'Hay Burner' 69 LWB Frame Off Restore

[Qknf4u69]

It is never too late to get back in to a project. This is to help others to not give up and maybe not follow the same path of mistakes I have made… with that here we go!

So, I have wanted to do this build ever since I purchased this truck from my dad back in 1985 who bought it new from the local dealership. The 69 pickup was known around town (kids at school) as 'The Hay Burner'. The name was given because of the tons of hay she and I had hauled, a wood bed having a 16" hole over the exhaust, the subsequent fire from the loose hay in the bed which created a smoke trail driving to school one day. She has had a few different engines, transmissions and wheels but never got any closer to the way I dreamed the truck to look when completed. She has always looked like a work truck.

In the 90's I decided to do a frame off restore, why not, I can do it I have tools. So, while tearing in to the truck I found a crack in the frame and on the front suspension cross member from this accident. It must had happened from an accident I had when I was 17. It was a great accident, where I removed the front of a car then went over an embankment in to a culvert that broke the lower control arm U-bolts and sheared off the tie rod which left my wheel making an extreme right turn while the driver wheel was still pointing pretty much straight. Luckily only the vehicles were hurt... So after finding the damage I searched and found a donor frame and had it sandblasted then waited for money to continue.

The year was 1993 and my first purchase for the build was after reading in my Truckin’ magazine about a 4-link rear suspension from Alston Suspension. This way I could get to get rid of the old sagged out leaf springs that were tired from the 500 plus trips of 50 bales of hay on them and the custom torched leaf lowering I did when I was 16... Heat was free, parts were expensive, when you are young who needs safety... LOL. In that same magazine I found a tubular lowering kit for the front suspension from CPP. It was cheaper than dropped spindles at the time and having minimal money I purchased that kit as well. I figured I would have this thing knocked out in no time! But then waited for more money to continue.

In 1994 acquired a 454 that I rebuilt and installed it in the frame with the new suspension. That same year I purchased a TCI TH400 from Jegs and hooked it behind the Big Block. But then it happened, the wife and I had our first of two children and the truck was put away, it was time to buy a family car and a house.

In 2001, I had thought I could juggle my job, kids and a project so I sent off the body for soda blasting. I found a 71 pickup at the wrecking yard and picked up disc brakes and the power steering for the truck. Clean up all parts, rebuilt as necessary and installed on the donor frame. Started working on the sheet metal of the cab and it looked like I was going to get after it once again. Well, a new house, kids doing sports and money not being as plentiful as expected made the truck go to the back burner. These pictures are the only digital pictures I have of my truck at this time of the build, too bad I have no idea where the box of photos are of the truck before digital.

The truck was not really touched until winter of 2016, which was about the same time the kid’s plates were broken and kicked out of the house, not really, but they were no longer the money eaters and the 'Hay Burner' was dusted off and evaluated. Well let’s just say that in my youth I didn’t have it all figured out. I went to finish up the 4-link and found out that I didn’t set it up correctly and the parts that I would need to buy would be almost as much as the kit cost now with 23 years of inflation. So, what to do… buy a complete coil over kit and remove the 4-link.

And… we will just have to start the build from there... Oh the fun had just begun.