1964 Dodge A-100 Hot rod sort of rat rod build thread.

[onanysunday]

Feels like deja vu. Anyone want to make a bet these shocks bolt right in and work? I'm guessing not.

 

[onanysunday]

Slow and steady. Front is getting cut 9  7/8 in narrower. Nice on this one that I don't have to extend the mill head back and forth to reach. I can at least get about half of the one side cut and keep it super square.

 

[onanysunday]

Damn this one was a lot of work. Ready to weld. I am dead nuts accurate on this thing. Even corner to corner on my holes are within thousands of an inch. I will spend many Sundays building this truck if I want to get it done. Lots of structure that needs to be all welded in. That cradle really got tiny. Getting steering in this truck to work right is going to be extremely difficult. I keep dreaming about it. Online just looking at measurements a late 90s early 2000s Honda Accord rack shows to be around 10 in shorter. Not sure if I will go that route or try use any rack and then make a slider bar and weld in my pivot points. I will make my own bump steer gauge since I'm not spending $500 on one. This weekend I dreamed up some really awesome ideas to finish the inner bed panels. It's going to be crazy what I'm going to build. Just those two pieces will probably take me a week to 10 days to build. Long way off before I get to have that fun. Also working on layout and plasma cutting out our Chuck's speed center logo. I will Mount that on some cool mounts above the rear diff. That is going to be super cool. I almost have this truck all dreamed up in my head how I want to build it. Now time to execute. Other than the interior that will come later.way later.

 

[onanysunday]

1965 in our shop right now. One year newer than mine. Absolutely beautiful truck. I had a 65 4x4 with a 10,000 pound PTO winch driven by the transfer case. That truck was a beast.

 

[onanysunday]

Getting jiggy with it. Jigs so I know where my hole is after cutting off the shock mounts. Then I can align it perfectly when I weld new ones that will be taller for the airbags. Took quite a while but worked better than I thought to hole saw through 2 inches of aluminum. Slow and steady wins the game.

 

[Bobalos]

View attachment 64058

I'm having a hard timing figuring this out.  Is this an LS with a carb intke or a gen1 with some kind of CNP ignition?  

In any case SUPER  cool truck.  I don't think though that the later model seats look natural in these early trucks.  Something about it don't look right.... 

 

[onanysunday]

I'm having a hard timing figuring this out.  Is this an LS with a carb intke or a gen1 with some kind of CNP ignition?  

In any case SUPER  cool truck.  I don't think though that the later model seats look natural in these early trucks.  Something about it don't look right.... 

It is a late model hemi with coils but then has a carb. Very unique setup.

 

[onanysunday]

Might require slight modification. :bangin:

 

[Kraut_n_Rice]

Air to water would probably be easier to package.

 

[onanysunday]

Air to water would probably be easier to package.

Possible solution. Although I really want to try hide as much stuff as possible and have bed around the engine in the back. Cut some more out of there and now I have enough air flow that I am happy the radiator will work correctly. Very likely that intercooler is not going to work. Once the frame is completely built and after breaks and steering then I can look at it.

 

[onanysunday]

Man I love the weekends down here. Nice and quiet and no one to bother me. Just about done cutting this truck up. There ain't much left other than a shell. Getting very close to laying some box and building this frame. 3 to 4 weeks this thing will be rolling around.

 

[onanysunday]

Lots of prep work on the frame this weekend. Been dying to get this thing dropped down. Top of the cab will be about 5 ft 8 in so I can actually look over top of the cab. It will be a short little dude sitting there. Having such a blast building this. Truck right now is literally flapping in the breeze with no structure and it was stressful dropping it way down. Glad that is done. Now I can start getting the front cradle put up in there.

 

[onanysunday]

 

[onanysunday]

Keep thinking about the steering for this truck. If I can have the steering wheel more like a c5 corvette I can lay the seat back more and have a better seating position. Meaning if you are looking at a side view of the wheel it is close to vertical. We have a Goodfellows truck in our shop and it has this steer clear offset chain drive steering system. It looks to be maybe a 12" unit. Here is one in a 16" from Speedway motors. That is the largest size I can find. Wrong design anyway since I would need to go in and come out 180 degrees back the other direction at the bottom. Seems like it would not be hard to build your own. This thing would probably be 30" long. So maybe a 50" chain.  Lets say it is built overkill with size 50 chain and sprockets. Here is the link from the McMaster Carr page for #50 chain. 

