Super Cheyenne aka the "Devil Cowboy"

[Greg58]

Very nice, glad to see you back at it!

Greg

[DeadheadNM]

Somebody tell Kenny there a build thread for his K20, lol. Ken where are you?

[best view]

Well Pete I was thinking I’d just sit back and watch the magician fight with the devil

[landarts]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Somebody tell Kenny there a build thread for his K20, lol. Ken where are you?

Pete, Kenny is watching and very helpful with his encougement and resources. It has been a pleasure to help him out.

Originally Posted by Greg58

Very nice, glad to see you back at it!
Thanks Greg!
Greg

Hi Greg, glad you checked in. Hope all is well.

Originally Posted by best view

Well Pete I was thinking I’d just sit back and watch the magician fight with the devil

Not a fight yet, more of a wrestle. Let's see after trying to install the transmission and transfer case.

[Chevyland]

Originally Posted by best view

Well Pete I was thinking I’d just sit back and watch the magician fight with the devil

Hey Kenny,
Where is this truck headed when finished?
New Hampshire or Florida ??

[best view]

Eric the bigger question is why are you selling your short bed 4x4

[Chevyland]

So I have money to buy you
Dinner and beers in June
Or
Did I buy them last time ?

[landarts]

Got the firewall with the first coat of primer on it and does not need too much to get it ready for some medium blue paint. firewalls are not my favorite thing to work on because they just have really weird shapes and are usually filthy from years of housing the motor and road grime. Anyway, I am sure it will look great after the paint goes on.

Also was able to strip the other fender on the drinker's side. It also took about twenty to twenty-five minutes with the Eastwood SCT tool and an 80-grit drum on it. The drinker side fender also was in great shape with no rust and just a few surface dings. The captain side fender and also no rust, a few dings and a dent just above and forward of the marker light, but not to the end where the fender body line is. I pounded that out as much as possible with a hammer and dolly-off method. That just about got it, but not quite there. Pulled out the stud gun and put three studs in the middle of the low spots and worked them with the Steck Stud lever. That did the trick and finished up with a little slapping spoon. The Steck Stud lever has been a game-changer tool for me on working dents. It allows for adjusting the fulcrum and how much pressure you can ease out the dent, and if there is some spring back you can keep going.

Now these fenders are pretty close to getting epoxy primer next with the core support and inner fenders. More to come on that process.

Pic 1 - Firewall with some primer on it
Pic 2 - Captain side fender with the whamo on the front top fender
Pic 3 - Captain fender with the three studs and Steck Lever
Pic 4 - Drinker side fender with the dings fixed a filler primed
Pic 5 - 1972 Light Yellow K10 I just purchased out of Montana, heading to the stable next week.

[landarts]

Got a few minutes after lunch from work to go into the shop and start stripping the doors of all the old red primer and mild surface rust. I started with the drinker side door today. The door is in really good shape on the exterior. The inside of the door has been rattle canned black and the bottom front corner has a small area that will need minor rust repair I hope.

This time I thought I would try the electric DA I have that has a vacuum hose attached so I don't make so much of a mess. I loaded it with 80 grit 3M Xtract mesh sandpaper that allows for the vacuum function to work well. This took only about twenty minutes or so, then I used a brass wire brush on a drill to get around the door handle area and the area along the glass. On this front side a few minor nicks and also I will need to address the holes for the mirrors. Either weld them up and re-drill fresh ones or redrill for rivet-nuts which will make a very good base for the mirrors.

I also started pulling items that I painted for the Idaho Edition truck and starting to get things lined up for installation. I figured since the weather is getting good I could bolt a few items on in the driveway on a day that I paint the firewall of the Devil Cowboy. After I paint I like to keep the garage closed up and give it at least a day or so to gas off and cure up before I move onto something else. That will give me time to hang the doors and install the new shocks I painted to match the truck from the new lift kit.

Pic 1 - Drinker side door before stripping red and mild surface rust
Pic 2 - Door after stripping
Pic 3 - Door rust on the bottom front
Pic 4 - Doors painted for the Idaho Edition truck
Pic 5 - Lift kit shocks and steering stabilizer painted Ochre to match the truck, the white paint they had on them did not look so great and scratched up.

[landarts]

After getting the front side stripped down I flip the drinker side door over to evaluate the rust repair and any needed bodywork. Along the bottom of the door toward the front, I identified where the rust ended and started cutting away the bad. Then I pulled out the stud gun and started pulling a few dings big enough to warrant the studs and Steck Lever pulling tool. In short order, I felt that I got most of the dents pulled out enough to work the rest of them with some filler. In the second picture below you will see a circle of stud pins on the door. That area was low and was oil canning so I pulled it up then put a few around the outside to help tighten up the metal and finally got it to stop oil canning. It was still a little low so I added some filler to get it back where it needs to be.

