Contrary to popular belief, most trucks nowadays merely serve as catch-all light-duty vehicles. For the most part, modern trucks do everything from hauling dirt to hauling kids. With air conditioning, cloth seats, and cruise control, modern trucks are more like big cars with a big open box in the back. As a result, modern truck owners seldom ask much from their rigs.
Old trucks wished they got off so easy. Before Chevy introduced the Cameo and before Ford introduced the Ranchero, trucks were plain and simply manual laborers. As a result, people often rode 'em hard and put 'em away wet. Payloads shifted in beds and gravel roads peppered fenders and mud-caked crevices, and most truck owners couldn't care less. After such a hard life, many truck owners retired their trucks behind barns well after their useful lives ended.
And here we fools go dragging 'em out and cleaning 'em up for a second go 'round. With reproduction body panels, rubber, and trim, the truck worlds our oyster. But there's something beneath that shiny paint, something beneath that fresh chrome, and something behind that new rubber that still bespeaks of a life lived hard--a battered chassis. In a way, building a trick pickup on a beat chassis is tantamount to building a mansion on a clapboard foundation.
So Bill O'Rourke over at the The Roadster Shop in Elgin, Illinois, tooled up a few alternatives. He's manufactured chassis for '28-37 and '55-57 Chevy passenger cars, and '28-59 Ford and Chevy pickups for over two decades. He covers Plymouth and Dodge from '32-34, and he even made a '32 Chrysler frame--although he admits the demand's pretty low on that one. He even offers a smattering of frames for the '37-42 Willys-Overland cars. In fact, O'Rourke said that, if provided with a stock frame for reference, The Roadster Shop can make a chassis for just about any pickup with provisions for just about any suspension style. In this case, we'll show what goes into a '55-59 Chevy short-box pickup chassis to prove it.
These aren't just pretty faces, either. As with all their frames, they hand-cut each frame plate--top, bottom, interior, and exterior sides--from 10-gauge pickled-and-oiled hot-rolled steel. Now don't confuse this steel with rough, garden-variety, hot-rolled steel; this is some pretty clean stuff that "looks more like stainless than anything else," O'Rourke said.
Once trimmed and fitted, they fixture-weld each panel to its mate. Before welding the interior boxing plate to the C-channel-shaped frame, however, they back-weld the joints to create a battleship-tough framerail. And according to O'Rourke, the hot-roll steel itself is stronger than the steel many manufacturers use for stamped frames--so "we can get a stiffer frame from this steel," he said.
Chalk up yet another advantage to fabricated rails: versatility. Instead of working within the confines of a permanent-die stamping technique, the fabrication method gives The Roadster Shop the ability to accommodate just about any frame modification or dimension. Want a longer wheelbase? No problem. Want it kicked up over the rear axle? Easy as pie. They even install nut inserts in all body-mounting and bracket holes to make body mounting that much easier.
And it doesn't end there, either. With the fabricated rails in their frame fixture, they fit an eight-point tubular crossmember with a dropout transmission crossmember to span the structure. Depending on the application, they also offer several suspension styles. Out back, The Roadster Shop's frames accommodate parallel-leaf, triangulated four-bar, parallel four-bar, and a pro street-style narrowed four-bar suspension designs. Pony up to the top and they'll even install one of Heidt's SUPERIDE IRS systems.
Up front they offer the popular buggy-sprung arrangements for early-Ford applications, and for just about everything else (including early Ford), they've got Heidt's Mustang II or SUPERIDE crossmembers. To suit your specific preferences, they'll install any of the popular aftermarket manufacturers' suspension systems, too. Whatever the case, they carry a multitude of control arm options--including stamped, tubular steel, or stainless-steel control arms.
The options don't end there, either; they maintain rear disc brakes, power boosters, and even anti-roll bars on their options list. In other words, they've got everything from basic frames to full rollers.
There's much to show in this chassis' fabrication, so we're breaking it up into two monthly installments. This month we'll concentrate on The Roadster Shop's construction techniques. Next month we'll install components and finish off the frame details. Until then, study up on them fresh new bones!
