Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Coming together really nice, I’m enjoying the journey.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

thanks mate, I hope to have it start looking like a truck again real soon

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

hope you all had a great fathers day, I got to go fishin' and here's what I found:

yup it's a 1" anti swear bar, and judging from the 8 lugs that appears to be a 3/4 ton Squarebody (couldn't tell what year) but the word on the street is that it could might work

Fun Fact: some of these are held on to the frame with brackets using 3 factory rivets and 1 bolt, other's using only two factory rivers and 2 bolts (the rivets have to be drilled out [ahem] in the field)

Fun Level: 2

Note: these trucks still use the 67-72 style lower control arms, how neat is that, tells you what a great and smart design they were

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

now what's more better than one anti swear bar?

that's right two anti swear bars

this next one is fatter than 1" and came off of a GMC 2500 rig (I recall 10 years ago you could find half a dozen 1/2 ton short box trucks in the yard, these days you might find one or two 3/4 ton 8 lug long bed work trucks completely wrecked or stripped down)

by the way they was $45 bones each, not bad though the rubber is perished

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

so then it was time to transfer all the dirt, grime, and rust off of these beauties and onto my face

first the 1 1/16th skinny bar (or at least that's what it calipered too, maybe that included a layer of dirt, grime and rust)

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

wire wheelin' like a Boss !

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

I believe when it comes to de rusting it take two to Tango, abrasives and acid

Prep & Etch Phosphoric acid from Home Depot (like all them fancy de rusting conglamorets at a fraction of the cost and works way better) used to be $5 bucks per gallon now it's like $20

also this is the new(er) California formula so no rubber gloves required (jk)

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

then it was time for the big stick, cause I haven't decided which one I'm gonna run yet, any advice?

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

a little before and after the dance of the wire wheel, then primer then paint, I like my rods silver and my sheets black

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

and here are them brackets that are usually rivited to the frame rails, these will also get media blasted (I hate putting greasy bits in the media blasting cabinet as it gunks up the media) and then later powder coated

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

hey I know let's check on those $3 dollar rubber seals that are holding up the project and preventing us from putting the control arms back on

how did that saying go again: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Looking good

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

thank you my brotha from anotha motha

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Anti Swaybar (pronounced: "Stabilizer bar") sizes according to Rock Auto

1-1/16 (in) (ah maybe I'm not crazy and my measurements were accurate)
1-3/32 (in)
1-1/8 (in)
1-3/16 (in)
1-1/4 (in)

that's it, where is Keith when you need him???

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

yes the mind blowing excitement continues ...


[rant]
this stuff makes me think the next time you go to buy a truck or sell a truck and you or some dude want's $15K for it just pay it, or go ahead head over to Pick N Pull when it's 104° F out, in hopes of finding a donor truck, lay upside down on the gravel and drill out them rivets with your cordless and a stash of extra batteries, while the scorching hot metal shaving find their way down yer sleeve, throw in a few cuts and bruises and a solid head bump on the edge of that sharp front bumper.... I'll hold, ha ha
[/rant]

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

also media blasted the other three hinges

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

The larger sway bar will have less body roll when cornering. I would use that one.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Nice build and looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I have a question - Is the larger sway bar from the 1985 GMC 2500 a direct bolt up to the 67-72 trucks. I have a 72 C20 and would like to go to a larger bar but not want to pay the high cost for a new one. And I also do not want to drill any holes to make one fit.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

thanks and funny you ask, I just recently put the '85 2500 frame brackets against my frame and noticed two things:

1. my '69 frame only has one hole on each side instead of two, a friend of mine tells me that yeah we will have to drill out the rivet that holds the very front small crossmember in place and use that hole for the second hole. I hope you follow that and it makes sense.

2. the 85 bracket holes don't align perfectly (maybe 1/8th of an inch too narrow and the bracket needs to be spread out just a tad) but is it because I am putting C20 brackets on a C10, or is it because I am putting '85 brackets on a '69 frame or is it because there is still a river in the way, or is it because the bracket may have been warped a bit???

feel me, just trying to help (and get motivated to drill out yet more rivets, lol)

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Yes I understand. I would say I am feeling you but that just does not sound right. :lol:
Your friend is correct the rivet that helps hold the front crossmember brace on does have to be removed when installing a sway bar on a truck that did not come with one.
Thanks for responding back to me. Now I will look for a 85 GMS 2500 front bar. Since I am in Texas, the Land of trucks. Maybe I can locate one cheap.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

yeah, try Walmart, lol

ok seriously though it only took a gentle tickle in the vice to expand them ever so slightly just so that we would not muck up the threads trying to force the bolts through the holes, I mean I put pressure on them in the vice by hand until I felt it budge and that's it I stopped, and they expended perfectly

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Man looks like you made a heck of a lot of progress while I took a nap or let real life kick me in the teeth for the last 6 months. Keep up the good work can't wait to see the first drive :gmc2:

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

thank you so much, yeah when I catch a second wind I go like mad, but I also have the 50th birthday to go to [ahem mine] god daughters wedding, daughters HS graduation, etc, and when the lazy hits me (I'm looking at you NFL season, ha ha) I just ground hog it and don't feel guilty at all, just relax and re energize, glad you're back!

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

so while the Ken Stablerizer bar is getting painted I ordered an adjustable panhard bar for the butt of the truck as it was pointed out to me that with the truck being lowered (ever so slightly using only lowering coil boinger boingers) still the rear end seems to have shifted to the right aka passenger side 1/2" maybe(ish)

so Classic Parts broom stick to the rescue ($60 bucks plus finders fee, environmental fee, shipping, under coat fee, tax and license)

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Ken Stabilizer? Seriously? You need to do a poll to see how many know who that is a reference to.

On another note, nice progress on the truck.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

hmmmm EXACTLY, funny how [ahem] a Cowboys fan got that, I'm waiting on the Steeler fans to chime in [hint hint people]

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

seems like we all are getting along quite nicely on this thread, so time to start a fight

tell me what you think of these BLUE MOOG stablelizer bar bushings, I for one am not a fan, I want my rubber bushings to be made ... well, of rubber, black rubber, not this what ever recycle plastic material these are "PREMIUM MATERIALS -- Made from high-quality natural rubber material for durability and ride performance"

now in their defense the pics did show blue bushings but how many times have you ordered something only for it to arrive and not look like what you ordered

and I didn't spend all this time getting rid of all that purple on this truck to now only install blue stuff, sheeminy shimmies

Thermoplastic ??? don't make me GOOGLE that, cause I will !!!

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

I vote they should be black.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

My Man! I agree, so:

thermoplastic = synthetic

synthetic = imitation

so Imitation Rubber is what that Smurf stuff is !!! :devil:

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

rig going back together

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

couldn't get the rotors mounted cause guess who forgot to buy some bearings?

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

the tips of the spindles were buggered up ever so slightly preventing the outer bearings from sliding on freely, nothing a gentle tickle with the cheese grader couldn't take care of

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

used an impactor to press the lower control arm ball joints

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

so nice to put clean bits back on

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

test fitted the 1 1/16" (smaller of the two) stabalizer bar

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

and here she is back on her feet - and I couldn't be happier

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Lot of work you've done in a short time. Looking good.

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

thanks I definitely had help with the reassembly, and four months later I'm basically back to ground zero with the electric conversion, except on a nice clean canvas, which I love the way it turned out by the way

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

So I ran out of the one pound of gloss black Eastwood powder coat to finish the anti swear bar brackets, as well as the brake bracket and it look's like the next bag won't arrive for yet another week: "Delay in delivery due to weather or unexpected circumstances." I just love FedEx

so I decided to work on something else and buy a pan friend bar

man my new buddy and your forum buddy pjmoreland helped me remove the old one with his feet as it was cranked down to infinity and beyond and we installed this one and within minutes adjusted it a few turns and that brought the butt of the truck back on center, so much better already

Re: My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck
 

Wait till you see what's holding up my rear coil springs! Any guesseses?