Projects 1950 Chevy 5700 COE Build

I have been working on a small dent. I have it mostly out but there is still enough of it that I am not satisfied. I cannot quite figure out where to but the dolly on the back side so the last little bit will be worked out.

 

I would put the dolly on the front side directly over it and hit from the backside.

 

Those turn-signal lights are neat !! almost looks like military "black-out", but those type have a different color, IIRC

 

On that small of a dent you can tap from the back side with the dolly or the hammer to raise it up even or just about even with the main surface. Then you can use the dolly on the back side and smooth the dent the rest of the way with light tapping from the outside.

 

Pretty cool project. I like those turn signals.

 

Whittling away at the fender. I think it is going ok considering limited body experience. Obviously still some work to do.

 

The passenger side fender always takes the worst beating but this one is still much better than the one I used on the back of the International. Keep up the work and continue to post your progress.

 

I like your build a lot !
Keep us in pics

 

Nice work. Keep it up. I want one of those bad. Might have to move the deuce.

 

Still working on the fender. I promise to not post like this for the whole build thread but I'm just kind of learning how to do a little body work so I am probably a little too much with the pics of only the fender. It looks like the truck may have went through a fence sometime in it's life. There are some deep scratches. I do not know if filler primer will take care of those or not. Also the hammer is leaving little marks. Is this something that I am doing wrong? I am not hitting very hard at all.

 

I get these hammer marks also, I feel they come from my contacting the metal with the edge of the hammer, not hitting the flat face of the hammer. I expect more practice is necessary to overcome this problem. Maybe someone else can add another explanation.
You will probably need a spot putty to fill the deep fence scratches, check with your paint supplier for the product that works with the primer and topcoat you will be using.

 

You will not get as many hammer or dolly marks if you radius the edges and polish the striking surfaces . This might help you . Good luck and have fun , I'm doing this same work .

 

Go back over the area again, this time with a dolley closest to the radius as the area your working, dolley on the inside, with pressure on the dolley, use a slapper on the outside. Go over the area with a shrinking disc. Repeat until all lows and highs are worked out.

Work a small area at a time
Have pressure on the dolley

 

So I got sidetracked a little. My brothers convinced me to buy an old CJ7 that needed "a little" work. Turns out it has taken most of my attention but in replacing all the rust I am actually getting in some practice for the COE. I went to the salvage yard today to pick up a font axle for the jeep and I stumbled onto this. Its a frame from a motor home, chevy 1 ton dually components. The frame is flat all the way back, obviously IFS, and the steering box is mounted pretty much where I anticipate that I would have mounted it. I was not ready for this yet, but kind of hard to turn it down. And there is no motorhome body that I have to worry about disposing of.

 

That's a great find, and saves a ton of work removing all the sheet metal, etc. Good score.

 

Alan said you had such a project, keep up the good work, it will be an interesting ride when done. I have always loked COS's

 

Can't even spell this morning that should be COE not COS

 

Never seen a steering setup using a bell crank like that....what a great idea. Thanks for those pics!
I'm wondering if that steering box may be too far forward and outboard for your truck though?

 

I am concerned about being outboard too far. If it is too far forward I could easily moved it back and shorten the pitman arm, keeping the original geometry. Moving it inboard may be more of a challenge. The bell crank on the steering stabilizer I also thought was interesting.

 

Looks like the same box used on big vans but they are turned sidewards . Used on on my COE and it worked out great .

 

Steering box will be too far out and too far forward. Looks like you could move the box back, turn it 90 degrees and install a regular pitman arm and do away with the bell-crank. I used a Chevy 1 ton van box on my 47. The reason being the longer sector shaft gets the box up higher in the chassis and cuts down on the angle of the steering joint.