66 Short Step farm truck
 

Here's my 66 I just bought. This truck was on a ranch about 10 minutes from my house. Looks like they were the second owner and have had it since 1974. It was last registered in 1991 so it's been 20 years since it has seen the road. It's been many years since I have had a auto/truck to restore/refurb so I am pretty excited to get started on it. It is a runner and has a 327/TH350 in it (not stock). So I am going to try and keep it running more or less while I work on it. That may be a challenge in itself. How to restore it while all the time staying within a day or two of having it a road worthy truck. Anyway, here are the Day 1 pictures>

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/IMG_0029.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...0/IMG_0027.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-G...0/IMG_0032.JPG

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https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...0/IMG_0034.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...0/IMG_0037.JPG

It all needs a good going through but it did come with a few new parts. It has a new gas tank, radiator, brake master cyllinder and booster, seat upholstery, tires, and bed slats. It also came with a HEI distributor and an alternator the PO hadn't got around to installing.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

The bed was completely eaten by termites. The first thing I did was take a cutting wheel and remove all the bolts for the bed slats. Than removed the slats and wood, or what was left of the wood. Time to use some elbow grease and start cleaning the frame and bed supports.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...0/IMG_0093.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Made some good progress this weekend. I cut off the mufflers, the mufflers and pipes are completely rotten. Removed the bumper, probably not going to use the bumper. Removed the tailgate,bed cross supports, and finally removed the bed off the truck. Man I'm pretty happy, now it will be much easier to clean things up and work on everything.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...0/IMG_0137.JPG

Got out the grinder and cut off the exhaust hanger rivet to remove the hanger, cut off the rivets that fasten the spare tire cross support bracket, removed the shocks and sanded on the frame some more. Also got all those rusted bolts holding the fenders on off. I may have a line on 2 fenders that look to be in perfect condition.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-E...0/IMG_0136.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Clean truck! Looks like you've got a strong start on it, but, unless I'm missing something...the fenders that came on the truck look to be in great shape.
It's nice to be able to drive the truck as you work through it, I find I enjoy it all that much more.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

The driver side fender has body rot at the back lower corner and the other side has a dent right in the middle of the fender, very fixable dent but as long as I can get these fenders than why even bother.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z...0/IMG_0117.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Finally I can show a little progress besides sanding off rust! I started painting the frame today with POR15. I am super happy to actually start seeing results after weeks of sanding/wire wheeling. It's getting fun now.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...0/IMG_0143.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

What are you painting the fram with ? Truck looks great,

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

I am using this stuff called POR 15. I am really happy with it. Look it up, it seems to be the perfect frame paint. If I had any negative thing to say about it, it would be that it is to glossy.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

I got some more cleaning and painting of the frame done this week. Also removed the brake lines and one of the trailing arms.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R...0/IMG_0155.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U...0/IMG_0156.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Cleaned and painted the trailing arm,half the cross beam where it mounts and half the axle. Installed the trailing arm with shock relocator bracket. Test fitted a few pieces of the brake line.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_0165.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Looking good!!!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Great looking truck, I'm about to start the same cleaning process at the back of my 65 short stepper. If you decide not to use your rear bumper, shoot me a PM, I'm looking for one.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Finished the trailing arms, painted the differential,springs and u bolts. Installed everything. Working on the bed now.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...0/IMG_0173.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

You gotta use that rear bumper!
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Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Truck is looking good. I used POR15 as well but I used the low gloss black and gray on the trailing arns and A arms the gray covered alot better then the black.
Keep up the good work love those step side farm trucks.


If you don't use the rear bumper I would be interested in the brackets

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Yeah I meant to use the low gloss por15 but for some reason I had a brain fart and ordered the regular black and didnt realize it until I painted the frame. Oh well wont see it much anyways. Haven't decided on the rear bumper yet but I think the brackets that came on the truck were meant for a 50's era truck.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Working on the Brakes and differential. Pulled off the diff cover, removed the axles, brake pieces and brake backing plate. Replacing the diff seals, wheel cylinders and brake shoes.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...0/IMG_0202.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5...0/IMG_0201.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Looks like a great start, keep up the good work!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Here's my latest. Rebuilt the rear brakes. New brake springs and wheel cylinders. Springs were installed backwards by whoever did them last time. The brake shoes were in perfect condition so I didn't bother to replace them. Pulled the axles, replaced the axle seals, cleaned and painted everything. I also cleaned up the emergency brake cables and painted the ends where they had rusted before.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-P...0/IMG_0204.JPG

Painted the drums. Something I found interesting is that the drums have a locator tab on them that is supposed to align with a hole in the axle hub. I searched the net but couldnt find a technical reason for this. To me it would seem there would be no difference which way the drum was mounted to the axle hub.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/IMG_0218.JPG

Installed a new adjustable track bar and stainless brake lines. The rubber brake hose I bought from Classic parts was the wrong size to screw into the brake line on the frame so I had to order one for a long bed for some reason, hope it's the right size.


