Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Looking good! I can send some powdercoating work over there if that will help fit the undercoat into the budget...seriously, I would like to pick your brain on some powdercoat ideas when you have a few minutes.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

That looks great Kevin!!!

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Keith, text works best. I can't get phone reception at my house with the ghetto cell phone carrier I use. I can usually get texts though.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Thanks Joe. I'm working real slow today. I caught some kind of crud from a coworker so I'm spending more time coughing and blowing my nose than I am working.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Dang Tex ,that looks good ,you are making me want to work on my 72 one ton but my budget is going to my 1/2 ton thats in the bodyshop.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Looking good.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Kevin, Thanks for proving that you can still have quality on a very tight budget. I used your guidelines on my 87 SWB GMC with DJM spindles, Moog ball joints, and having patience to do the work right when the money comes in. Your influence prevented me from cheapening it up and, therefore, being unhappy with the results. I would like to figure out the powdercoating in the oven at home one day.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Thank you. It's a wonderful compliment when someone follows my suggestions and winds up very happy with the results.

I haven't done much to the dually in the last few days. I came down pretty sick with some kind of head cold and Valerie came back from an out of country business trip so I've kept pretty much inside. Yesterday, I pulled off and did a few hours works to my stepside to return it to true daily driver status.

Tomorrow morning when I get off work, I'm headed to the spring shop again to get a few little things to finish rebuilding my leaf springs on the dually. Then it will be time to install the new rearend and get it all back together.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Uggghhh I remember how fun those were to assemble and put back on the truck. In hind sight I should have bolted the main leaf in first, then used a piece of all thread to line up all the other leafs. Instead I benchpressed the 120lb spring in by my self and did a balancing/acrobatic act to get a bolt in the hanger while holding the leaf.

Why I had to rebuild my pack:
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...-01-21_867.jpg
(before anyone says anything, those aluminum blocks were not from my truck, they were removed from a lowered Mazda minitruck)

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Amazing how nice just cleaned and painted nicely can be. Good stuff.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

And that's the reason I wanted to take my packs apart and go over each and every one individually with a wire brush. Better now than later. Do it once, do it right, and move on to the next thing.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Kevin, Let me know if you need some parts for your 2500. I have this one going for scrap soon.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I wish you were closer. I'd bring a pickup and my tool box and harvest some stuff.

I'm kind of rushing a bit on this dually here lately. I've been hitting it pretty hard all winter and my motivation is waning. I'm getting itchy to start messing with the 4 wheel drive.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

id have trouble throwing that transmission away. evidence, i have one in my garage already. i have problems

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Wow, I just caught that. That's a 4L80E isn't it ?

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

That is funny, I am actually fixing to part mine out, just taking the motor and putting in my C10 ..

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Yes. Its a 4L80E mated to a 241, but it only has 2nd gear. I asked locally if anyone wanted it and had no interest. The interior is thrashed and there are $1000 in DMV penalties.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Say what? :crazy:

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I saw that too, but I just left it alone. California in their money grubbing ways, levies fines on guys who don't keep their stuff either registered or listed as non op status. Let some guy quit registering his vehicle and not list it as non op on the rolls and the state starts adding fees until the vehicle is soon valueless.

I've thought about driving to California and buying vehicles like that. In Texas, they could care less. As long as you have a title, its legal. You only register a vehicle when it's driven on the roads. If you choose to park it for a few years, just don't register it. Next time you decide to drive it on the roads, go register it for a year. I could go to Cali, buy a vehicle with thousands of dollars worth of penalties and trailer it to Texas and I'd have a cheap vehicle that I could register without issue. Piss on the California fines owed.

The joke is, California as a state is flat broke even though they do crazy stuff like that to grub money.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

You should pull the flares before crushing it. They would sell over on GMT400, I know of one guy that would buy the front two anyways...

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Good progress today.

I stopped by the spring shop on my way home from the station and got a dozen new sliders. They were a buck a piece.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...e8fe2bc507.jpg

Old versus new...

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...3af5fba73d.jpg

Installed into the leafs...

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...279be0ba6c.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...8aaea6d35d.jpg

Then I reassembled the leaf packs and installed them under the truck. Now, for the hard part, wrestling the 14 bolt up under there. I did some sketchy stuff with ratchet straps, a floor jack, and some luck.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...7312507e79.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...f4357b7541.jpg

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be reasonable so I have set aside the entire day for making more progress. As a reminder, I have to remove all of the hubs and brakes off this rearend and swap them with parts from the original rearend due to differences in park brake cable configuration.

Tomorrow I'll also hit the tire store and have two of the old tires dismounted off of the original steel wheels so I can powdercoat them and use them as inside duals along with my Alcoas.

Scoti, I'm about ready to bring your wheels and tires to the station. I can work it whatever day of the week is easiest for you. Let me know and I'll figure out what day to bring them up there.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Looking great!

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Any Sat/Sun... Just give me the heads up & I'll come out that morning.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

The next weekend day I work will be Sunday the 26th. Let me know by that Saturday and I can load them up and bring them the next morning.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

That should work fine for me. I'd do the week-day pick-up but traffic there & back just flat sux. A Sat/Sun drive would be much easier....

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

For those of you who haven't followed every single post of this build thread, let me recap to give you the background of what I'm doing right now.

I cleaned up and did some work on an extra 1980 model rearend I had been saving. The idea was to swap it out for the current rearend since it has 4.10 gears which are much better than 4.56 gears for my usage. Only after getting it all cleaned, painted, rebuilt, and detailed did I realize that the 80 model and 88 model rearends use completely different configurations of park brake cables. So, I have to disassemble both rearends and swap brake backing plates and cables between them.

So, today I got the 88 model rear up on stands and took it all apart to harvest the backing plates and cables.

