I have thought about hiring a neighborhood teenager to do the nasty grinding work, might be worth thinking about
GMC / Chevy Project Dual Sport ; 1998 GMC Sierra
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
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- build thread
I have thought about hiring a neighborhood teenager to do the nasty grinding work, might be worth thinking about
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
I have thought about hiring a neighborhood teenager to do the nasty grinding work, might be worth thinking about
I've always wondered if one of those big 9" grinders would be the way to go for big jobs like that? Don't they chew through things faster just due to a larger surface contact area?
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I have thought about hiring a neighborhood teenager to do the nasty grinding work, might be worth thinking about
That is a great idea, I just don't trust any of the neighbor teenagers with my truck and a grinder!
I have access to a big 9" Milwaukee at work and have brought it home one weekend, thinking the same thing. It does remove material faster, but it's heavy and awkward to operate in tight places. The weight wears you out if you're not resting the cutting disc on what you're grinding. Plus, the IFS frame has some reliefs for the brackets that could make it hard to get a big 9" grinding disc into. I'm going to do as much work as I can with the torch, then have at it with the little 4.5" grinder.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Perhaps, to be honest it wasn't all that bad with the 4.5" grinder. I went back over my torch cuts and melted as much material as I could, right up against the frame. There was still plenty of grinding and I only have one side done, but it wasn't as much work as I thought it would be.
I picked up a large sheet oil drip tray, to contain most of the slag and grinding dust in place, it also helps keep my epoxy-covered garage floor free of burns! It worked great, its easy to pickup the waste come cleanup time! I used the hell out of the torch, the Sawzall saw plenty of action, as did the grinder and sledge hammer. Lots of work, but I should be hanging springs tomorrow!
Here's today's progress, I spent 11 hrs in the garage, with a break every now & again! Not bad for a sick, old man.
I started fitting up the front spring hangers from Offroad Design and began thinking about what I was going to do with that ugly IFS crossmember. I stared at it, thought about trimming it down, etc, etc, etc. I'm pretty sure I spent almost an hour trying to decide what to do. After looking thru my steel pile, I found a long piece of 2 x 3 x 3/8" rectangle steel and decided to just cut the IFS crossmember and I will weld the 2 x 3 up higher and out of the way.
Some careful work with the torch, to minimize grinding -
This shit is a lot of work!
Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
awesome, this is gonna be sweet soon.
My 4.5" angle grinder is my most used tool. Love it. I used to rock the harbor freight one and that lasted a couple years but then the gears in he head went out and locked up and I replaced it with the Milwaukee 4.5" grinder and love it. 5 year replacement warranty. I also have a 7" grinder that my dad swears by (he thinks I'm dumb for using my 4.5 on everything) but I absolutely hate that heavy monster of a grinder. IMO if there is that much metal that needs removed to need a 7" grinder then there is a better tool (oxy act or plasma come to mind) for the job.
OrvisKrawler
Captain Obvious
- Location
- Eden UT
looking great! are you going cut the old sway bar mounts off or leave em?
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Thanks! I've gained much respect for your swap and anyone else that has done this!
I'm going to leave them, I have plans to run a anti-sway bar... hopefully I can make it disconnect when not needed.
- Location
- Smithfield Utah
Ugh I am sooo happy my Ford came factory with that axle already in it! .......... j/k LOL
Looks great! Can't wait to see more
.......... j/k LOLLooks great! Can't wait to see more
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Ugh I am sooo happy my Ford came factory with that axle already in it!
Looks great! Can't wait to see more
Biting my tongue 'till it bleeds...
I haven't made as much progress as I wanted to in the last 2 days.... but I have made progress.
More to come tomorrow, hopefully the front leafs will be bolted up. Now it's just a matter of fitting the Solid Axle Conversion brackets up and drilling many holes for the bolts. Here's what's been done as of today -
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
great work. I hate grinding all the ifs crap off. It takes way more time than you'd think, but it's worth it!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Agreed, I do want to do this right and not half-ass it. Taking the time to do it right is well worth it.
Thanks Dan, I can't wait to get it out on the trail!
Don't do it Bart, leave the tow rig alone!
Alright, more progress from the day! I worked on the Solid Axle Conversion from OffRoad Design... this is the most difficult part of the build and must be done right. The parts for the conversion are all bolt-on, so no welding! It's nice, but there are quite a few holes to drill. I do have to say, the hardware ORD provides is top-notch... it's not cheap stuff, you can tell all the hardware is quality material. I spent all day getting this far... and it's exciting!
Front shackle mounts going on-
One spring on...
Two springs on!
I don't have all the bolts for the front end, so the spring on the passenger side isn't bolted to the shackle. No big deal, hopefully we can get it coming tomorrow. I'm stoked to have the springs in place, now I need to finish rebuilding the front Dana 60 and get is bolted up. After that it's a matter of steering, shocks, brake lines, conversion u-joint, hydro-boost brakes, exhaust, front driveshaft and some other small stuff. And waiting on my tires... a set of 37x12.5x17 Goodyear MTR's! Hopefully the tires will be here within 2 weeks or less.
RockChucker
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
With as permanent as a mod as this is, why not just weld it on? Seems it would be a lot faster than drilling a zillion holes...Unless of course you were planning on going back to the IFS in a couple years
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
With as permanent as a mod as this is, why not just weld it on? Seems it would be a lot faster than drilling a zillion holes...Unless of course you were planning on going back to the IFS in a couple years
There's no going back to IFS, all the brackets are gone! Bolting it on is easier for most guys that may not have access to a welder (or the skills), plus some of the holes are already there, making it easy to locate the brackets. I could weld it, but it's more than strong enough with the bolts.
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT