Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Nice work on the box and frame. Like the lift too.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

COOL PICS! DUUDE you are a master craftsman your work is so nice:metal:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

i know... the rust on this truck is under 2 paint jobs. the victim of poor prep work. but the blaster will take care of it, i hope.

thanks man... i'm thinking that this is another big challenge and thats what keeps me going back out in the shop... love the challenge.

lift works great... traded a small airstream trailer for it and i couldn't be happier with the deal. and thanks.

appreciate it man... that lift will be perfect to install a tranny in the 1-ton. got a trans jack in the trade too.

thanks pal... seeing that satin black frame on your blue & white build made me want to do the same. it was beautiful and so smooth looking... but i copped out and went glossy. maybe next time.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

its early april and time for the march update.
the plan changed and it looks like my buddies cab is worse that we hoped. as murph noted it was rusty in places that don't usually get that way, even for our climate.
so we opted for another cab that i had. this was better in some ways, not so much in others. a big back window conversion is going to happen, one rocker needs replacing, 3 pretty major floor patches, the tunnel has to be changed to a big hump, 1 door pillar is toast, the dash will need a radio patch... and thats just the about it (hopefully) but it still less work than on the original cab.

first pic is the replacement cab after some sandblasting and scraping.
next pic is the first floor patch tacked in and the third is the fix.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

got a start on the big window conversion... i had already removed the inner panel from a parts cab, then blasted and etched it. after removing the small window inner panel from the replacement cab, the back wall was blasted and etched and prepped for the install. at the end of the day the big panel was glued to the ceiling panel with 3M panel cement and then clamped in place for 24 hrs. the plan is to fill this seam like chad did in his thread. i think that is a cleaner look and worth doing but that will have to wait till all the welding happens.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the frame was painted earlier last month but i was able to get the parts and prep them to rebuild the front suspension. using a cap.fab power steering plate and all the harder to find 3/4 ton stuff we're ready to get after it...thank goodness for that extra hour of daylight.
before you freak about the color on the springs, its burnt copper, one of the company colors for my buddies company. and i thought a little copper color on the chassis would be cool... but just the springs, everything else will be shades of gloss, satin and flat black.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the original rearend in the 3/4 ton is an eaton and the gears are 4:57, which are too low using a granny 4-speed and looking for a little highway time so we got a 14 bolt from salvage. its out of an 85 model which had leaf springs so the old pads were cut off and changed to coil springs and the track bar mount from the eaton was welded on. the new rear is from a auto truck and is 3:90 gears. much better.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

man your work is soo clean :metal:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Those springs in all that black are going to look pretty cool I think !!

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

:agree::agree::agree:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Like the pic of all the nice new clean parts waiting for your magic touch to become a master piece.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

beautiful:metal:the black and gold is going to be super sweet together.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Looking good, and I must agree with the previous comments! Awesome work!!!

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

thanks guys... this build is kinda different for me because it belongs to someone else. and their direction is hazy at best. so any comments and critiques are welcome and appreciated.
more updates next month...

heres a quick pic of razorback red with dropped rear springs. they evened up the ride and i like it...

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

that looks great, how much did you drop it?

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

they were 3" springs. if they settle any i may wish i got 2" but for now they're great.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Looking good Clem :thumbs:

I assume you received the 14 bolt trailing arm mounts?

I've never seen 3.90 gears in a 14 bolt, usually 3.73 and 4.10's.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

yes sir i did get the mounts. and you may be right about the gearing, haven't checked yet, going by what the salvage guy said. will count teeth and inspect when the mounts and trac-bar bracket get welded. either ratio will be better than the eatons 4.57.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

clems is that the cab that was by the gate infront of the garage? razorback looks good with that stance!! tilly is going to be one sweet truck

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

i lov that red truck soooooo clean

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

april was one of those months where it doesn't seem like much was accomplished but a lot of time was spent getting nothing done.

spent a little time on the rearend... welded the perches from the captain and the tracbar bracket on the 1985 14 bolt. which did count out to be a 4:10 gear (you were right cap). after cleaning it up, got some satin paint on it.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

made a cabcart from the middle section of an old frame. around here everything has to be portable and the carts are easy to make. and they make the cab easy to work on.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

now about the cab... i was fooled on this one. after accessing the original cab and opting for a different one which i thought was better, was in fact just as bad. the new cab was crunched on the right side bad. after digging out the bondo i found out just how bad it was. fresh air horn, front door pillar, rocker, inner rocker and the entire rear corner from the middle of the window down. wow, this is gonna take some time and lots of patience.

pic of the bad corner plus the sacrifical old cab which was cut up for the fix.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

that old cab really came in handy not just right rear corner but it also provided the door pillar, several floor patches and the big hump trans tunnel.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the next series of pics is some of the floor repair going on...