Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

My wife took good care of me. Tiny drill bit and some twisting and all the blood under pressure squirted out. Pain was instantly relieved. Now I can build trucks !

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...1fdd274183.jpg

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Its amazing how bad something like that blood pressure under your nail can hurt so damn bad ,been there ,done that ,hope not again.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I did that to my thumb this summer.

Took me an entire day and most of the night sitting there with a drill bit spinning it back and forth. You know, being Mr. Big Tough Guy and all

When that drill bit finally broke threw it shot that drill bit about 25 feet.

Few feelings have topped the relief i got from that haha

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Ouch
A hot needle works well also

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Did GM change the sway bars between the 70s-80s models? or were they different for 4X4 and 2WD models? My bushings are the same for the front but for the rear I have one large bolt that runs through it. Cant seem to squeeze the bushings out of those because they're pressed in.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

The sway bars on 2wd trucks interchange from way back in the 60s all the way up through the end of this style of truck like I'm building. So, basically about a 25 odd year time span.

4WD sway bars are different though, and I do not know the interchangeability of them at all. My knowledge of 4WD trucks is not terribly broad. If you go to the 4x4 section of this board and post a thread on the problem that you're having, I'm sure a bunch of the 4wd gurus would have an answer for you.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I had a feeling they were different. Did a great job on it. I was going to order some parts also from rock auto but they wanted to charge me $23 worth of shipping to send 2 radiator hoses and a thermostat.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Non truck related. The fingernail got much worse over night. The nail is coming off. To say its painful would be a gigantic understatement. I'm at work today. Gonna have the guys do some surgery at the kitchen table.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...6d44edb535.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...10efda8f41.jpg

I've been a paramedic for 13 years now but I just don't have the fortitude to do surgery on myself. I'm more of a put my head down, close my eyes and let someone with a stronger stomach do the duty.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Damn Tex ,that looks mean ,hope they get you fixed up ,and thankyou to you and all emergency responders do daily to keep us safe.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

That'll make ya cuss!

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Hope ya feel better, buddy !!

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

*knock on wood* I have never lost a fingernail. I have mashed, hit, pinched, and otherwise tortured my fingers, but I have thankfully never lost a nail. I was driving a ground rod (5/8"x10' galvanized steel) with a post pounder and as I had it at about chest height I lifted the post pounder to high and brought it down missing the rod...rod ran up the outside of the tube to the handle and met my finger. Got 4 stitches in the end of that finger but never lost the nail.

I hope this little snafu doesn't keep you from doing anything that you enjoy or wanted to accomplish.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Ouch....

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

How is the finger doing? Do you mind if i ask how you did that???

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Doc said finger is broke and swelling would force my fingernail off soon. Told me to go to ER for further treatment where they'd tape it up. I told him I could tape it up several hundred dollars cheaper. My doc is real cool. He said do it, take plenty of ibuprofen, and let the fingernail stay attached as long as I could stand it before yanking it off. And don't go to work.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...970d19347b.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...2dc35614aa.jpg

In truck news, my Rockauto steering column stuff arrived.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...70ef7c92e6.jpg

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I was doing some heavy suspension work Sunday. I think it happened when I dropped a leaf spring on my finger. I didn't stop work to investigate since the damage was already done. I was wearing gloves at the time and the extent of injury wasn't apparent.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

They've just put a cap splint on mine and turned me loose. It's fun when your cuticle gets shiny like that. Cap splint helps with the occasional bump that'll make ya pee yourself. I've broken 3 fingertips. Last one, I literally looked at the wife and said "Well, I just broke that." " What?" " My finger." " WHAT?" Good luck, just something else to cuss about.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

It's unnerving to me. In my job, every call I have to put on a pair of gloves. Some calls its rubber EMS gloves, others its leather extrication gloves, and still others it's insulated firefighting gloves. With this finger that's just not an option. So I'll be off for a while until I can comfortably don a pair of gloves and have enough strength in my hands without pain to couple fire hoses, raise ladders and other stuff.

