Progress Pics
 

Finally got down to the frame. I have been grinding off exhaust hangers etc. Plan to start sand blasting in about a month once I have all my new spindles and springs etc. That way everything can be painted at once.

Here si another...

One more....

Words of wisdom
 

In 6 months you will be:
broke
falling asleep at work(cuz you worked on your truck til 3am)
have dozen of unidentifiable scars
wondering if it will ever run again


Trucks....gotta love 'em

Nice work on the frame, hope ill be at that point some time befor 2010, Gotta love those new Duramax HD's eh? :bowtie:

Re: Words of wisdom
 

Yup, that's where I'm at.

SuperChevy, I love the new Duramax. I guess at some point I have to stop calling her new since she is over a year old now. Best truck I have owned to date.

As far as the scars and staying up late I am already there. I was broke before I began the project! I have been tinkering with this truck since I was 16 so, it has given me many emotional and physical scars over the years.

I totaled up the parts list last night for the suspension, brake and rearend rebuilds and just about fell out of my chair!! Can I get a loan??

:rolleyes:

Just don't give up...you can take a 6 month break, but jst don't give up.
nice rims on there too.

Thanks longhorn. I am still pretty motivated, I am just trying to scrape up the money to buy more new parts!

Those are the wheels I put on the truck back in 87! They are just on there for the restoration. I plan to go with some 17" Boyd's when all done. These wheels will either be sold or put on my car trailer (when I get one).

bring her on by some time, works starting to slow down so im going to start on mine again, let me know when you want some help on it.

I got your e-mail. I give you a call lost wages! I'm ready, I'm just not sure about the pocket book. How long can I leave the frame sand blasted before I have to put paint on it?

Looks a lot like mine is now! Except that I'm only home for 4 days a month. Kinda hard to work on a project, finish my honey-do list, and spend time with the wife and kid on a saturday and half a sunday. It's coming along slowly but surely, should be down to bare frame once I take some leave. Good luck, and good job!

looks familiar

*points to avatar*

we can put a few coats of epoxy primer on it and then it can sit for a while no problem, or you can also use something like coreless, por 15, or something of the sort, i used coreless on mine.

lost wages. I am going to be out of town this weekend, but I will give you a call on Sunday. I should be home late afternoon. Maybe we can get together then. I am up for the following weekend, as I have no plans. Let me know what media I should get for the blaster and where and I will get that taken care of.

I ordered a crossmember from Wes that should be hear today. I need to get that in and the suspension all taken off the truck.

I really appreciate you helping me out.

Made a little bit more progress this weekend....

Just curious...why a new crossmember? Yours have problems or for some handling/ride benifits?

BTW - Great progress!

Before you decide on paint I would check into powdercoating. Not that much difference in price but will hold up alot longer. I had my frame and all suspension parts done for $450.

68 - my truck didn't have the last crossmember there! I would guess that in a previous life someone bent the snot out of it pulling it and someone just removed it. I had to replace the front one as well, because it was bent.

I am checking into the powder coating. I understand that having it done in black is pretty cheap, but adding a color is expensive. Do you have pics of yours and what color did you go with?

I should have the front end tore down by the end of the week.

Lost Wages is being a super guy and letting me use his blaster. Won't be long and I will get to work with clean new parts!

You are so busy!!!!!!!!
 

Since you are so busy with this truck thing (mines all done). Thinking that boat of yours would look really good behind my truck:D . I could run it down to the lake then help out when I get back. :D Boats need to be ran! We'll be seeing you soon.

Ha! no chance! The boat is at home getting ready for a week vacation at Table Rock lake.....I can't wait. Nice try though....oh, and I will take you up on your offer to help on the truck!! :D

I went with semi-gloss. If you like I can email some pics. Not sure how to post them on the board.

Is that boat red?
 

I need pics of it behind my truck to see how it looks LOL.:D

I dunno how thorough a job yer doing, but, if yer like me, I replaced the front and rear crossmembers because they were damaged. Those are the only ones I removed. If you consider powder coating make SURE you check the condition of the rear spring pads and the panhard bar mount brackets. Also the .. well I called them frame stiffeners, they are 2 small braces inside the C channel right above the spring pads. Make SURE you check this stuff, maybe even remove it and clean under it.. before you do any painting. We had thick flaky rust here and had to replace most of these parts.

Lookin good, takin it down to the principals and buliding it up is the best way to go about things.. it just costs a lot more :P

70 - I would love to see some pics. You can post them by attaching a file. It's pretty simple if you look just below where you type in the text. If you can't get that to work then send them to my e-mail. You can see that in my profile.

Mudder - my boat is solid red...it would look great behind the Mudder!!



Dark Fox - I have checked those places and they are in great shape. My truck (especially the frame) was very clean. The only rust (only) I have is my cab floor and mounts. My frame still has a lot of the original black paint showing. Thanks for the advice. Any other pointers?