'85 Short Bed 4X4

[FunKing85]

This thing was absolutely filthy everywhere

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Ray charles welds

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I get PTSD looking back on these pictures now

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Pressure washer cried when it saw this

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Many days later

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Getting the frame back in one piece was the biggest concern of mine obviously. I was actually searching for a direct replacement for the frame but couldn't find much, and when i did they wanted an arm and a leg for something that was potentially just as bad but in a different way. I share a shop with a buddy of mine and his father is a professional collision repair and body guy, also happens to have a soft spot for squares so I picked his brain about it. What i saw as potentially destroyed he shrugged off as another thing to fix. We measured up, down, left, right, found every schematic and frame diagram we could, checked, double checked, tacked, cut tacked again until it was right. Huge help, couldn't have done it without his help and the good ol GM manual.

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One of many diagrams we used for reference

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One step in the right direction

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On to the front hangers. I had about three days of grinding and cleaning just on the frame fix, took me another week or two of evenings after work to get the old booger welded hangers and everything else off the frame.

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After about 25 cutting wheels and days of laying on the ground it was finally time to move on to getting the frame torn down more, yanked the motor and trans as one unit, it’s been living in the back of the Blue Truck for a while now. Only one with a dual motor squarebody in town. lol
Also did a spray in bedliner on the quad cab up at work. True testimate to how much rot and rust a bedliner can hide. Honestly never like seeing a spray in liner in a truck I'm considering buying. Mostly did it cause it was free.

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Getting the new hangers lined up and bolted on. Went with the Offroad Design ones. Good stuff

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I'm happy with how they turned out

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New parts! Always mixed emotions here, happy to have em, but knowing how much it all cost sucks. Spent hours on ORD website piecing together what I wanted. Went with the crossover steering and reid knuckle combo, I am very interested to see how that will feel goin down the road. Borgeson 2wd ratio steering box as well.

[FunKing85]

Axle prep and paint. lots a little nooks to clean on these things.

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Takes a lot of time to get all these parts cleaned and painted.

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Getting some more things mocked up

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I also re-did the rear leaf hangers with the upgraded kit from ORD, guess i didnt get any close up pictures of that. Very stout pieces. It was not easy to get the old welded ones off of there.

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New spindles, Ball joints, U joints. Went with Spicer U joints and Moog ball joints. Wanted to try and save the old spindles but they were both ate up real bad on the bearing surface, the old bearings must have come apart in there a long time ago.
Front spindle replacement- Yukon 706529x includes seals
U-joints- Spicer 5-760x
Ball joints- Moog K8195T and K8194T

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Hubs, bearings, rotors.

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Didnt end up reusing my old hubs, gonna buy a new Warn set eventually

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Back on the wheels. Still have the cross link to do as well as clean out the center section, new gasket and fluid, hubs and brakes.

[FunKing85]

Donor truck obtained for 1500 bucks. drove it home, shifts great runs smooth. Its a 2002 GMC Yukon Denali, 6.0 4L60E AWD. Never washed inside and out by the looks of it. 180 thousand on the clock. This combo came about mostly because of the 4x4 setup. The splines on the 4L60 match my transfer case I pulled out, 27 spline NP208. I will be using the 02 Denali adapter/tailshaft piece and from what I gather I will need to add a VSS which isn’t a problem, they make a mechanical to electronic kit that gives me a pigtail to tie into my engine harness for about 140 bucks.

[FunKing85]

Next up is getting the cab on the frame, rolling it inside the shop, and mocking up the motor, trans and transfer case. My stock trans crossmember was hacked and mangled so i'll either have to fab up one myself or buy another stock one and modify it. Leaning toward stock one, just because I know it'll work. The cab is in rough shape, but the body work will be a lot easier with it up on the frame instead of on the ground. Sure would be nice to have a cab dolly. I did snap off one of the welded nuts on the rear cab mount, I now have to figure out if i want to cut from the inside down, or find some other way. Progress is slow but its gettin there.

Maintaining the rest of the fleet in between parts orders is keeping me busy, We painted my E36 "drift car" (havent even done a proper burnout in it yet). Blue Truck needs tires, and a reseal on most parts. The 79 Quad cab needs a lot of love, been driving that thing like it owes me money. speakers and radio quit, drivers window only moves a few inches, carrier bearing is shot, leaking power steering, tires suck, tailgate fell off, on and on. Still my favorite thing to drive tho! Will post again when i get some more done.