Tilt cab?

[reflectionpoint]

Just because I'm not about going the 'easy' route with things.. and since I will be doing essentially a frame-off build on the '63.

What do you folks think about--a tilt cab. Not the entire cab, just the front fenders and hood and grille. Attached at the firewall, and all joined together like a semi or drag truck essentially. Unlike a drag truck it'd be all steel from the original body panels, not fiberglass like something from www.usbody.com

Like this picture.. only imagine it royal blue, with a 20-something foot flatbed, lightbar and you know.. a Cummins. And stuff. Also I'd want it to articulate further forward, to where the hood was 90 degrees to the ground.. to get full access to the goodies.



In addition to that.. my powder-coater ( http://www.streamlinecustomcoatings.com/ ) said he is willing to coat and rhino the entire body of my truck.. as an experiment and to give him content for his website. So that coupled with some slickness like what's above and--though it'll be a towtruck--it'll be a show stopper :)

-~Eric

[rwhistles]

you figure it out then you can tell me how. have always liked the idea of a tilt frontend I just didnt like the looks of the fiberglass units. course the only ones I have seen were raw unfinished ones on the website. just went and looked at website no seperation line between hood an fender. that kills the fiberglass ones for me.

[ICEMAN6166]

go for it.

[oldtrucks]

reflectionpoint

Go for it I am thinking the same thing. Let us in on the hinge design and radiator mount. The only thing that bothers me about a tilt front end is having to cut the fenders but it wouldn't stop me should I decide to do it.
I've got a hinge design or two in my head just haven't committed anything to paper yet.

[Greg D]

US body makes a fiberglass tilt front - Unibodyboy here on this forum has one he may be willing to sell (PM Him?).
I have considered this for quite a while - I haven't worked it out keeping the rock guard though - unless it hinges at the frame. I am on a smoothing mission with mine - could eliminate alot of seam with a tilt front. I would ad one in the fender dogleg but with the right work it could be near invisible.

[reflectionpoint]

Greg, the pic of the red truck I posted is actually from USbody's website.

I want to do it in steel just for strength and to avoid extra costs. Plus I just had an offer to powdercoat my entire cab--so if I did fiber front I'd be trying to match powdercoating to paint and that just doesn't sound fun to me.

I haven't even started with paper yet; still going over how I want it to function exactly, if I want it detachable, how I want it to latch, etc. So I'll be a little bit before I have any real plans. I do know I want to pivot the front 5-6" of the frame with the cowl, that way any push bumpers or what-have-you that get added pivot as well, I think that would be the most effective way.

I'm open to suggestions or if anyone has done this or has worked on trucks designed like this that have tips!!!

-~Eric