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 All of the Roadster Shop's...  All of the Roadster Shop's chassis start out as a flat steel template. Over the years, they've built up quite a template arsenal--everything from '30s Fords and Chevys to oddball Chrysler makes, in addition to '50s passenger cars and pickups. |
 Chad Glasshagel pulled one...  Chad Glasshagel pulled one of the templates down and laid it on a sheet of the 10-gauge pickled-and-oiled hot-rolled steel. He then transferred the template's shape to the plate. |
 He then cut the panels out...  He then cut the panels out with a heavy-duty nibbler. The nibbler leaves a clean, burr-free edge that's ready for assembly. |
 When Chad transferred the...  When Chad transferred the template's shape, he also punched mounting points into the pieces. Steve Vaughn then drilled the plates and welds in mounting plates and nuts for body and component assembly. |
 Chad then welded the plates...  Chad then welded the plates together in a fixture for correct alignment. He welded the upper, lower, and outer plates together twice: once on the
outside and once on the inside of the channel. |
 After he welded the boxing...  After he welded the boxing plate to the C-channel-shaped rails, he then ground the external welds down. The result was a seamless and smooth rail whose appearance belied its construction. |
 The finished rails exited...  The finished rails exited the process looking like a stock pickup's rails--only boxed and devoid of holes, rust pebbling, bends, and decades of paint. |
 Doug Leetzow then mounted...  Doug Leetzow then mounted the rails in yet another fixture--a rotisserie that lets him weld the chassis' joints at optimum angles. |
 Doug wedged the Heidt's SUPERIDE...  Doug wedged the Heidt's SUPERIDE crossmember into the frame's fore section and clamped it in place. |
 The SUPERIDE crossmember references...  The SUPERIDE crossmember references axle centerline--in this case, it's a hole Chad punched and Steve drilled into the frame. This ensured proper wheelbase and removed all doubt. |
 Doug then TIG-welded the crossmember...  Doug then TIG-welded the crossmember in place. |
 Doug then mocked, marked,...  Doug then mocked, marked, and trimmed the eight-point crossmember to fit the specific chassis... |
 ...It's too bad the crossmember...  ...It's too bad the crossmember lives under the body; it's a work of art in itself and serves as a mounting point for the pedal assembly, the transmission crossmember, and much of the exhaust system. |
 This chassis uses a tried-and-true...  This chassis uses a tried-and-true Heidt's four-link arrangement for rear suspension. For stock frames, the Heidt's crossmember mounts in the C-shaped frame. Since The Roadster Shop boxes their frames, Doug marked and trimmed the crossmember to span the area between the boxing plates. |
 Once he trimmed it, he located...  Once he trimmed it, he located it between the rails, clamped it down, and welded it in place. It now serves as yet another crossmember. |
 Doug finished up the framerails...  Doug finished up the framerails with a rearward crossmember just about the time that Rock Valley Antique Auto Parts showed up with a super-trick stainless tank. While this truck will see carbureted use, Rock Valley's tanks incorporate baffles, a return line bung, and provisions for a tank-mounted EFI pump. |
 Doug lightly tack-welded the...  Doug lightly tack-welded the Heidt's four-link lower mounts to the Moser Engineering-supplied Ford 9-inch-style axle. The chassis will eventually sport coilovers, but he bolted the assembly to the rear crossmember with rigid struts for mounting purposes. |
 Doug then assembled the lower...  Doug then assembled the lower links and bolted them to the Heidt's four-link's lower mounts. Heidt's also supplies two additional lower brackets that mount to the frame itself. He pinned those to the links' forward ends and clamped the brackets to the chassis. |
 This backside shot should...  This backside shot should shed some more light on the coilover/lower-link mount that Doug tacked to the Moser axle housing. |
 Doug aligned the axle per...  Doug aligned the axle per front crossmember dimensions. He squared the axle to the chassis and centered it in relation to the rails. |
 He then assembled the upper...  He then assembled the upper links and pinned them to their respective mounting brackets: one for the axle housing and the other for the framerail. |
 With the brackets in place...  With the brackets in place and installed on the links, Doug checked the brackets' shape in relation to the frame. In this case, he had to trim some of the bracket to the marker line so it would fit flush against the frame. |
 Doug trimmed the bracket,...  Doug trimmed the bracket, realigned everything, and TIG-welded the upper and lower brackets to the frame. This concludes this month's installment for basic chassis fabrication. When we revisit next month, we'll get a better look of the finished frame during assembly. |