Lets use the 14 tooth double sprocket as an example. I am guessing a 5/8 shaft would be about right and more than strong enough. Find bearings and build a housing out of aluminum with some steel components. So one of these gears on each end going in and out. 

Number
of Teeth


For Shaft
Dia.


For Max.
Shaft Dia.


OD


Overall
Wd.


Hub Dia.


Material


 


Each






For ANSI 50-2 Roller Chain (5/8" Pitch)




11


5/8"


15/16"


2.5"


1 3/4"


1 15/32"


Steel


2784K33


$95.78




12


5/8"


1 1/8"


2.71"


1 3/4"


1 11/16"


Steel


2784K34


96.16




13


5/8"


1 5/16"


2.91"


1 3/4"


1 7/8"


Steel


2784K35


98.67




14


5/8"


1 3/8"


3.11"


1 3/4"


2 1/16"


Steel


2784K36


100.76




15


3/4"


1 1/2"


3.32"


1 3/4"


2 5/16"


Steel


2784K37


100.76




16


3/4"


1 3/4"


3.52"


1 3/4"


2 1/2"


Steel


2784K38


103.36




17


3/4"


1 7/8"


3.72"


1 3/4"


2 11/16"


Steel


2784K39


106.07




18


3/4"


1 15/16"


3.92"


1 3/4"


2 7/8"


Steel


2784K41


108.67




19


1"


2 1/8"


4.12"


1 3/4"


3 1/8"


Steel


2784K42


110.44




20


1"


2 1/4"


4.32"


1 3/4"


3 1/4"


Steel


2784K43


114.69

Then they also have idler gears with sealed bearings HERE.  So the 17 tooth with 5/8 shaft might be the right size. Maybe just buy 6 of these sprockets and build it.  Make the tensioner adjustable with a slider if the chain stretches. This number 50 chain is probably overkill but it shows what is available. So 3 gears would be $543.00.  Chain, links, and tooling another maybe $200.00.  Shoot the flaming river 90 degree box is $800 by itself. The rest would be all fabrication. Working load on that number 50-2 wide chain is 2350 lbs whatever that means. Probably overkill for steering. The hot setup would be design it to hold some oil to keep the chain lubed. Much harder to design and build. Not sure if just grease in an enclosed box would be enough. 


Idler Sprockets for Double-Strand ANSI Roller Chain

 





Maintain constant tension on your drive with these sprockets that press against your chain to take up slack and reduce wear and vibration. They rotate freely on built-in bearings and are for use with roller chain tensioners. Bearings are double sealed to keep dirt out.

For technical drawings and 3-D models, click on a part number.







 


 


 


 


 




Bearing



 


 




Number
of Teeth


For Shaft
Dia.


OD


Overall
Wd.


Material


Type


Material


 


Each






For ANSI 35-2 Roller Chain (3/8" Pitch)




19


1/2"


2.47"


9/16"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K1


$106.00




19


5/8"


2.47"


9/16"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K2


106.00




For ANSI 40-2 Roller Chain (1/2" Pitch)




18


1/2"


3.14"


27/32"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K3


139.40




18


5/8"


3.14"


27/32"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K4


139.40




For ANSI 50-2 Roller Chain (5/8" Pitch)




17


1/2"


3.72"


1 3/64"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K5


181.80




17


5/8"


3.72"


1 3/64"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K6


181.80




For ANSI 60-2 Roller Chain (3/4" Pitch)




15


1/2"


3.98"


1 11/32"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K7


212.40




15


5/8"


3.98"


1 11/32"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K8


212.40




For ANSI 80-2 Roller Chain (1" Pitch)
 
 




12


3/4"


4.33"


1 23/32"


Steel


Ball


Steel


6260K9


257.30











So here is the chain itself

uble Strand

Chain

Connecting Link

Adding Link

Adding-and-Connecting Link

 









 


 


 


 


 




Chain
 




Connecting
Links




Adding Links
 




Adding-and-Connecting
Links





Roller Chain
Trade No.


