68' M715 AKA "Smokey", 8.1 engine on links, coils and 40's

Rock40

Active Member
Here’s an example of how rounded out the old mounts were. That’s a 1/2” bolt inside of it

51B18E14-0F38-4685-A292-9CAB805A7015.jpeg

Filled it in

0DE694A7-E114-4A69-9881-C41E395656EA.jpeg

Passenger side bed mount modified

BCD7342F-9355-42A2-A456-6B2A828B1DD7.jpeg

Today was cleanup day. What a mess, so much grinding and sanding dust

A51A2861-7E98-4C5C-9E8C-9213137E7F55.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
Hammered out the main sway bar mounts today

Cardboard layout. This frame is SO fun to work on. Seems like nothing is “quite” the same side to side, not even the frame bends, oh well

4F4F36E0-965A-4274-987A-F32E3E220D90.jpeg

Using 1/4” plate, decided to just notch it for the tubing like this, should be PLENTY of weld surface

603DC079-0870-4B75-837B-8674069ACBDF.jpeg

Love the nice clean plasma cuts

5ECAFD35-1EE1-498E-B5EA-42C5174D8227.jpeg

Driver and passenger side complete

DC503D25-245A-4EA6-98A0-66CA86F60E43.jpeg

Bar and mounts sit in the frame like this. Still needs gussets, welding, etc but you get the idea where it’s going

F3A90B06-4073-44F3-9C5E-7968293685FD.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
Burned out the frame gussets for the sway bar

9FD336A0-3CD8-413F-BCFF-3C1FA6EE2F6E.jpeg

Ended up only using the shorter ones, looks cleaner

74ED9845-5F5C-413D-A1A5-BEE9BD624DBC.jpeg

Burned the gussets in

A94FDB12-8EC0-419C-81A4-D9DE6882FAE2.jpeg

Finished off the rear frame extensions. Stock were totally beat to hell and not usable, these were custom bent to match the factory frame dimensions

6E56BF6C-218F-4CA7-970A-F8300428F928.jpeg

Using the oval LED instead of the round version

FD2DE320-48F1-4FC9-958A-37CF23D62668.jpeg

Cut and sanded for the LED’s and grommets

97355FC2-3489-42F3-9BAD-8AABD44441B7.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
Little bits of progress

Upper radiator hose. The angle was terrible as you can see and from what I can tell, the 3 bolt thermostat flange is specific to the GM 8.1 engine. There are no aftermarket swivel housings or adapters available. So…

83687181-0164-4DE5-B3A8-5EB5C025653A.jpeg

Chopped this little guy up

6F031148-AE28-4779-85B7-8E43EA120EDC.jpeg

Rotated it clockwise and welded it back together

BF8EC695-A8B3-4C79-B32A-F6AE7791B121.jpeg

DUN. I was able to search through hoses at a local parts store and found Gates 22641 which fits a Cherokee with the 4.7 engine. Keeping it Jeep!! Haha!

E83024E5-8303-487C-9601-F48D7DE56EFB.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
So the PSC box is in.

I thought I had the steering mount all done. Wrong

The PSC box is a larger casting with a larger end cap. Fought me every inch of the way fitting it. I pity the next 715 owner that wants to modify for power steering. UGH

Had to make some inner box spacers out of some 1018 solid bar which then got drilled out

EF7AF7AF-5568-416E-A388-A9C794337599.jpeg

It simply WOULD NOT fit up against the backside of the frame and the end cap on the box. So away it went…

A7F1691B-8AB4-4439-8565-069D01BC68DA.jpeg

5148AB05-A4BE-4181-8662-CE64F8205282.jpeg

Made two 3/16” plates and welded it back up

CBD409AA-C327-4D39-8D3F-F15BED6E7CA5.jpeg

Here you can see the notch the box required

59304C62-E26B-4FD4-ABCF-0D4309C92598.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
The body work continues….

