Frankentruck

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by 72cs20

Good find on that vintage plate! I like that kind of memorabilia.

Thanks! I like it too, and here in GA, I could run this tag on a 70 vehicle. Even though I don't have a 70 vehicle, I might one day, so now I have a tag for it I also have a 64 tag that is county code 35, but I'm still on the hunt for a 63 tag with county code 35. That one has proven to be difficult.

[GranPanteraRoja]

I've been looking for a '65 Cobb (7) plate myself. When I lived in Dekalb (2) it was very easy with hundreds to chose from which I found two tags with some great numbers.

TagDr.com and GeorgiaPlates.com as well as eBay are where I'm primarily searching. A quick check to those and I found your '63 Cherokee on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-196...-127632-2357-0

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by GranPanteraRoja

I've been looking for a '65 Cobb (7) plate myself. When I lived in Dekalb (2) it was very easy with hundreds to chose from which I found two tags with some great numbers.

TagDr.com and GeorgiaPlates.com as well as eBay are where I'm primarily searching. A quick check to those and I found your '63 Cherokee on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-196...-127632-2357-0

I'll be on the look for a Cobb tag too for ya. Unfortunately, someone drilled 4 extra holes in that 63 tag, otherwise I would have bought it.

[cwcarpenter98]

Yup, finally building the trailer was well worth the time and money.
Swap meet in the morning!

[cwcarpenter98]

The swap meet was cold and windy today, but a decent amount of people still showed up. Even had some snow flurries

Still a good time though, and I got multiple compliments on the trailer.


The trailer pulls nicely and is definitely my favorite way to do swap meet stuff with.

[65Custom]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

The swap meet was cold and windy today, but a decent amount of people still showed up. Even had some snow flurries

Still a good time though, and I got multiple compliments on the trailer.


The trailer pulls nicely and is definitely my favorite way to do swap meet stuff with.

Sorry I missed it, I drove by planning to stop, but I was too late, got there around 12:40 and there was one truck left and one pulling out so I kept going.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by 65Custom

Sorry I missed it, I drove by planning to stop, but I was too late, got there around 12:40 and there was one truck left and one pulling out so I kept going.

There was a decent amount of people there, but most were just looking to buy, so with the cold, once they saw everything, they left. Hopefully the next meet will have better weather!

[cwcarpenter98]

My seat broke when I got home from the swap meet.
Doing a quick and cheap yet temporary "fix" until I pull the truck off the road for rust repair.

I'm thinking about upgrading to the full foam seat

[cwcarpenter98]

Got the seat "fixed" and back in the truck yesterday. Drove back to Milledgeville today and didn't have any discomfort regarding the seat. It's good enough for government work! I will keep using this seat until I find a good, full foam seat to have reupholstered. I really like the custom comfort pattern, so I'm probably going to go that direction at some point. That will be after fixing the cab rust though, so I still have plenty of time to put my fix to good use.

I did have one problem though. The throttle return spring snapped on I20. I felt the throttle get really loose, but it was still running fine, so I kept driving. Eventually, it started getting funky and I couldn't accelerate. I pulled off on the shoulder, got out, and didn't notice anything wrong under the hood. The engine fired right back, so I revved it and it didn't come back down unless I pulled back on the pedal. Looked back under the hood and sure enough, throttle spring was gone. I saw the short piece sitting on the intake manifold, but assumed the rest was gone to the interstate.

I limped the truck off the interstate since the next exit was about a mile up the road. I had to work the throttle back and forth with my foot, but I made it into a gas station.
Went back under the hood and started looking around. I am glad I don't have headers because sitting between the exhaust manifold and head was the rest of the spring.

One vise grip and needle nose pliers later, I bent one of the coils into a hook since all that broke was the hook at the point it started to coil. That worked great to get me the rest of the way to Milledgeville. I could probably run it like that for awhile, but I'll be getting a new spring tomorrow. Definitely going with one that has a smaller spring inside the larger one


*Edited to add pictures*

I picked up a pack of universal return springs. Might be overkill, but I put two on instead of just one. The throttle is definitely has more resistance, but that might help keep my foot out of the floor
I might take one off though if it proves to be uncomfortable on a longer trip.

[LostChord]

You are an inspiring young man! Thank you for sharing this journey of faith, school, career, and oh yeah, a great truck.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by LostChord

You are an inspiring young man! Thank you for sharing this journey of faith, school, career, and oh yeah, a great truck.

Thank you for the kind words! I've enjoyed sharing and it helps me remember everything that I've done to the truck. That'll be even more helpful in about 20 years when it's finally fully restored

[straight6chevyguy]

Hi Christian it's been months since I was on here just trying to catch up on everyone's builds. good work, keep it up.
And good name for the trailer btw.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by straight6chevyguy

Hi Christian it's been months since I was on here just trying to catch up on everyone's builds. good work, keep it up.
And good name for the trailer btw.

Thanks man, welcome back!

[cwcarpenter98]

Well, I might be starting my own fleet.

81 Custom Deluxe, original paint, been sitting for 20 years.
305 2 barrel, auto, power steering and brakes, A/C, and possibly only 57k original miles.
It's got rust in the rockers and lower corners of wheel wells. Cab corners look decent. Couple small spots in the outside of the floor.
Still has the original floor mat. No carpet in this one!
Extensive mouse nest under the hood, but none got inside the cab, thankfully. They ate a bunch of wires under the hood though.

So, should Frankentruck get a younger sibling?

[Pick121]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Well, I might be starting my own fleet. So,should Frankentruck get a younger sibling?

If you like it and the price is right…YES! I like that Root Beer brown

[350TacoZilla]

Be something nice to drive while cutting roof up on frankentruck lol.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by Pick121

If you like it and the price is right…YES! I like that Root Beer brown

I also like the brown. That's part of what's drawing me in I will say, the price is real right

Originally Posted by 350TacoZilla

Be something nice to drive while cutting roof up on frankentruck lol.

Yup, I was thinking the same thing. Tinker with it a bit after I graduate to get it back on the road then enjoy it while I'm fixing all the rust in Frankentruck. Once Frankentruck is done, then I could fix the rust in the 81. It needs rockers and a couple small other pieces, but no where near as extensive as Frankentruck.

[350TacoZilla]

As long as it wasn't custom ordered with anything odd it should have some tall highway gears in it too so might be decent MPG.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by 350TacoZilla

As long as it wasn't custom ordered with anything odd it should have some tall highway gears in it too so might be decent MPG.

I should have taken a picture of it, but the SPID doesn't have a ton of options on it. With the 2 barrel carb and auto, I wouldn't be surprised if it has something like a 2.73 or so rear. The owner said that it drove great down the highway before it got parked. His brother was the last one who drove it, so he's not exactly sure why it got parked. I was quite surprised to see the master cylinder still full of brake fluid. It's old brake fluid, but it doesn't look terrible, so there's a smidge of a chance that they will still work. Probably will blow out a rear wheel cylinder though, so most likely getting all new brakes just for safety's sake.

Dad and I want to do some turkey hunting this season, so with that, finishing up classes, and studying for the CPA exam, I doubt I'll get much of a chance to tinker on the 81. Probably going to be an after graduation project, considering that's coming up in a little over a month. Gosh, my 5 years of college life is about to be over. What did I even learn?

[350TacoZilla]

Thinking you learned things like how to weld, bit of body work, wiring oh and which direction is forward on control arms lol. All good things


I'll just edit instead of derailing your thread a ton more. If you think about it the right way it really wasn't your mistake, a good rule of thumb is to re-assemble something back in the order and orientation it was taken apart in so really its the PO's mistake.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by 350TacoZilla

Thinking you learned things like how to weld, bit of body work, wiring oh and which direction is forward on control arms lol. All good things

The control arms thing is probably the funniest mistake I have made while doing any sorts of mechanical repair

[cwcarpenter98]

So made another one of those live and learn things again today.
I didn't put any grease on the contact and slide points for the calipers and pads when I put the discs on back in 2015 or back in December when I had everything apart again.
I decided last weekend I had had enough of the brake squeaks. Got some brake parts cleaner and some caliper grease and greased all the contact points up real nice. I didn't hear the annoying squeaks on my test drive, so I'm hoping that will last until I need new pads.

While I had everything off, I noticed the passenger rotor was a smidge loose on the bearings. It made a noise when rocked up and down. I popped the dust cap off and cotter pin out to see how much it needed to be tightened up. I turned the castle nut one slot tighter and that fixed all the play I was feeling. I don't think eneything got messed up too bad, but I'll probably be checking that again at a later date. The driver's side was fine though.

Headed up to C10s in the City in the morning!

[Pick121]

Congrats on TOTM Clunker Award!

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by Pick121

Congrats on TOTM Clunker Award!

Thank you! I'm proud to drive a clunker

[cwcarpenter98]

Had a great time at C10s in the City today. Lots of great trucks and friends. I'm looking forward to the next one!