It's no big deal really, I have 2200 hours of sick leave built up. I'm just not used to the idea. I like driving a fire truck every third day.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I foresee a steering column being rebuilt with thumb and bird finger.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Yea right, like thats gonna happen! That also means no working on the truck. Btw, my brother lives in newark. I told him about your bikes. He said he has seen them. Do you take stuff to the pate swap meet? He fools with honda minis too.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

We shall see.

Likely so. I make all the swap meets. I had one of my bikes at the last Pate.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

He said you do work for his friend David (?)

I have a yellow 67 trail 90 that was our uncles. I have the owners manual and title. I need to do something with it. No compression but not stuck. my brother Gary has a trail 70 with hand clutch and first yr z50 two han brakes no foot brake no rear shocks original paint. I had a nice 78 XT500 i sold when i got married. Didnt ride it much and we had a nice wedding and no debt Sorry to turn your build thread into a bike discussion.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I couldn't sleep last night because of the finger so I went out to the shop to keep from waking Valerie up.

I must have looked like an idiot out there. Picture this, I'm working with my right hand while holding my left hand straight up in the air to keep it from throbbing so much. Problem is, I'm left handed, so all the work I'm doing is with my weak/wrong/awkward hand. I looked like that idiot kid in the back of the classroom who eats glue and always has his hand up in the air to get the teachers attention.

Turn signal switch. Basic tech here. Those of you with advanced knowledge, skip ahead. Anyway, notice the funny little curly spring there ? That's the cancel spring. There should be two of them, one for left, one for right. If one of those springs breaks and falls out (very common) your turn signals won't cancel in that direction. The solution is to just replace the spring. They are 79 cents each and available anywhere. There is no reason to change the entire switch for a cancel issue.

Broke missing spring...

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...2b0f158836.jpg

Two new springs...

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...ebf661dce4.jpg

Steering column all rebuilt and assembled. New key and tumbler, turn signal lever, and both cancel springs. Everything else cleaned, lubricated, painted, and powdercoated.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...e8a060621c.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...336f1f15e4.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...b7ac3d57ce.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...b38fa61f33.jpg

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Looks nice! That powder has to be nice in the shop in the winter! (I'm a big cold sissy.)

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I'm a huge fan of powdercoat. Its so fast and inexpensive. A pound of powder is 12 bucks and I could do probably two dozen steering columns with it. To use spray paint, you'd be looking at half a can per column. Not cheap.

It's also very fast to do. I know your work ethic, and you'd likely sandblast a part before painting it. If we both had sandblasted steering columns, you paint and I coat, I'm ready to install mine within 25 minutes. Paint would take hours to fully harden, maybe even days depending on the weather. Powder is two minutes to spray, 20 to cook, and then let it cool down in front of the shop fan. Total time under half an hour and maybe 50 cents worth of powder.

Everyone should be doing it. Sure, it takes a big oven to do big parts, but brackets, pulleys, nick jacks, etc, a fifty dollar Craigslist oven is all it takes.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

That looks killer! Does it leave a smell in the oven/area when you cook it? Just getting into the painting world so please excuse me for my rookie questions.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Must be nice being out in the country. Have you upgraded to the "pizza oven" style deal? I've been involved with a few large scale industrial powder deals through work, it's neat to watch. Do you have your own blast rig, being semi-commercial? It'd be a cool deal, drop off crap and pick up snazzy powdered parts. There's a guy here that does that, but I'm not that well-heeled!

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

My oven is just a big batch oven. Its 6 feet long, 4 feet tall. For blasting, I have two cabinets, one big one for motorcycle frames or whatever. I also have an outside pressure blast setup. For a few years I did turn key powdercoat work. All I asked was customers degrease stuff before they dropped it off and I took it from there. It just got to be too much work load as I got older and I never had much chance to work on my own stuff so I shut the door to outside business December 31st of last year.

Blue bomber, yes, it does put off smoke somewhat as the powder cures, but the smell does not linger at all. I do a lot of burn off degreasing in the oven to cook any residual grease or oil out of parts before blasting. That does put off a good bit of smoke at times.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I changed directions a little bit today with my efforts. I decided to work on a different part of the project than the suspension, wheels, etc.

