DropOut: Bagged & BD'd on 20's

looks like you pretty much got it on the square tubing only advice i guess i could give is tack on the corners of tubing where as you can always put a square or level on long seams of tubing while corner is tacked to get it perfect & also could leave a solid good looking weld on the long seams and tie into the corners where the tack is. if you tack in middle of seam and you weld over it might bulge out and look ugly if your into the details.,grinding sucks lol. bye the way just curious how high did you put your driveshaft crossmember to clear when layed out on the 20's?? looking good!

We used like 3 levels and 2 welding magnets but still found it challenging to keep everything square and level but we got it, it was just aggrevating And I try to always tack on the corners.
As far as the crossmember is concerned I cant remember off the top of my head but we built it to clear with about an inch of clearance... Each setup will vary depending on tire size.

The truck has been relaxing in the garage since my brothers boy was born about 3 weeks ago but we will get back into it soon enough, in the mean time we have been cleaning the garage and adding more lights, a new air dryer/ filter and new plumbing for the compressor along with a hose reel and Ive been gathering materials to finish the interior on my bagged Tbird project, hoping to have it done and ready for paint this coming spring-summer time and be done with it.

quick question how did you go about removing the inner bed sides? im in the process of over bodydropping my stock bed floor i was thinking about plasma cutting it at the top under the bed rails but its pretty close to the outer skin didnt want to cut through that ouch! i thought you might have plasma cut it or used cutoff wheels? looking killer man. keep up the good work

Use the plasma if u have one and turn it way down.

Yeah that's what I was kinda thinking about doing, was just seein if anyone else was cutting with plasma and not cutting through outer skin. would be mucho! faster that cutoff wheels. thanks for the response mymmeryloss

We used cutoff wheels and a sawzall in some places, even my torch came into play hahaha. It sucked and I wish we had a plasma that day... We planned on scrapping the floor so we chopped the shit out of it.

I had to sign up for this site. Your build is top notch! Amazing work!!!

So you're doing all this with a Hobart 140? What size wire are you using? I love that welder but didn't think it was strong enough for this kind of work.

Thanks for the compliment, glad you like it.
About the welder yes everything has been done with the 140. Lots of prep was done with every piece of metal that was welded such as beveling, pre heating the joints, good clean metal and a solid ground. I run .30 wire with straight co2 and it gets good penetration. I wouldnt want to use anything smaller than the 140 though but with the right steps it does a good job.

You pre heat the metal?
Would you advise using this welder to do your own 4 link? The bar ends are pretty thick. Not sure the 140 can penetrate enough to really hold. Not something I would want coming undone while driving. lol


I haven't stated build a truck yet, just getting everything together before hand so it won't take as long and a welder is something I need to buy now. I am also looking into the Eastwood TIG welder, maybe better for welding up things like the bar ends..........

I built the upper link bars and welded them with the 140. If I had a bigger welder I would certaintly have used it but like I said in my last post I beveled the edges really well and pre heated the steel with my oxy acetylene torch (i have also used a map gas hand torch, just takes longer) and feel good about the strength. Pre heating the metal first helps the weld burn in much smoother on a smaller welder, not sure if its necessary with a 220 unit.