Snowy's 3-Linked 98 Xtra Cab

No going back now!

 

Excellent!!

 

Starting to create instead of removing feels really good. Outside fish plate is on, going to run another one inside and 2” 3/16” flat stock top and bottom in addition to where I’m at now. Figured I didn’t need to go nuts plating down the original frame since it’s already plated 3/16” on the outside. I’m extremely excited to have a blank canvas of clean metal to work from for shock towers, bumps and steering box.



Frame rails land just above the bottom of the block on a straight edge. Should be great for clearance

 

Raising the motor while your doing all this?

 

I would go way more than 2" on the top and bottom, I would go like at least 6"+ on either side of the joint. You have like insane force on that frame joint, not one you want to chance! Plus you will inevitably jump it with your 5 bypass shocks and air bumps.

 

Yep, I’ll bring it up an inch or so. I’ll run out of clearance on my power steering resi to the hood if I go any higher.

The plates are just shy of 7” long from Barnes so 3.5” on each side of the joint. Top and bottom gussets will be longer too. I’ll run into issues with shock towers if I get too much farther forward though on fish plates

 

I don’t think he’s doing bypasses haha. I think I’m the only one dumb enough to try to squeeze all that in there.

 

Ha exactly!

The ride improvement from links will be appreciated by my back but I’m not aiming to really go fast.

I did do some digging on fish plates and the consensus seems to be that the fish plate should be twice as long as the frame is tall on c-channel frames. On a 2x3 boxed frame with plates on all sides, I’m not worried.

 

So I’m not going to be featured on #weldporn, but the passenger side of the frame is officially done and I’m started on the driver side.

 

That inner frame rail on the drivers side blows! Watch out there is a rubber fuel or brake line there that I set on fire a few times and is a royal PITA to work around!

At least on mine there was....

 

Yeah I skipped a night of working on it last night because it looks annoying to work around the clutch slave and brake lines. Ended up putting a deposit on a boat instead during that free time...so I’m doing a great job of filling all of the available space in the shop!

 

A boat? Man you must hate yourself!!

 

Looking good, mud will cover those ugly welds


Just kidding, it really does look good

 

Yeah I’m doing some real masochist shit right now!

Actually I’ve grown up with a ski boat so they don’t scare me. Direct drive inboards are super simple. The current boat has a Ford 351 and this one is Chevy 350 powered so they are pretty easy to keep going

 

Definitely a masochist. Picked up a low hour 2011 Mastercraft x14. Basically the last “big” slalom skiing hull MC produced before it became more focused on surfing for all boats bigger than 19’. It’ll be sad to move on from the 1988 MC Tristar that’s been in the family since new, but the extra space and power will be awesome for 6-8 people days on the water. Having the dealer do a couple of things before bringing it home so I don’t fall into project hell.

 

Can't wait for a ride

 

Back to regularly scheduled programming...

Got the driver side frame plated. Fought with brake lines and clutch slave lines for longer than I’d like to admit.

Motor mounts are burned in, lifted the motor about an inch over stock. Reused the stock plates off the original frame and plated them
with 1/8 to make sure they don’t tear

 

Axle and frame is completely clean and all ready for mounts. Frame side mounts are pretty much done. Just need to locate the lower link mounts on them once the axle side is close. Gusseted and plated over to move the lower in for some triangulation. Then I’m on to starting to cycle things. Should be around a 23.5” frame height on 37’s with 4.5” of uptravel. Oil pan and frame are the limiting factor of full bump.

 

No dimple dies? No baller points. Redo haha.