I then cleaned up the area to start cutting some sheet metal for the filler repair on the bottom corner. I did this with two pieces, one to cover the top and another to cover the bottom curve. That allowed me to spot-weld the seam together and give me a little more metal to form the rounded surface there.

Pic 1 - Area where rust was present
Pic 2 - Pulling a few dents with the stud gun and Steck Lever
Pic 3 - Welding and grinding to get ready for filler
Pic 4 - Some of the filler work to wrap up the bottom of the door
Pic 5 - The Electric DA I was using and the 3M Xtract mesh sandpaper

[Orange71shorty]

Do you like the Steck tool? What is the advantage over a slide hammer? I’ve never seen one used

[landarts]

Originally Posted by Orange71shorty

Do you like the Steck tool? What is the advantage over a slide hammer? I’ve never seen one used

Yes, I like the tool. The advantage for me over the slide hammer is I can control the pull of the dent better, instead of guessing how much to slam the weight of the slide hammer. I also like how I can arrange the fulcrum to my advantage and pull up on a stud and tap the area with a body hammer or slapping spoon to make adjustments to the metal.

[Orange71shorty]

Thank you, I think I’ll order one to try

[landarts]

So Saturday morning I wanted to get a few items checked off the list to help get the ball rolling a little faster. The first order was to get the bed off of the truck and test out the gantry lift I built for the first time. To do that I needed to get a few parts I have been storing in the bed for the Devil Cowboy out and put away for another day.

The reasons for removing the bed are many. First, the time frame to get this truck done and back to Bestview is important to me. Second, this bed is savable but not on this project. Many areas have thick layers of filler, and four of the six stake pockets are ripped up. Also, the floor has a few holes to patch and it is wavey. Third, I have a very nice bed I picked up a couple of years ago that someone cut a truck frame in half and made into a trailer. This decision will save me about three weeks of work on the bed. Fourth, it needs to come off anyway so I can do some work on the back of the cab so it can be painted

After removing the bed I will break the bed down into separate parts and tackle the refurbishment on that bed another day. I have a few other beds that I have broken down and saved all the parts so it is possible I could assemble a mix of bed parts to make a good one.

Next up will be lifting the cab up so I can remove the body lift pucks and install the new rubber mounts. Prepping the interior to get it ready for medium blue paint.

Pic 1-Bed coming off with the help of the gantry lift
Pic 2-Different view of the bed being lifted off
Pic 3-The body lift puck that is getting tossed
Pic 4-Back of cab drinker side, with a small hole to patch
Pic 5-Back of cab captain side, larger hole to patch

[landarts]

So Sunday morning I raised the cab and got the body lift out and set the cab back down in the same location on 4x4 timber blocks that had in the shop. Did some cleaning up in the shop from the mess I made on Saturday. then pushed the truck into the driveway and did an inside and outside power wash. Got another few pounds of dirt off of the truck and then rolled it in for the day.

Monday I was about attacking the cab issues that needed welding. At this point I knew there was a small hole on the drinker's side of the cab about midway, and also another one slightly larger on the captain's side. Also knew there was one on top of the roof that was from an old CB radio antenna. So I started to strip down the drinker side back corner around the hole area and I knew I had to work my way up following the filler I could see. I could tell there was going to be a surprise or two so I marched forward.

As you can see in the pictures there was a boatload more damage that had been covered up with filler. It looks like the back of the cab had maybe a camper or something in the bed that hit it hard and created a few dents and a crease. Glad I took it down to metal to find the issue. Got the small hole patched up and sanded down.

Pic 1-Grinding out the filler to expose the issue
Pic 2-Exposing the ugly
Pic 3-Took it all the way down since there is other areas that will need some work
Pic 4-Cut out a small patch for the hole
Pic 5-All welded in and hit with 80 grit on a small air sander

[landarts]

After that, I moved over to the Captain's side to expose a little more of the same. I noticed when I was going over the cab that the area by the gas fill had some filler and it was cracked. Also knew that there was a larger hole in about the same location as the other side that would need some work.

Once I got into removing the filler under the gas cap area I found a few holes and a very deep pushed-in dent. I worked the dent from the other side with an attachment I put on my air hammer. Go slow and get it to work the dent up the the proper area. After I got the dent there I noticed the metal was very thin and stretched. So I did a series of spot welds in a circle pattern work from the outer side to the inside of the circle. This helped to shrink the metal in and also in adding more material for strength.

