrase "stepside styling",  however that is from a good time ago.  

I have much more ranger truck background.   (Maybe 7 of them)  probably where the issue arrises is my 98 with the "Splash" style bed has been around about the longest and has been always refered to as "The Stepside".  I will try to follow standard convention from here forward.  
After finding and pricing the pieces and considering the amount of work to modify/make a "stock" FLARESIDE bed, I am about 100% sure I will be going with a custom built.  Get to use the new welding setup and will just build what I want.  I like the flareside look, but I don't know that it is worth the effort to use stock stuff.  

I have been slowly going through the back of storage boxes, looking through the top of shelves, checking rafters...  trying to gauge what I have on hand to work with.  Considering how much of a low dollar budget the project needs to be I may have to dig deep into my parts treasure trove and, like usual, probably not follow the normal route.  

Not a big deal on the flare side / step side thing

Yea the little splash trucks had a flare side bed but they mat have called it a step side I dont know as I was never into them but know of them.

On the bed I think a custom bed would be the way to go.
With the truck cab on the Bronco frame how much frame is left for a bed?
I dont know if even a style side bed cut down would even fit right?
Dave ----

Someone else has done it before.