I'm gonna refresh this stuff

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...366230fda3.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...1815ef1914.jpg

And hope I can turn up some better parts than these before I reassemble the dash.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...3beb682bb4.jpg

I'll need either a better dash pad or at least a cover for it. I'm not going to drop the coin for a new GM pad. Probably not even an aftermarket one either. I got two little girls that like to eat and want Legos on December 25th. I don't know what I'll wind up doing exactly, but it's not gonna be too expensive. I'll also need a new insert panel since mine has multiple screw holes all in it.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...fd829cdcb0.jpg

I know y'all are thinking " man, this guy is a crackhead. He's all over the place on this project." Well, fact is, I do my work on the truck in the big shop with the green floor and blue roof if you know what I mean. And, I'm facing this....



http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...5f7505354a.jpg



So I needed an inside project where I can keep warm, but still make progress.

So, after removing the cluster and counting bulbs, I placed an order for new LED bulbs from Super Brite LEDs. I'll do the normal clean, paint, and detail job on this like has been so well documented on this board in the past.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

You have the same shop as me

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

It's spacious, and there's most always a breeze flowing through it. I have shop space but its full of blasting cabinets and ovens and stuff. Also, part of my shop is heated, insulated and fairly nice with big workbenches and stuff but its only a walk-in arrangement. So, I work in front of the shop if its not something that I can take into my work room by the heater.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

'Glass it and shoot it with bedliner/undercoat? Seen it done with good results.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Do you have any handy links ? My fiberglass experience is pretty limited. I figured by the time I ordered a batch of good quality resin and cloth that I'd be into it for a good chunk of money (relative towards buying a replacement dash cap). My fiberglass experience always centered around the Bondo brand goop and cloth from the parts store. I figured if I ever did any more of the work I'd order proper stuff in hopes the superior materials would improve the outcome over what I got with Bondo brand products.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Disregard my last post. A google turned up several years worth of reading on the subject. It looks doable if I want to invest the time.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

There are a lot of people who have restored their old dash pad. It makes a big change on the interior of the truck. Once it is repaired, it can be smoothed completely and painted with body work, in a custom look, or rewrapped in factory style vinyl, or anything in between.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Mine wasn't too badly cracked, so I just shot it with black vinyl dye and put it back in. My vote is to either find a better one for cheap money or cap it. It'll take you days to work the fiberglass to fill it.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

You can peel off the old vinyl. Get a can of 3M spray adhesive and whatever material you want to cover it with. The more stretchy and flexible the better. Cut it down to the basic shape with some extra material around the edges. Spray the material, spray the pad on the edge you're starting with and just bring the 2 together and keep working your way across, spraying with adhesive as you go. Wrap around the edges and glue those, then trim the excess.

I doubt many here think it's odd to move around on a project. For quite a while I bounced between 2 trucks cuz I was sick of sanding on the one and could wrenching on the other. Variety is the spice of life. Pretty purple finger you got there. Hope you heal soon.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

All good ideas. Looking at my "core" dash pad that I have to work with, I really think I need a better one to start with. Mine is so cracked and destroyed that it doesn't even hold its shape close to what it should. I've already reached out to one of my local go-to buddies to try and find one with no luck. I'll need to try and scrounge up a better starting point.

Now I'm off to the store to get some white paint for the cluster parts and some orange for the needles. My SuperBriteLEDs order shows delivery Monday so I'll have new bulbs then.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I've seen expanding foam used to fill cracks. Just sand it to shape, then wrap it or glass over it. As long as it still is in good shape around gauge bezel and trim bezel, yours should be "useable" if a better one doesn't turn up. And just shave the speaker holes. They're basically obsolete anyways haha.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

How are you going to go about cleaning the plastic lens cover? Cleaned up mine and its significantly better but that cover is still too cloudy. How is the circuit board on the back of the housing? Replaced some lights in mine but some of the metal contact points broke off.