Pitch


Roller
Dia.


Roller
Wd.


Working
Load, lbs.


Lengths, ft.


 


Per
Ft.


 


Each


 


Each


 


Each






Steel




35-2


3/8"


0.200"


3/16"


810


1-20, 50, 100


6261K711


$10.87


6261K221


$3.92


6261K103


$2.68


6261K841


$5.77




40-2


1/2"


0.312"


5/16"


1,350


1-20, 50, 100


6261K712


11.61


6261K223


4.08


6261K104


3.04


6261K842


6.14




50-2


5/8"


0.400"


3/8"


2,350


1-20, 50, 100


6261K713


15.17


6261K224


3.29


6261K109


3.09


6261K843


7.37




60-2


3/4"


0.469"


1/2"


3,300


1-20, 50, 100


6261K714


20.46


6261K225


4.83


6261K116


4.34


6261K844


10.29




80-2


1"


0.625"


5/8"


5,600


1-20, 50


6261K715


32.92


6261K226


7.26


6261K117


7.69


6261K845


16.20




100-2


1 1/4"


0.750"


3/4"


8,600


1-20, 50


6261K91


53.89


6261K922


12.00


6261K118


12.29


6261K923


21.58




120-2


1 1/2"


0.875"


1"


11,500


1-20, 50


6261K81


74.71


6261K706


14.69


______


__


6261K92


32.11




140-2


1 3/4"


1.000"


1"


15,300


1-20


6261K82


93.59


6261K707


19.96


______


__


6261K709


42.95




160-2


2"


1.125"


1 1/4"


20,200


1-20


6261K83


119.57


6261K708


27.42


______


__


6261K94


59.44

 

[onanysunday]

Hard pic to see well but here is a hot rod with exposed chain and sprockets. Looks to be a triple wide chain.

 

[onanysunday]

Here we go. Finally found some better photos. 

They do make #40 and #50 triple roller chain like that last pic. https://www.nitrochain.com/40-triple-roller-chain-10ft

Maybe drop down to a size 40 and do a triple. Would need to look at what gears are available. Thinking a double 50 would be cool. That box would be heavy. I bet 25-30 lbs. 

 

[onanysunday]

Steer clear like on the blue truck has some awesome rides on their Facebook page. Looks like they have been around for a long time. I sent them a message to try get some more info. Here is the internal gear on one of those boxes. Not as heavy as I would have thought. Might have to rethink how big the chain is. lol.  But I would also be much longer than those boxes. 

 

[onanysunday]

Well, How cool is this. These guys can make a billet box with gears and not a chain. 5" increments and he can make something 30-35" long. Pricey at around $2600 for a unit that long but looks to solve all of my problems. 3/4 dd outputs on both ends so couplers bolt right on . If I build a chain unit from scratch it would save probably 1500+ but juice probably not worth the squeeze. I have one designed in my head but the hard part would be the housing sealing where it goes through the floorboard. Not to mention a ton of work to build it.  http://www.posiesrodsandcustoms.com/super_slide_springs/featured_products/offset-steering-box/

3 gears per 5" so a 30 incher would have 18 gears in there. Pretty cool. He said chain drive steering is not legal in some states. 

 

[richard h]

He said chain drive steering is not legal in some states. 

In Arizona I think they drew the line at rope.

 

[onanysunday]

Did some measuring and it looks like I would need around 30" for this steering offset. Called Posies back and asked the question with 18 gears in there is they're going to be some play. He said with gear stacking no matter what you do there is some play and the more gears you have the more play there is. They tighten up the tolerances when they go longer but seems like a guess at this point. I think I'm going to go back to my chain drive setup and build this thing like a battleship. Also here is a display in our shop and I have one of these electric steering units in the yellow corvette. They work really well and I'm thinking this might be the route to go with a manual rack. Makes a lot of things easier. Maybe put a mustang 2 rack in there and still build my slider bar to set up my tie rod points to get rid of bump steer.