JA50N's 86 GMC: A rust wars story

[JA50N]

Update on the progress up to today. Have been painting the front axle and doing some research on where to get a Bilstein steering stabilizer. Seems like a pain int he butt to find. The compressed length of the leaky stock one is 14.75" and the extended length is 23.00" according to my rough measurements. Bilstein's website lists a model for a later model F-350 that is 14.96 compressed and 23.03" extended. I'm not sure it that will work and the bushings can take up that .25" difference. Offroad Designs has a Bilstein stabilizer listed on their website so I am going to give them a call tomorrow to see which one it is.

I also started disassembly of the 14 bolt. I got the Ubolts cut and off the axle and was able to disconnect the mangled hard lines. The axle is out of a 78 so I am assuming it has SAE fittings and since my truck is an '86 it should have metric correct? Any help here would be appreciated.

I have my tires now but I think I am going to wait on the wheels for a bit.

Any way, here's a few pics. As usual constructive feedback is welcome.

Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

Crappy leaking pinion seal is out and new one is in on the 60.

Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

Brake calipers and pads should go on tomorrow as well as painting the short side axle tube and C-hub. Still waiting on the new diff cover to come in and once that is installed then I can paint the center chunk.