Gotta formulate a new Plan B....

[ChevLoRay]

Is there an SOP for rebuilding/restifying one of these trucks? I'm down to having to do it with my son. Okay, we have some mechanical experience but no body experience. I have a guy who will do the cab, off of the chassis. It's already on a dolly, so that's good. The chassis still has the old cab, but it's swiss-cheesed as far as the firewall is concerned. It's an air cab with an uncut dash.

The replacement cab is a non-air cab, but that's okay. I like running with the windows down.

Has anyone ever soda-blasted a chassis? I don't want to use sand.....but I have to clean up the chassis before the cab can be reinstalled.

Any pointers for me? Books? I already have the assembly manual, and a factory shop manual.

I guess I'm looking to learn from the mistakes that others have made that they will talk about and hopefully steer me away from making.

[Longhorn Man]

I would opt for sand on the frame. Soda can mess with the paint well after you're done painting it.
Why would you not want to use sand on the frame?

[1low]

x2 sand works great and its cheap

[ChevLoRay]

Haven't disassembled the chassis. I have no problem with sandblasting a bar frame. That's the reason for the question. I had the front cap and bed soda blasted. I don't want to do the cab with soda because it will get into every nook and cranny and show up at the worst possible time...like when painting.

[vectorit]

Bag, box, tag, and label every single nut, bolt, washer, wire, and every other little thing that comes out of the truck.

No matter how rusty, damaged, modified a part may be. Save it... Put them in boxes, and store them out of the way.

Take tons of pictures of everything in and out of the truck.

As time goes on in your resto, you will forget how things looked or went back together.

Having all the bagged n' tagged parts helps speed up the assembly, and help in getting correct fresh fasteners if you need or want to get new ones.

Keeping the old junk that comes off, stuff that you may have thought to pitch. Will come in handy when you can't figure out why something isn't going together as easy as you thought, since the old part may show a clue as to why and can give you a good "dummy" piece to put in to make other things come together around it.

[ChevLoRay]

Oh, I hear you. Problem: I "gave" it to a guy to do body/paint in October of '07. He bagged/labeled what he removed, I believe. I'm taking the truck back as a basket case, basically. I'm losing money. He's gonna end up in court when I take it to small claims. I may not get anything but a judgement, but I'll take if that that's how it goes. I have the engine/transmission here in my garage. I'll be picking up the chassis with original cab; a replacement cab on a dolly; the bed and front cap...U-bild format: There's other bits and pieces, too. It's a logistical headache. But, after all that time and nothing to show for my money except my stupidity in believing what someone told me they'd do.....I paid a lot of money for some disassembly and some high-level BS. Yeah, shame on me for not being smarter. After my stroke, I thought I was needing some help. The guy had/has promise. But after he came down with non-Hodgkins' Lymphoma...it's all in the past. I'm picking up my marbles and going home.

I'm thinking that the chassis is going to be the benificiary of a lot of steel brushing and pressure washing, along with some scraping. What else would it take?

[Luvlegs]

EASY OFF ("makes frame cleaning easier..)- stuffs awesome but it will flash rust quickly if you don't get something on the metal (not INSTANTLY but within a few hours for sure). Just be careful where it goes and on what/who, etc.

[ChevLoRay]

Thanks. I hit the cross member with it after removing the engine/trans. But, it's gonna take some scraping and brushing. Think I should floss? Anyway, thanks for tip. Wanna buy some stock in EZOff?

[ChevLoRay]

The last three Sunday afternoons, my youngest son and I have worked on getting it disassembled. Two weeks ago, doors came off and were gutted. Last week, we took the cab off, saving the back glass and trashing the already cracked windshield. Today, we began dismantling the front end. We have also used a wire cup wheel on the frame, which has caused us to abandon that and go for sandblasting, as you have suggested. There's only so much that you get to with the wire brush. Here's where we're at:

[Zoomin]

Man, that's a lot of work! Money spent on sandblasting is well worth it. I used a place that uses plastic beads on the body panels. It costs more, but no problems with paint later on, and it doesn't heat up the metal, so no warping.

As i remove items, I try to put the bolts and screws back on the part they came from after it's off. After you've bagged and tagged I like putting related items together in clear plastic tubs and labeling those so it makes things easier to find. Tubs stack easier and hold up better than boxes.

I find it much easier to have items delivered at the office rather than at the house. Those of you that are married probably understand the logic here.
Posted via Mobile Device

[ItsRandy]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

Is there an SOP for rebuilding/restifying one of these trucks? I'm down to having to do it with my son. Okay, we have some mechanical experience but no body experience. I have a guy who will do the cab, off of the chassis. It's already on a dolly, so that's good. The chassis still has the old cab, but it's swiss-cheesed as far as the firewall is concerned. It's an air cab with an uncut dash.

The replacement cab is a non-air cab, but that's okay. I like running with the windows down.

Has anyone ever soda-blasted a chassis? I don't want to use sand.....but I have to clean up the chassis before the cab can be reinstalled.

Any pointers for me? Books? I already have the assembly manual, and a factory shop manual.

I guess I'm looking to learn from the mistakes that others have made that they will talk about and hopefully steer me away from making.

Easy off oven cleaner does do a great job, takes it down to bare metal but it gets expensive and it's hard to use laying on your back under your frame. I used a soda blaster on my front suspension and front half of my frame (so far) after the easy off treatment, I like the way it turned out. Of all of the paint mfgrs out there only two (that I found) have a problem with using their product on something that has been soda blasted, you just need to wash the soda blasted parts real good with soap and water before applying primer. If you sand or soda blast...WEAR A RESPORATOR AND EYE PROTECTION! Sand blasting can cause silacosis (lung disease).

[ChevLoRay]

Sandblasting will be done by a third party. I don't have the equipment. As for the silicosis, I worked for 27 years under the watchful eyes of the Mines Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). As a supervisor, we were made aware of the many different ways that our lungs can become affected by the dusts that we shouldn't be breathing. Of course, we've heard about asbestosis and the cancer (mesothelioma) that can result. But, you pointed out a very serious one (silicosis) that isn't as high on the radar screen of a lot of people. I think that is part of the reason for changing to other media, whether it is plastic beads, ground walnut hulls or soda. Regardless of which media you choose to use, a dust mask is very important in preventing the inhalation of any of the dusts from any of those media materials. Of course, a cabinet for sand-blasting those smaller components will help to contain the materials, but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of safety.

Crazy thing is that there will be a lot of people who read this who will go ahead and skip the dust mask.