[dieselcrawler]

For many years, ever since seeing a picture of a truck built by Tim Guthrie aka Custom Autos By Tim, I have dreamed of building this truck... a crew cab with an extended cab rear door section added to the rear, frame stretched to match, with a short bed. With the wife expecting our 7th child, I started actively making this happen. Already having a stable of Superduty trucks, having done extensive cab repairs to my buddy's superdutys, I know I can handle the fabrication aspect, just lack the cabs to cut up! A trade deal of some ATVs yielded a 2000 F250 CCSB 4x4 Lariat gas moter truck with motor issues, and the local trade bullitin board led me to a stripped 2001 extended cab for (gasp) $100.

Game on!

This is a 'low budget, in my spare time, make it work with what I have' type project, while not cutting corners on safety or making it a 'hack job'. I will be juggling work (12 hour night shifts), wife and kids, 118ac farm and critters, rental properties, and other normal daily life duty. Stay tuned...

 

[dieselcrawler]

I have already started stripping the crew cab, in just a few hours, the seats, carpet, headliner, door trim, and wiring was removed or peeled back to the dash. Once I'm ready to disable the truck, I will remove the dash and dissect the wiring to keep the power windows/locks/mirrors, while being ready to install the diesel wiring harness once the cab fab work is done. I'm still driving the truck donating it's drivetrain/wiring, etc.

And waiting around at the hospital after the delivery of our youngest son is giving me time to start this thread... momma and son are doing great, heading home in a few hours.

Here are some pictures of the area where the splice between crew cab front and extended cab rear will take place... the thought process of where to unstich factory spot welds vs just cut thru everything is long and difficult, I'm only getting started.

 

[looking4psd]

Good on you Greg. I dont know what is more impressive, taking on the fab work or having seven kids ( I have three myself). My hat is off to you. Best of luck at both and congrats on the new little one. Can't wait to see how it comes together.

 

[DieselDC]

Sub'd


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[dieselcrawler]

I got home from work this morning and almost got to take a nap... but I headed to the barn when my wife's cousins GF showed up to talk babies (she's expecting any time now too) and family gossip with the wife. Spent most of the day on pulling the crew cab off the frame. Cab is now solidly taking up a huge amount of real estate in the barn, the chassis is back outside. Had to take the front tires off and use the floor Jack as a dolly to get motor low enough to slide out under the cab. But it's off!

 

[Rattlesnake18]

Very cool!

Have you seen any of @h0trod 's builds?

 

[zsargent]

my god.....And I thought I was busy...dang. Do you get to sleep ? How do you even find time to get the wife pregnant???? :rofl:

Anxious to see the build for sure....

 

[DieselDC]

my god.....And I thought I was busy...dang. Do you get to sleep ? How do you even find time to get the wife pregnant???? :rofl:

Anxious to see the build for sure....

Bawahaha he's a ninja brother chit. My little girl keeps me busy but I still have some time here and there but 7 - I tip my hat to you budddy!


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[DieselDC]

Have you thought of making the roof higher? I thought about that 1 gives it th semi look.


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[zsargent]

Bawahaha he's a ninja brother chit. My little girl keeps me busy but I still have some time here and there but 7 - I tip my hat to you budddy!


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If he's anything like me I only need 5 minutes, including 4 minutes of cuddle time ! :rofl:

 

[DieselDC]

Haha man this is just too entertaining - choked on my own spit rofl. Okay okay back to the OP b4 we really tear up his thread and he gives us a smack down - clowning and all.

Waiting for more updates pls


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[dieselcrawler]

What, you need a whole minute? I'm so short on time, I've got it down to 15 seconds...


But wait...

Don't.

Go.

There.

This is a truck thread! *grin*

Updates as they happen... but somewhat intentionally the cab is the center of attention now, as it takes up most of my avaliable space... no room to do anything else until it moves! Gotta strip the dash, doors, under the hood, of any and all wiring and gasser related items.

 

[DieselDC]

Something that I've wondered for the longest. Are the cabs welded, soldered, brazed together? They are what? 12-16ga material. Evan I'm afraid to weld on so,etching that thin with my Lincoln 180. Lincoln 250 is for my thick stuff but I find myself using the 25+ yo welder for everything anyways.


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[dieselcrawler]

Cab assembly is done by panels overlapped and spot welded. You can 'un-stich' the panels reasonably easy with a spot weld cutter, which is nothing more than a small hole saw with depth control built in so it only goes thru one layer.

I have a Hobart Handler 140 mig welder with gas, which will do just fine for thin sheet metal, best with .023 wire, but possible with .030 wire, which is all I have. Don't have the proper drive wheels for the .023, but might have to purchase them for this project.

 

[DieselDC]

When you get to overlapping and welding it it - pls take a few photos of the process.


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[dieselcrawler]

Lol... 'Please take a few photos'... guess you've never read my build threads before! I take pictures of every detail, every step of the way, and share in threads like these. If photobucket wasn't sh!t, posting pictures would still be easy, and pictures of past projects are now blocked... p!$$es me off. But I will post what I can on this project.

 

[DieselDC]

Try www.fotolode.com. Photos are never blocked/deleted. Interface is simple but gets the job done. Has all the bb codes to copy paste in the forms.


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[dieselcrawler]

Spent what time I had yesterday getting the dash and wiring out of the cab, separating the door locks/windows harness from the rest of the mess, it will be needed. But the dash, HVAC system, brake system (pedal, booster/master cylinder and ABS driver) are all gone, as they each have some element that's is in conflict with the ones from the donor truck, be it model year 1999 vs 2000, gas vs diesel, or manual vs auto trans. Only had to cut one wire, (remnants of aftermarket alarm system) otherwise everything was neatly disconnected and removed, useable and more importantly, sellable.

 

[DieselDC]

Looks good. I need the drive side plastic piece (where you would put the gauges). Hook me up!

Will you be redoing your own seats or sending that job out?


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[dieselcrawler]

When I know what trim I'm not using, it will be up for grabs... at this point, I'm pretty sure I won't be using the main dash shell, but the gauge cover/surround is something I will likely use due to it not having holes cut in it!