70' k/20 first restoration help

[Skid99]

This truck means a lot to me and its been in my family since new so I want to do it right and honor the truck. And it's the first truck I ever drove.

My dad purchased this truck sometime in the early 90's from his 2nd cousin who has since passed. Its certifiably all original aside from the paint. Its a 1970 k20 with a 292 sm465 imguessing and factory lock out hubs. 214,xxx on odometer and it runs. Needs very little sheet metal wise. My question is what is the proper way yo restore the frame? Blast without disassembly or take it completely apart?

Pic:

[Tinkermc]

To do it right you need to take it apart.

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

To do it right you need to take it apart.

Thanks for replying. You mean take all the factory rivets out and take the cross members out? How hard is it to re assemble and square the frame when putting it back together?

[c20pickup]

the way I did mine was take the front clip off, motor and trans out, along with core support, then take the cab off (4 bolts, fuel line, wiring) then take the bed off (6 bolts, wiring) then your down to a rolling chassis. the next step is up to you, I did mine the "right" way in my opinion, I took the front end out, and glad I did because it wasn't hard at all, 3 bolts on each of the frame rails, brake lines, then shocks. now its ready to blast, all you have is a bare frame and the rear end parts, axle, springs, etc. But the way I did mine was by taking the skidsteer and flipping the frame upside down to blast and paint it. I think this was a good way to do t because you can get everything underneath when painting it so it looks good when someone looks under the truck, and any missed spots will be on the topside where nobody will ever see. this step is completely up to you. I blasted to bare metal, etch primer, then flat chassis black paint (a lot of guys use por 15, the rust converter, not a big fan of this though just my opinion) remember though, the disassembly is easy! reassembly... not so much haha. that's how I did mine, hope this helps, hopefully someone else will chime in also. oh, by the way, slick truck! wish it was in my driveway

[c20pickup]

I just saw your reply, and no I didn't take the factory rivets out, way to much work, and I think they hold better than the bolts you would replace them with. I let mine in and it looks great!

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by c20pickup

I just saw your reply, and no I didn't take the factory rivets out, way to much work, and I think they hold better than the bolts you would replace them with. I let mine in and it looks great!

Thanks man! I truly do love the truck and would never consider selling this "family heirloom".

I saw one build thread where someone had taken the fram apart and re assembled with some grade 8 bolts and i didnt know how good of an idea that would be? I plan to blast the frame and use and off brand por 15, a chassis paint thats supposed to be a rust isolator/inhibitor. I'm going for good corrosion resistance and something that holds up good as I really don't want to do it again haha!

Also what's the best blasting media for this? I was thinking about getting harbor freights 20lb blaster and some walnut hull media but I'm very open to some experienced advice!

[71blksuper4x4]

You can used sand/black beauty for frames, it works faster. Walnut would be more for sheetmetal

[Skid99]

Is black beauty safer than sand is? I know sand makes ozone gas

[JointTech]

never heard sand creates ozone. and only the state of california would have a problem with that anyway. It does cause silicosous (sp?) which leads to lung problems. I dont get anywhere near sand blasting without a mask.

[c20pickup]

i used black diamond (same thing im guessing?? except this stuff didnt have silicon in it) but anyways, the por15 is your choice, it supposed to be a good rust inhibitor, however im not sold on it yet, up to you man! and yeah i have seen a thread, i think it was somewhere in the 4x4 section where a guy used grade 8's in his frame during reassembly and he said they work good you want to remove a crossmember and what not but he said he had to tighten them all after about 3-6 months of use. i suppose you could get around this with lock nuts and some red loctite, but i just stuck with the factory rivets becasue the way i look at it, is 1. they cant loosen up and 2. GM musta did something right back in 1970 if theyve held up this long, so why change a good thing. i have the same mentality as you, do it right once so you dont have to do it again. so im confident in my rust protection by leaving the crossmembers and rivets in place. i think the rivets look cool too!

[c20pickup]

Originally Posted by Skid99

Thanks man! I truly do love the truck and would never consider selling this "family heirloom".

I saw one build thread where someone had taken the fram apart and re assembled with some grade 8 bolts and i didnt know how good of an idea that would be? I plan to blast the frame and use and off brand por 15, a chassis paint thats supposed to be a rust isolator/inhibitor. I'm going for good corrosion resistance and something that holds up good as I really don't want to do it again haha!

Also what's the best blasting media for this? I was thinking about getting harbor freights 20lb blaster and some walnut hull media but I'm very open to some experienced advice!

awhile back my dad bought a small harbor freight blaster (probably the one your talking about) and it didnt really have enough nuts to do much, wouldnt wanna do a frame with it in other words. for my frame i rented a large industrial sized blaster with a trailer type compressor and used the black diamond media (you can buy it in 30lb bags at menards, home depot, lowes etc) and with the big blaster my frame came out emaculate! i had some surface rust, with almost no rot, after blasting and painting the finish is smooth as a babies ass. i give it a 10/10 on how well the blasting turned out. and like posted above, walnust would be for more delicate items such as sheetmetal or parts you dont want to distort to bad, that and it leaves tiny black spots in the finish of the bare metal that must be removed before priming/painting. sand or crushed glass will be the best bet for frame work and removing any rust. and it can be wiped down and ready to paint almost right away

[Skid99]

Thanks again for the replies.