Cut out a patch for the hole and got that welded in. Then went over both areas with 60 grit on an air sander. Both areas are ready for a little skim coat of filler now. There are a few more dents on the side that I will get to work on another day with a dolly and hammer.


Pic 1 -Exposing the surprise under the gas cap area
Pic 2 -Getting backside stripped down so I can get to welding
Pic 3 -Made a patch for odd shaped hole, being held on with a strong magnet on the other side
Pic 4 -Gas cap area expose, nice dent and a few holes to be filled
Pic 5 -Gas cap area all welded up and knocked down with 60 grit on air sander

[landarts]

The last one for the evening was attacking the CB radio hole on the top of the roof near the back edge. First I had to remove a rubber stopper with caulking in the hole. Then clean up the area with 60 grit on an air sander. The hole was in worse shape than I thought. After cleaning it up the area it looks to me that someone hammered down the area around the hole to get it closer to the inside metal liner so they could get the nut on the CB radio antenna to tighten down. When I say hammered down, I mean they messed it up good.

Anyway I played around with the metal for a few minutes and I could see there was no way to straighten it up. So the plan I came up with was to cut out as little as possible. This would first allow me to fix the inside layer hole from inside the roof, then cut a patch for the outside roof.

I took a roll of masking tape and the bad metal area fit inside so I traced a circle on the roof and started to cut it out with a grinder. By the time I got all the cuts done, I had a stop sign shape instead of a circle. I grabbed another air tool with a carbide bit on it to finish grinding away metal to get to the circle I traced. Before I started to grind I thought what the heck I can just make a piece to fit and not have to grind more off. So I placed a few pieces of tape over the hole and did a pencil rubbing of the outline of cuts and marked it with an arrow and the word top. Cut it out and then do a little fine-tuning with air sander on the templated part. Put it on the roof with two strong magnets and began spot welding slowly, skipping around the shape and from time to time cooling off with an air hose. Only had one small area that I had to put a stud on the out side of roof and pull that metal up the to piece I was welding.

Super happy that it turned out good and will need just a small skim coat of filler to finish it off. I have warped a roof before when I was working the Idaho Edition truck. Did not want to go down that road again, especially on a cab-light roof. Win Win.

Pic 1 -Hole in roof with cork removed
Pic 2 -Area cleaned up, a metal straight edge to show how far down it is
Pic 3 -Patch for the inside
Pic 4 -Area to be patched with odd shaped metal
Pic 5 -After welding and knocking down with 60 grit on air grinder

[Greg58]

Very nice, I like how you come up with practical solutions to setbacks!

Greg

[landarts]

Started working on the drinker side rear of the cab where the big crease was. First I started inside the cab where I could see part of the crease before the double wall metal covered up the rest of it. Tried a few different ways to work the metal with a hammer and dolly and that just was not cutting it or getting the crease to move much. Then I remembered that I have a few attachments that go on a hammer and if I go slow and throttle it down a bit I might be able to get this to move in the right direction. That seemed to do the trick on the lower half of the crease. So now I need to address the rest of the crease on the upper half that is where the metal has the additional skin on the inside of the cab around the window.

I used a stud gun and the Steck Lever to pull on the metal on both sides of the crease while I beat on the crease with an autobody hammer. That really helped get the metal moving. Then I took a metal straight edge and kept checking the area and pounding with a slapping spoon and a shrinking hammer. Got the area pretty close so that it would take a thin layer of filler to get it right for paint.

Went over the other six or seven areas on the backside corner of the cab and got them worked out good enough for filler. All of these areas were not big dents they were just too deep for filler. Most of this work on the corner of the cab took about two hours to get it into filler and rough sanded with an air board with 36 grit.

Pic 1-Skim coat on top of roof
Pic 2-Two small holes that need to be addressed, will have to remove one of the lights to get some backing underneath the hole so it can get hammered downward since it is peaked right now.
Pic 3-A look from inside where the crease is
Pic 4-Doing some stud pulling on the upper side of the crease
Pic 5-First round of filler

[landarts]

Worked on putting another skim coat in a few areas that needed to be tapped down on the drinker side. Also got the first coat on the captain's side after doing some dolly and hammer work. Only had to put in two stud pins and pull with the Steck lever. I also took another 30 minutes or so to strip the red primer off the back of the cab. That revealed the most medium blue in one spot so far.

