Well, after a lot of grinding, bending, sanding, priming and painting I'm back with another update!! The box is off, and the cab is ready to come off, so I figured I might as well paint the frame, as I hope to never have to tear this truck apart again (or at least not for a long time).
Once I got the box off, I noticed that there was indeed minor damage to the rear of the drivers side frame rail from when I got rearended. It was straighted with a hammer and a crescent wrench prior to painting.
One rainy trip to the auto wrecker (the most miserable trip ever) the heater and wipers quit. On the drive home I noticed it got louder. One of the rusty old bottles had broken, and was just kind of hanging there. When I took the box off I hit it and broke it right off.
Another area of concern was the shocks, I knew the truck was bouncy and needed new ones, but I never expected to find these. Anyone know when the last time they made Gabriel AjustOMatics was?