These are the hammered to piss stake side pockets. In addition to the mangled upper metal, all the internal supports are blown out.
A8B4B783-47F3-4359-91F5-1195668B2FEE.jpeg
EE05AB21-68D3-41FD-A8AB-8FF2190A150A.jpeg
23D746E2-F5F7-4285-A1FC-745A00F32A79.jpeg
2123A717-93C5-484F-93B0-F14ECF589731.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
More welding repair tabs and nutserts today

Inside the under bed box that was used to hold military tent poles. The bed mount hole is all hogged out

7647EEC9-F17E-49D2-8ADD-E4DF865487D6.jpeg


Very sad bugger weld related to the clasp on the outer door

7EE82C93-E9D3-48C7-AAE6-1AA1340296EE.jpeg

Made a reinforcing tab out of 1/8” plate and welded it in

0249E9FF-6665-48F8-AFB3-1C23A59371A9.jpeg

1/2”-13 nutsert welded in the frame side

1A63F144-5D69-4954-AE53-91F54F2F1EBA.jpeg

Fully bolted and the bugger tab is ground off. Going to use Destaco’s on these side doors and the tailgate

480366CE-5892-49A9-AC1B-F07039D159A9.jpeg

And finally the rearmost driver side bed mount. Again all out of round so I put an additional plate in along with a 1/2”-13 nutsert on the frame side

7B5C1410-1B37-4455-A6DA-9A2C2F89C11E.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
The poor hammered bed…

Finished the bed mount repairs on the passenger side today so the bed is fully bolted up now

Addressed the 4 lift points on the upper rail of the bed. I believe they were in place to assist with lifting the truck into a cargo ship for transport. Every one of them was pretty bent and banged up

AF326079-3F4F-48EF-8FA3-7DFA7E3F1C0F.jpeg

Cut out some 1/8” plate supports…

DE361E6E-7B89-4DB7-91BD-FECBCA0E3C85.jpeg

Hammered the stock supports back to vertical and welded them in. Done

Should add a fair bit of rigidity

F41213EE-38A0-4EF8-9D2E-E6569B91E053.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
Several more issues in the bed got addressed

This was a large jagged hole in the bottom of the bed and the two holes had been torched in the upper rail by the cab

788B4EB0-FA11-48D0-AFC0-85FAC478A7B4.jpeg

A8D29742-DB24-400C-9DFD-F53ABD4BC044.jpeg

Pulled out the old chunk of bed material left over from shortening it and cut a chunk out with the correct contour

D0B17AF3-5178-4A04-9F00-D5169FC210A6.jpeg

EFA4201F-86C0-4D40-AABC-26D1A239F558.jpeg


Both areas got patched

D7AD70A4-B417-46BA-B7B4-45EAB2C338C3.jpeg

2F2ED4D3-64AB-42EE-9CAE-5973B772D003.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
Nearly done with the bed repair. Both front corners near the cab had cracked apart and split.

You can see the large vertical crack in the background. Pulled it back together with a strap, added a reinforcement plate and welded it up

821437A9-46B3-49BF-B5FC-AAB382CCDD0F.jpeg

208458B8-24BF-4C92-972B-48198EF388A8.jpeg

4ABF46F4-2EB7-446C-940D-FF7769E061A8.jpeg

Finished off the last rear fender brace. This is the rear passenger corner

A13EAC7F-9130-40CE-A88C-A3933A7FBAA3.jpeg


AF198CF4-D0A0-457F-A0C7-974FBF23EADC.jpeg
B68565AE-631B-4569-B3B2-D848B63D39FE.jpeg
 

Rock40

Active Member
Welded and sanded on the bed just about all day, also finished out the driver side rear limit strap

Lower limit strap tab, added 1/2-13 weld nuts to each, makes assembly/disassembly much easier when you don’t need a backup wrench

443B1486-9C2D-4A02-9B7D-064E5D02F7A1.jpeg

Started welding in all the factory bed seams. I want to seal them up once and for all so grit and water doesn’t work it’s way in

29CA1525-A82A-4B85-8D09-BB6A4BC186B6.jpeg

Decided to fill in the raised corrugated bed slots.
F59C55E6-08E7-40CA-84EC-1B1BE0DF37BF.jpeg

There are 12 total. Plasma cut some filler bits out and got to work

DDAC1B0E-A340-496C-860E-3D864F77E98C.jpeg
 
Top Bottom