Originally Posted by c20pickup

awhile back my dad bought a small harbor freight blaster (probably the one your talking about) and it didnt really have enough nuts to do much

Was it a hand held self contained unit or was it a compressor fed stand up unit? the one im speaking of:

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-lb-p...ter-68994.html



Got some pics:

SPID:



Front Diff 4.55 gears im guessing by the tag, its a dana obviously buy idk which one(Please help me Identify):



exposed (large) knuckles -thank god:



Rear end (Eaton unit):

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by c20pickup

i used black diamond (same thing im guessing?? except this stuff didnt have silicon in it) but anyways, the por15 is your choice, it supposed to be a good rust inhibitor, however im not sold on it yet, up to you man! and yeah i have seen a thread, i think it was somewhere in the 4x4 section where a guy used grade 8's in his frame during reassembly and he said they work good you want to remove a crossmember and what not but he said he had to tighten them all after about 3-6 months of use. i suppose you could get around this with lock nuts and some red loctite, but i just stuck with the factory rivets becasue the way i look at it, is 1. they cant loosen up and 2. GM musta did something right back in 1970 if theyve held up this long, so why change a good thing. i have the same mentality as you, do it right once so you dont have to do it again. so im confident in my rust protection by leaving the crossmembers and rivets in place. i think the rivets look cool too!

yeah i personally dont care if its rivets or bolts and nylock nuts and lock washers would eliminate that loosening issue. My question is should I be worried about rust under mounts and mating surfaces you could never get to with a sand blaster or new paint unless the two parts were separated? Or should I just blast it best I can on the surface and just refinish with the paint of my choice? Thanks.

[swamp rat]

I have seen builds here where none of the cross members are removed, and i have seen where all the rivets are removed and all the pieces individually sand blasted and repainted, If you do remove cross members you need to be using Grade 8 hardware to bolt it all back together, i have had little luck finding loc nuts stronger than Grade 5 but they may be out there somewhere. I do think that if there was enough surface rust on the frame that it could migrate between the metal at the rivets and possibly loosen up but i think thats a pretty extreme situation, i'd say 95% don't remove the cross members.

So you know you are gonna have to start a build thread right??

[litew8]

Originally Posted by Skid99

My question is what is the proper way yo restore the frame? Blast without disassembly or take it completely apart?

I didn't disassemble - I drove my truck to the local sandblaster. The little that didn't get hit, I personally don't think it mattered. Pics in my thread.
From the little I can see of yours, it looks like, if gone the route I had, yours would clean up Really nice.

[c20pickup]

Originally Posted by Skid99

Thanks again for the replies.



Was it a hand held self contained unit or was it a compressor fed stand up unit? the one im speaking of:

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-lb-p...ter-68994.html



Got some pics:

SPID:



Front Diff 4.55 gears im guessing by the tag, its a dana obviously buy idk which one(Please help me Identify):



exposed (large) knuckles -thank god:



Rear end (Eaton unit):

yep, exact same one! it still sits up on the shelf because my dad was that disapointed with it. we run a small fleet of trucks and his original intention was to sand blast rusty truck frames but it was just to small, our air compressor wasnt the problem either, we have a large standup ingersoll rand that was capable of flowing plenty of air and pressure. im sure itd be a nice blaster for small hard parts (brackets, maybe control arms and such) but for a frame, i dont know, it might be just to small, im sure it could be done, but if you have a larger blaster avaiable to you, that would be a better choice

[mgkgmc]

Now thats a bumper!

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by mgkgmc

Now thats a bumper!

Dad loved to make bumpers Lol.... Its an air tank lol

[litew8]

He knew what he was doing!

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by litew8

He knew what he was doing!

definitely. i swear the could make anything with and oxy/acetylene torch and an old stick welder.

[Bigdav160]

Nice truck.

Am I wrong in thinking that the paint is not medium olive and the front axle should be closed knuckle?

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by Bigdav160

Nice truck.

Am I wrong in thinking that the paint is not medium olive and the front axle should be closed knuckle?

Yeah it was repainted in the 90's and from what I've researched it should be the short, closed knuckles... maybe its a 70 1/2??? Idk.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Skid99

Yeah it was repainted in the 90's and from what I've researched it should be the short, closed knuckles... maybe its a 70 1/2??? Idk.

Consider yourself fortunate that its not a closed knuckle and don't worry about it.

[Skid99]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Consider yourself fortunate that its not a closed knuckle and don't worry about it.

thats what i was thinking!

[WIDESIDE72]

You will spend more time removing the rivets than you will doing all of the rest of the frame resto combined. No point in removing them IMO