Project "Home Wrecker"

[Low Elco]

A week went by without another truck? Dude, you slippin'.
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[Cheeseman]

ha! I know man, it seems that I ned to get back on the ball. I have a half dozen of these things located across the country side, but I think Momma will be a bit upset if I keep hauling them in and collecting. The snow is holding me up a little, but I hope to get the 67 in the shop and strip the front clip off this week. I will push it back to the big shed to get it out of the way and decide its fate at a later date.

Cheese "trying to thin the heard but it is still growing" Man

[sduckworth13]

Nice job, I'm going to be doing the same setup on my frame.

[Cheeseman]

FedEx left some goodies yesterday and they are scheduled for another delivery today. That will tie up all the TRE;s, pitman arm, idler arm and adjustment sleeves for the front end. With it being Easter weekend, we will be busy and on the road all weekend, but since we are traveling down south I am taking the flat bed "just in case" we find a good deal on parts or something large we may need to haul home. I did finally get an order confirmation from CPP on my LS conversion kit that has the motor stands, cross member for a 4L60E and the poly tranny and motor mounts. The body shop called yesterday and said the cab work should be completed in the next week and ready to lay everything on primer (cab that is). It is all coming together...some things faster then others.

Cheese "addicted" Man

[Cheeseman]

All the steering componets for the front end arrived and are now installed. I somehow screwed up on the part number for the idler arm, so I had to run to the local parts store and grab one of those. I broke down and ordered a set of Moser replacement shafts w/ the 5x5 pattern to go in my 69 rear w/ the posi unit. I ordered them yesterday and they will be here before my LS conversion parts that I ordered weeks ago...slow shipping/processing is driving me crazy, but I knew that when ordering so I guess I cant complain too much. Hope to have the thing as a complete rolling chasis by the end of the weekend.

Cheese "pics to come soon" Man

[Low Elco]

Can't wait, this oughta be good!

[Cheeseman]

It has been a slow few weeks here. Started working on the rear and got everything wire wheeled and ready to weld on the disk brake brackets. The new axle shafts showed up and they fit like a glove. I decided to install new seals as well, so that is now out of the way. I picked up all the new brake parts and just need to mock them in place one more time and I will be ready to weld on the mounts. The body shop called and said the cab "should" be done by this weekend and ready to go to the paint shop next week. Unfortunatly it went WAY over budget. While I have debated on going all static drop, I have now switched back to going with bags on the rear so I can get the exact amount of drop that I want verses springs and blocks etc. I have worked out a swap with another member here on a set of bags and brackets that I am trading my drop coils and some $$ for. Along with all of this, I have located a full pullout drivetrain that we are going tomorrow to look at. It is a 5.3 out of a 02. I will post up the results once I have some more info.

[Cheeseman]

The drivetrain was a go, it was still in the donor vehicle and fired right up and just purred like a kitten. They should be done doing the complete pull out today and my son and I are going up in the morning to pick it up. I am pretty excited to get it home and sitting in the mounts and then I will have a better idea of how the suspension will be sitting at that point. Luckily I will have a few friends around this weekend to help get things moved around and hope to have a few progress pics up soon.

Cheese "giddy as a school girl" Man

[Low Elco]

It's Sat-day son! Git after it! Can't wait to see the new stuff!

[Cheeseman]

It was a productive weekend for the most part. Picked up the drive train Saturday morning and they did a great job getting it all pulled as a lift out unit and I got all the harness from headlights to tail lights unmolested. I got it home and removed all the wiring harnesses and have things lined out to send to the speed shop to get the harness thinned and the computer programed with a nice little performance tune. I worked on the rear diff some more and got it all cleaned up, finished welding in the rear disk brake mounts and then painted the diff and a new coat of paint on the calipers. The posi unit was cleaned up and reinstalled and now I just need to do final installation of the shafts and brakes and it will be ready to roll under the truck. I need to clean up and paint the rear diff cover as well. I still have a little finish welding to do on one of the rear trailing arms but if I get it done tonight I can have them both ready for paint by tomorrow. I will try and post up a few pics this evening when I finally get back in the house.