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2...0/IMG_0223.JPG

Still working on derusting the bed rails and rear cross sill.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...0/IMG_0229.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

just found your thread, hadn't seen this one before

looks like you are having a great time on this, I am looking forward to following along!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Quick update. Took out the transmission and crossmember. Also took apart the front end sheetmetal etc..
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...0/IMG_0251.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

WOW nice truck, it's gonna be a fun project!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

You have a great looking truck. Good luck while you are working on it.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Thanks for all the encouragement :) Stripped down the engine, I will be pulling it out this week.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

I have been delinquent in updating my build. I have made some pretty good progress. First I got the engine pulled out.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B...0/IMG_0271.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f...0/IMG_0278.JPG

Stripped all the stuff off the firewall.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...0/IMG_0285.JPG

Stripped the cab down to a shell. That's Monkey, he's there every day keeping me company. :)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...0/IMG_0312.JPG

And finally removed the cab. Now the frame is all mine to attack with a wire wheel haha.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n...0/IMG_0318.JPG

Removed the steering and suspension. I will bereplaceing most of it.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...0/IMG_0331.JPG

All I have been doing lately is removing rust from the frame and the 100's of pieces that were removed. I hope to get the frame cleaned up and painted. I will be using POR15 than Bill Hirsch Chassis black.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Wow! Yes, we haven't heard from yo in a while, but you have been busy!
I am jealous, I want to get started on mine, plan to get busy on it end of next month.
Keep up the great work!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

My goal is to have the frame,suspension and steering done before the cold weather gets here. Over the winter to get the drive train installed and to start on the body work in the spring. Hopefully I'll have a driver by next summer :)

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

nice progress...keep it up, you're doing a great job!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Kind of took a step backwards. I removed all the rear suspension pieces so I could paint the frame. I decided to primer the frame instead of using the POR-15. So I got it down to metal and primered it with Transtar 2k primer. Sanded it all down and now I am ready for the Bill Hirsch Super Black Chassis Undercarriage paint. If I ever do this again I will just send the frame to get sand blasted. I spent way to many hard hours getting this frame down to bare metal.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...0/IMG_0338.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

I painted the frame. I am really happy with how it turned out. I am just learning how to paint and this frame project took a ton of time to get it prepped to paint but now that it's painted I think it was worth all the trouble.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...0/IMG_0345.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

sounds like a case of that snowball effect, lol...it's a disease I tell ya! but when you get down that far, it's almost a shame not to take the extra time to slick things out

Looks great! Very nice work for a rookie :) I'd love to learn to paint someday myself.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

I see you went with less! :lol::lol:

It's amazing how it goes from let me clean the glovebox, let me remove the glovebox, let's go ahead and do a frame off.

Looks great though!!!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Great build thread! Cannot wait to see that truck up in action!

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

HAHAHA, my friends told me this was going to happen. I was in denial right up to the time I removed the cab.

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

This weekend I installed the ball joints. I used Moog components and I bought a MAC ball joint press off of Ebay, it worked great. The A-arms were sand blasted and primered by my Dad. Saved me a ton of time :) .

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-A...0/IMG_0352.JPG

The trailing arms had been painted with POR15. I lightly sanded the POR15 and primered them with Transtar 2K than painted them with Bill Hirsch Chassis paint. I scratched the paint a few places getting them mounted. I will have to do a final touch up of the paint when it's all in place.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...0/IMG_0358.JPG

I spent quite a bit of time getting most of the rust off the front cross member, glad that's over with. I painted one side with POR15. After I finish with the POR15 I will be putting a top coat of paint on it also.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1...0/IMG_0361.JPG

Thats it for this weekend. :)

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Finished putting together the rear suspension and rear axle. Painted the cross member, A-arms and cross shafts using Bill Hirsch chassis paint.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K...0/IMG_0375.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m...0/IMG_0380.JPG

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Looking Good !! I am in Ca too if you need any special tools or advise let me know !

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Thanks Bugeye. Since you asked. I am getting ready to put back together these A-arms. The A-arm cross bars (I think that's what they are called) have inner and outer threads on the cross bar caps. One thing, when I painted the A-arms, the threads on the A-arms also got painted. Is that of any concern when assembling the cross bars? Also, is the torque adjustment to the crossbar caps critical or is it just important to get the paly out of the crossbar? Thanks, Scot

Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Well I got the A-arms and cross shafts all installed, I painted the springs which are 2" lowering springs in the front, painted the spindles and installed the left side. I won a used Branick CST-520 spring compressor from ebay to do the job safely. I'll get the right side done this weekend and than start on the front brakes.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...0/IMG_0575.JPG

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Re: 66 Short Step farm truck
 

Wow, looking great!! Why did you choose to switch from the POR 15 to the Bill Hirsch stuff? I love seeing these trucks get rebuild bolt by bolt. Such a fun process!!