Project "Suki" (91 B26i) HID's installed

nothings like working on your truck in natural light!

passenger inner

driver outer

Looking good man

it might be a little late to do this, but what I would have done on the fish plates would have been to drill a couple of holes in it and welded them full to the frame, giving you some extra strength on the welds and on the plates. Are you still using the flux core wire welder or are you using a higher power stick welder? There is a lot that one can't tell from photos alone but you want to make certain that you had great penetration into the steel to make it as strong as possible. Just looking out Leland, I'd hate to see anything bad happen to such a sweet truck

From an asthetic viewpoint, this is coming along great! getting ready to bag Suki, she's going to be much nicer than before

well im gonna rock static like its going out of style for a while, i want to put the other 2 leafs back in the rear and pull the blocks, maybe add a pair of 1 or 2 inch ones, and still have factory ride quality vs the bouncy i've been having. i could only do so much last night with the rain and it getting dark but i'm using my lincoln pro-core 100 with the .035 flux. got wire speed at about 3-3.5 and voltage at d which is what it calls for one 1/8 and 1/4in thicknesses. i've actually had a few small spots that have burned thru and im gonna add another bracing point on the insides of the frame.

Sounds like your are getting a decent amount of weld penetration. Some additional bracing would be a good idea. I was surprised how much my frame flexed in that very spot and I did not make any changes at that point.

Something I would suggest would be to put the very end of the frame (back bumper) on jack stands and use a floor jack at the carrier bearing to see just how much flex you actually get before you can lift the frame off the jack stands.

the back end is actually currently supporting itself and has been since last night. i removed the jacks from the rear differential and only have the ones under the cab and nose. i even just put all the steel i picked up this afternoon on my way home for the flat bed on the back end of it. still holding at the moment.

is that a mock-up of your new bed frame or is it going to sit at that height? Reason I ask is that I did similar construction on my current one and I ran into issues with the tires rubbing the frame during turns and under load. Eventually caused a blowout on an interstate on-ramp.

I eventually did a notch in my bed, lifting it up some. I might have a picture in my archives showing the damage to the bed and how I lifted it up some.

Wish I did metal like you did, that's gonna be sick as hell when it's done. Is it gonna be a flatty or is it going to have side walls? Are you gonna have hooks for some straps? Top side fuel tank access or a side jobber like on work trucks? I always wanted to do a bar on the side similar to what you see on tractor trailers where you can use ratchet straps along the whole bed frame complete with the white/red/white/red reflector tape.