C8 progress in Texas

[Bob Carriere]

Hi David

They do stand out real nice. And you are correct there are many styles that were originally made but yours look the part. Any idea of the gauge of the steel used???


Bob C.

[David DeWeese]

Hi Bob,

They are 14 gauge sheet metal. That's fairly light, but they are for show, plus one of the revisions made was to add metal to the edges and fold it over flat to add rigidity.

I will get the drawings with the end revisions in the next day or so, and post them.

Thanks, David

[Bob Carriere]

Currently using 14 gauge to rebuild/repair a 2B1 box........ bending has to bedone at a local fasbricator as I can't handle over 16 gauge.....
tis heavy and very solid.

Thank you......

[David DeWeese]

Hi,

Apparently, the drawings of the sand channels that were given to me were the initial drawings without the revisions we made to make what I ended up with. As me and my friend discussed the changes by phone, he wrote them down, but didn't include them in the PDF he sent me...

Here is what I have to date, with my amateurish attempts to include the revisions. If these are not readable, I will send the PDF to folks interested. If there is not enough information here to reproduce what I had made, I will measure my made channels, and post the information until there is..

Thanks, David

the reinforcements put on the lower edges, and across the tops were 3/4"x 3/16" hardware store steel strap. Bob, the gauge of the sheet metal is 16 gauge.

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks David

Please forward a PDF format to RAC1812(at)AOL>COM.........

Now I know what they mean when they say "a picture is worth a thousand words"....... this has to be made into a "sticky" by Hanno.

My initial questions.....

1. did you weld a one inch trip to the long edge or was it welded to the semi circular bent edge.....?

2. I may round off the Imperial measurements for simplicity.

3. I liked the additional reinforcement 1 inch wide metal straps added to the original channels.

4. Once I get the PDF I may consider adjusting the width to match my 10:50 tires size if necessary. I may make a short version for testing as my pan box brake can handle 16 gauge up to 40 inches.

Again thanks for sharing.

Bob C.

[David DeWeese]

Hi, Bob.

The channels were originally supposed to have a 1" rounded edge on the length as in some of the photos I had, but the sheet metal bender couldn't do it for some reason.
I told them to just leave the edges flat, bent 90 degrees down from the 35 degree bend, and I would do the finishing work. That extra sheet metal was 2" wide on each side. Not wanting to impose on my friend who had done me a big favor already, I took the pieces to a local bender. They took the 2" edge, and folded it back onto itself to make a 1" double-thickness edge along the channel's length. This made them way more rigid. I didn't have to weld anything on.

I keep looking at these drawings, and can't see how someone could reproduce these from what I have presented, so I am going to measure what I have here, and add to it..

The added 3/4 x 3/16" strap used were drilled, tapped and installed using 1/4-20 button-head allen screws, with the heads filled to look like rivets, (34 of them per channel)....my forearms looked like Popeye's after drilling and tapping 68 holes that day!


Thanks, David

[Bob Carriere]

Hi David

I asked my fabricator if he could do a one inch fold over like yours for the tail gate of my 2B1 box...... he can do a "folder over" of 3/4 in. and a second fold over of 3/4 which he can do but can not fold over the last 3/4 in. fold flat which I can do by hand........ I am also considering using a 3/4 in angle iron as the edge reinforcement for the tail gate.....just different ways to get to Rome.

As for the strap I will drill and rivet as I have the die for that size.

Do you know if the bigger holes were punched or drilled....? I may have to adjust the hole size to match his tooling....would hate to have to drill each hole individually although drilling is less likely to stretch and curve the flat stock.

I think I have enough info to do the channel BUT must finish the rebuild of the 2B1 box which is under way ........ the box is currently mounted on a rear section of frame then welded to a rotisserie......had to rebuild all four corner sides........... now coating everything in in POR 15, then Tie coat primer then 2 coats of OD green......both the tail gate and front board have to be done at a fabricator in 14 gauge which is beyond what I can handle in length and gauge.

rotisserie is dream when it comes to flipping the box over for welding and painting.

Found an 8 foot pan box brake for $4500 but can't afford the steel for the box and the brake so doing it the hard way one small section at a time. The POR and OD paint blew $500 very quickly ......

I estimate that rebuilding a 2B1 box from scratch ( I am repairing an old rusted box saving all the underpinning) would easily exceed $2500 to $3000 not including my labor. Steel is now so expensive.

Thanks again for the inspiration.

Bob C.