1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[1971ford]

I got excited

[smokey3215]

4 link ?

[koch68]

Coilovers?

[1971ford]

Nope, not yet. The truck will sit on coilovers later on, but right now I do need to draw a line somewhere, and this is where I draw it

Pulled the leafs to clean up the shackles and make this!

[1971ford]

[koch68]

That looks nice. Where's the bumper gunna be at?

[1971ford]

Spent another few hours at the shop today cutting out/drilling/cleaning up frame plating for the front area of the frame (as if the whole deal wasn't beafy enough), and finishing up the crossmember.It's just about done and will be on the truck tomorrow... I'm excited.

Original bumper will be going back on. Nothing different there. The receiver should sit just below the bumper. The winch hitch deal will have a long enough tube on it to slip into the crossmember under the bumper.

[1971ford]

[koch68]

What are the holes to the left of the d ring

[1971ford]

Those are rosette welds. The 1" solid steel that I slid into the sides of 3x5 are rosette welded in 12 places per side as well as plated top and bottom. The holes on the leaf spring perches are for just for fun.

[koch68]

Heavy duty lucky you work at a metal shop with all the cool stuff

[1971ford]

Well as if a girlfriend wasn't enough to slow things down on the truck I somehow got myself covered in poison oak head to toe so haven't been hanging out with her but also haven't been touching the truck. Started small and then got pretty gnarly so called in sick to both jobs the past few days and haven't been doing anything. Nothing drives me more crazy than sitting on the couch all day when I've got lots of stuff to get done on the truck.
Today I wasn't about to sit around all day again so I wrapped up the worst of the poison oak and got dirty.

I welded the tubes to the center section, and finished welding the inner C gussets on.
This axle should survive fine with the way I wheel this thing. Easy does it!
Well... it will do fine until I swap in a 60 and put the thing on coilovers next summer. Was thinking about doing 4 link, coilovers and a 60 right now but i NEED to draw a line and get this thing going again.








Set the bumper in place for fun.... couldn't believe how perfect the receiver fits under there. I didnt even think about that...




My high steer arms and knuckles are at Parts Mike getting drilled/tapped/installed. I'm picking them up tomorrow along with new seals, bearings, balljoints, etc. for the axle so I can get that sucker assembled and installed and get this beast rolling again!
Also cut off the heimed DOM drag link off my DOM tie rod since I should be able to re-use my fancy tie rod. I just need to pick up the materials tomorrow from RuffStuff to make a new drag link for the high steer.
No more stupid panhard bar or bump steer either... stoked!

[sargentrs]

Great progress. Fantastic hitch! Can't wait to see it all installed.

[smokey3215]

That front hitch setup looks familiar

[1971ford]

That front hitch setup looks familiar

Good eye!
I chat with Steve a lot on another forum. After hours of thought put into different possible designs I gave up trying to re-invent the wheel and went with Steve's design as it was the strongest way of building a crossmember (without dropping the front spring perches too low).
Steve's a fabrication mastermind