started the BOB today

[russ132]

Nice, wish I had thought of that!

 

[juddspaintballs]

I have a small bench sized drill press. I will probably clamp that to the frame with bar clamps and use the drill press to drill the holes.

 

[92RT-TT]

great thread. I love seeing pictures because it shows me what I have to look forward to some day lol

 

[Mongoose1]

I used a complete redneck solution to drill my frame holes - but it worked (wish I would have taken a picture.)

I grabbed a medium length rubber tie-down and hooked one end on the frame in front of the drill. Then I wrapped the tie around the back of the drill, stretched it as tight as humanly possible and hooked the other end to the frame on the other side of the drill (again in front of the drill.) That then supplied constant pressure, pulling the drill forward into the frame and I only needed to keep it lubed up and held perpendicular to the drilling surface.

Made the drilling about 1000x easier, and allowed me to use fewer bits & hole saws.

That is absolutely BRILLIANT! Good job.

 

[RANDYDIRT]

I too drilled all my holes with a pair of cordless drills. I got good at it! The trick is to start with a 1/8 bit then move to 5/16 then to 1/2. With sharp bits I can drill a 1/2" hole in a frame in the amount time it would take me to set up a mag drill..... But I would sure like to have a mag drill!

Dirt

 

[gunner_bear]

Started my first battle with rivets I won but not looking forward to the next round!

 

[jimh1985]

I thought if you used the trailers frame under the deuce frame it gave it the correct stance...
Or do you just attach the springs from the trailer directly to the deuce frame??

 

[Floridianson]

Hey I'm all about "cheating"...

I use a forklift, gantry crane and a mag drill with sluggers (hole saw, not a drill bit, much quicker for the bumperette and gladhand holes).

And, your truck is looking great!

Would that be an annular bit you speak of? Yes that's my set up mag. drill press and annular bits! The only way to go besides a crane.

 

[russ132]

I used a Plasma cutter to shave the rivet heads down to the frame and then also used the Plasma cutter to drill out the rivet as far as it would cut. Then use an air chisel to push the rivet out. I found that drilling the center was important. This worked very well, there was still a few stubborn rivets but for the most part pretty easy... I do love flying blobs of molten metal.

 

[jamesfrom180]

If using russ132's method make sure your plasma cutter is rated for plunge cutting.

Also Gunner_bear are you building new perches for the springs? I was under the impression you used the frame to give you the lift needed to level the truck when using the trailer perches. Or did you pull it all apart to clean it up?

 

[russ132]

Oops, I did not check that. It must be rated because it worked well without damaging the tip.

 

[gunner_bear]

i will be using blocks between the spring and the axle. The spring hangers will be hooked direct to the frame of the truck.

 

[A/C Cages]

I also use my plasma cutter for everything. What a wonderful thing a plasma cutter is., lol

 

[Tinwoodsman]

I was talking to my welder today about drilling the holes for the gladhands and he suggested a hole saw. He also said to use water to cool the saw and not oil. I will try that because he drills a ton of these holes. Showed me a box of cores from holes he has drilled.

 

[russ132]

Hole saws do work great. At one of my jobs we use them all the time. You can cut a three inch hole right through 1/2 inch plate. Just be sure you use bi-metal hole saws. I have never tried water but it is certainly worth a shot.

 

[jamesfrom180]

Heat is your enemy in any tooling process with metal. Not sure I would go just water. Maybe look into the milling fluids available.

GB. Are you going to be using any sort of trailing arms to prevent the dreaded 1500 lb axle hop? I personally would not suspect the rear axle would wrap the springs all that much, but with all the gearing I can see it could happen. I have no experience with this and was just curious.

 

[gunner_bear]

got all the axles off and seperated, one side springs are mounted. Nothing on this thing is light The torch and air chisel was my friend.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Looks like is coming along rather quickly. I still think your cheating

 

[gunner_bear]

you will not think its cheating when i use a loader to load your axle in your truck

 

[ranchhopper]

I used the 105 trailer springs on only one of the deuces I bobbed I built leveling blocks for it they were 3 inches tall.I used one inch thick stock beveled welded and then welded the wedge from a set of deuce front springs to the bottom of the block on both sides for the proper drive line angle.105 springs work well but are more labor intensive than useing a set of springs from a donor deuce.