Then I got them all cleaned up and powdercoated.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...febc88e2ef.jpg

I didn't take any pictures of the cleaned up cables, but they're clean and pretty.

Then I finished up with some odds and ends basically dragging my feet on ripping the hubs off of the nice clean rear. It's got to be done but I just didn't have the motivation today. I wound up working on my stepside a bit today instead.

But, I did get the bracket for the brake hose installed, the brake lines cleaned and painted, shock absorbers installed today. I also spent some time messing with the driveshaft. I wasn't happy with how the splined slip section moved so I cleaned and polished that and also spent some time cleaning up the u joints, grease zerks, and greasing everything. The u joints look and feel very good so I didn't change them.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...26ac481ae9.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...e43ca1d80c.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...936849d9a6.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...c820fcbb5c.jpg

I need to stop by the parts store and get some fluid to fill it up with and three feet of hose for the vent tube that goes up to the frame. Depending on how tight of a leash Valerie puts on me this weekend, I should be able to get everything done up under there. The weather looks promising.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Looking good! You have great attention to detail. If I had half your patience, my truck might actual be more than a frame in my garage. :lol:

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

As usual, looks great Kevin.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Thank you for the positive comments fellas.

This morning I pulled the hubs and brakes off the rearend to swap backing plates. All done now. Everything is entirely back together. Brake lines installed and tightened, all clips and brackets in place. Brakes adjusted and park brake pedal adjusted. Now to bust down two wheel and tires and powdercoat a pair of steel wheels for my inner pair.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...4b05b90dc5.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...d2927ccb1d.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...dbfe9f932c.jpg

I need to remove the rear brake load sensing valve from the frame and modify the brake line then hook up the new rear brake hose and bleed the brakes. Also need to install new rearend breather hose and fill it with fluid.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...3147892410.jpg

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

you have a spectacular looking rear end there Kevin....

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Why thank you. I work out.......side a lot of hours under this thing fussing over the little details.

I've decided to do some more exhaust work. I have a short pipe coming out of the muffler that just dumps straight at the nice clean rearend and suspension. I think I want to figure out how to get the pipe over the axle to protect my hard work. Does anyone have a lead on a generic 3 inch tailpipe ? I don't relish buying a length of straight pipe and three separate mandrel bends to make my own. Hoping for something cheaper than that.

Also, I'm taking suggestions on mudflaps. My old ones were 24 inches wide like normal big trucks use. I want something neat. Still mulling that over.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Check out a tail pipe for a 1998 k3500 with a 6.5TD or a 2004 GMC savanna van.
They are passenger side exit but it should be too hard to cut and flip it around.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I have a pair of 3" mandrel bent tail pipes for a square that I got from summit. Let me know which side and I'll get a part number for you.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

Driver side number please. I'm seeing minimum 17 dollars per bend for universal 3" bend pipes. I'd need three bends and some straight pipe, so buying a tailpipe is gonna be loads cheaper.

You can see my muffler there in front of the axle. If I can slip a generic tailpipe in there to get the exhaust at least over the axle I'll be happy. Even if I have to cut the tailpipe short due to not exiting in a nice place under the bed, that would at least protect my hard work on this rear part of the truck.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I have these in my parts pile, not on the truck, so no comment on the fit.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/imo-370127

I can email you the IMCO tail pipe PDF parts catalog I found them in if you'd like to see it.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I noticed summit has it listed as chevy/ford/dodge tailpipes and I'm sure it fits multiple applications, but in the catalog that is the part number for a 73-87 truck.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I believe I have found a workable tailpipe to order. Its a Magnaflow brand intended for Dodge truck apps. There just aren't many 3 inch driver side tailpipes on the market. I'll have to do a cut and flip on the Dodge pipe but it looks like my best option at this time.

My money tree is looking pretty puny for the next few days so I've just been busying myself with little details until later this week when I can spare a few bucks.

Today I removed the rear brake load sensing valve and finished plumbing my brake line.

First a few poor quality pics of what I'm working with.

Fluid pressure from the master cylinder comes in here....

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...20c701ffbf.jpg

Then comes out of the valve here...

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...f077408baf.jpg

Which loops over and connects to the hose...

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...6ad52d6f54.jpg

My solution was to remove the valve and bend the hardline to allow it to screw directly into the hose. Now I have master cylinder pressure fed directly to the rear brakes just as GM did on millions of earlier model trucks. I prefer straight brake systems without these valves in line because I've struggled with these valves failing in the past. I figured to go ahead and solve the problem before it becomes a problem.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...7caf65c0ff.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...aef4809f84.jpg

The old valve and all the tools needed to do this job. Total time was about 5 minutes.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...a64dd97dbd.jpg

The only other progress was to install a new differential breather hose using new hardware and a little effort at sanitary routing. Not picture worthy.

Next is powdercoating two steel wheel for the inners. By then my money tree will have grown back a little.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

The info on the backing plates is exactly what I needed for confirmation. I was going to change over to the newer style parking brake cable, but didn't realize the backing plates were different until I looked at the cables.

Thanks for that info. Now if I can just find the right ones...

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

FYI, the later backing plates that I am using, they are identical between the two sides. When installed on the passenger side, the cable points backward, on the driver side, the cable points forward. GM obviously did that to use only one part number for either side.

I forgot to mention in my post above, all of the brake parts interchanged between the 80 and 88 brakes. All I did was unbolt the brakes from the 80 model back plates and bolt them directly to the 88 plates. The park brake lever for the passenger side brake is the only difference. I just used the 88 model one when I put it all back together. Shoes, cylinders, springs, adjusters, etc, exactly the same.

Re: The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build
 

I'm really enjoying your rebuild, and I admire your restraint in not "CHARGING" it on the credit card as I'm sure a lot of projects end up being!!!