Cheese "about cashed out for a few days" Man

[Cheeseman]

I have finally had a few rainy days that kept me out of the fields, so I have got a few things tied up on the rig. Here are a couple pics of the rear axle from clean up to welding in the disk brake brackets through install. Turned out quite well in my opinion.




I went with the Moser Alloys for replacements and got all that reinstalled and the disk brakes bolted up.



I picked up the drive train a few weeks back and got it home just fine


and after a quick steam cleaning


What really sucks is that I bought a LS conversion kit from CPP and they sent me the right tranny cross member and the motor stands, but sent me the wrong poly mounts that are for a small block but dont have the adapter plates for the LS...and they wont admit to their mistake or stand behind it since I discovered it after 10 days.... so I am going to have to make my own mounting plates and have decided to discontinue any future business with them..

[Cheeseman]

I decided that I could not get as low in the back as I wanted by going all static drop, so I swapped some $ and my coils to another member for his SS bags and mounts. I got those mocked in and the rear axle mocked in as well.


officially a roller now!!



I checked in on my cab at the body shop a few weeks back and they did a good job on the floor pans, gas cap filler plate and body mounts but the cab corners were not quite to my liking. After an enormous bill (compared to what we had originallly discussed/estimated) I decided to have it loaded up and hauled over to another body shop that will rework and block the cab and do all the rest of the work and paint. I cant decide on the wheels I want to run yet. I am still stuck on the old trusty 338's but starting to lean towards a set of the American Racing Daytonas with the grey centers. 20x8 up front and 20x10 out back if I can get them to fit w/ the proper back spacing on this narrow rear axle on a stepper bed.

To be continued!!

Cheese "getting closer" Man

[Hardesty454]

Man looking killer. WHat are you doing with these extra swb beds? selling any of the parts from the 69 like the grille (Hint hint)

[Cheeseman]

Thanks man! I only have 1 extra SWB right now and it is the 69. The bed is a rusted out mess and the grill is beat up on one side but is all original. I dont have the means or resources to send it off and have it reworked. If someone was interested I would let a lot of the old extra parts go. Most are border line junk in my opinion though.

[Hardesty454]

I'm sure the bed would be horrid to ship. How bad is the damage on the grille? I'd be interested depending on how much shipping plus what you'd take for it is.
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[Cheeseman]

The bed is junk man, it is a 67 on one side, 69 on the other and plywood holding the floor together! I can get pics of the grill later today when I get out to the shed. I would consider selling it seeing that I am not going to be building the truck it came off of.

[Hardesty454]

Ok cool. Thanks buddy!
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[JayDubBlazer]

Subscribed
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[Cheeseman]

Spent this afternoon out in the shop and fabbed up a set of motor mount plates for the conversion of my poly mounts to the LS block. A buddy stopped by for a bit and we stepped out to the shed and dismantled the fenders and steps off the stepside bed. I will try and get the bed strips and wood out of the bed this week and it will be ready to head to the body shop in the coming weeks. I am hoping to get the drive train mocked in this week if all goes as planned.....but we all know how things go!!

Cheese "feeling like something was accomplished today" Man

[knomadd]

Frame's looking good. Where'd you pick up the drive train?

[Cheeseman]

Thanks, I picked up the drive train from an auto recycler in southern Iowa. It was a full lift out unit out of a 2002 2wd Tahoe. I was able to see the vehicle it came out of and even got to hear it run and drive. We are hoping to get the motor and tranny in this week.

[Low Elco]

Great progress!

[Cheeseman]

A big storm system went through last night and poured on more rain...so that means a little more time that I can work on the truck vs. being in the fields Paint was all dry this morning on the new motor mounts I fabbed up yesterday so I will get the poly mounts on these and mounted to the block today sometime. I will try and get some pics uploaded later today when I am back at a computer.

Cheese "rain day" Man

[Cheeseman]

Nothing fancy, but it is all we needed to get the motor mounts to bolt up to the LS block. A quick coat of high temp shiney black and we were good to go...


A few pics of the bed after the fenders came off, suprisingly no rust!!



Cheese "more pics and progress to come this evening" Man

[Low Elco]

Lookin good! The crop oughta be rocketing up with all this rain! Finally, huh?
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