Proceeded to take out the back window so I could get the rest of the cab stripped down. No big surprises, a little surface rust and pitting in the bottom of the window. That will clean up just fine with a wire wheel and treat with some converter to be safe. Then moved up to the top of the roof to finish stripping off the surface rust. Only found two little spots that will need some filler where the two small holes are forward on the roof by the cab lights in the center.

Pic 1 -Filler skim coat on the drinker side
Pic 2 -First coat of filler on the Captain side
Pic 3 -Roof being stripped of surface rust with mesh 80 grit on electric DA
Pic 4 -Surface rust in the lower rear window frame
Pic 5 -Upper window frame is nice and clean

[landarts]

Today's plan was to clean up and treat the back window that was removed, remove the front windshield, strip all the silicone caulking around the doors, and start on the interior paint stripping.

Started with wire wheeling the rear window channel, then painting on with a brush some Rustoleum rust reformer. Got that done and did not have any areas that were rusted through or that needed any attention as far as metalwork. After that, I moved on to the outer cab door frame where the door shuts against it and the rubber seal goes. When I pulled off the rubber a few days ago I could see that someone used a large portion of silicone caulking to glue on the rubber gaskets. I have had to clean this area up before and knew it could be time-consuming and make a mess. I started the process by using a fresh blade on a razor knife and cut off and peeled back as much as possible. Then to finish it off I used a brass wire wheel on a drill to finish exposing the channel. Found a few areas that will need to be cut out and replaced with new metal.

At the front top of the Captain's side door frame, it looks like someone had drilled through the post and into the cab to mount a spotlight. This area will need to be repaired with some new metal and bodywork. Also will need to cut a few sections on the the same side at the bottom and do some metal work.

Pic 1 -Treated area of the back window after the rust reformer converts it to metal
Pic 2 -Pile of silicone from Captain's side
Pic 3 -Hole where the spotlight was
Pic 4 -Hole on the inside channel
Pic 5 -Hole to repair on door rim of rocker

[Chevyland]

Nice work, hopefully the holes stop showing up soon !
What is your plan for paint ?
Single stage ?
Are you going all the way with paint, or are you going to send it out ?

[landarts]

Originally Posted by Chevyland

Nice work, hopefully the holes stop showing up soon !
What is your plan for paint ?
Single stage ?
Are you going all the way with paint, or are you going to send it out ?

Nice work, hopefully the holes stop showing up soon !
Thanks Eric and I hope also.

What is your plan for paint ?
I have already bought the paint at the local Napa Auto paint store here in Meridian Idaho. That is where I had the dark blue matched from the radio delete plate you sent, the smaller quart can is the dark blue. The larger can is the medium blue, and thanks again for helping out!

Single stage ?
Yes, it is a single stage "Utech" by AkzoNobel. I have used this paint on a few trucks and really like how it sprays and the cost is not so bad. The DTM primer is black.

Are you going all the way with paint, or are you going to send it out ?
Yes I will do all the paintwork here in the garage

[landarts]

The next thing up was removing the front windshield so I could do the upper metalwork on the frame and besides that, the windshield was already cracked in a few places and needed to come out for paint and replacement. After a few minutes of cutting loose the inner rubber seal and a plastic wedge, I have the windshield was out. There was a bunch of debris under the rubber lying in the channel and my first thought was I had a rotted window frame. After cleaning up the area with a wire wheel on a drill, I was surprised to find that the frame was in good shape. However, there were a few spots where someone used liquid nails to possibly seal a leak or two. That was a new one for me.

So after that, I had good access to start some sanding on the interior that had been rattle-canned black with a mix of dog hair, dirt particles, and also throw in a few bugs here and there. This Cheyenne Super deserves more than that, so we march on and get this ready for a fresh coat of medium blue. I can't say I am fond of sanding down an interior. It has awkward shapes and surfaces, hard to sand over your head like the ceiling area and did I say awkward? Also got the steering column removed so it will be easier to shoot the paint and besides it is getting a fresh factory automatic tilt column installed.

After I get the interior finished sanding down and a little more metalwork we should be heading in the other direction and getting ready to finish up and bodywork and get ready for paint. I am shooting to have that ready in the next week or so.

Pic 1 -Windshield frame
Pic 2 -Windshield frame
Pic 3 -Circled in red is some of the liquid nails
Pic 4 -Interior sanding progress
Pic 5 -Interior sanding progress

[landarts]

Took two days of rest and am now back at it. Decided to attack the last of the rust repair and metal work hopefully on the cab. I have one small spot on the door trim lip to address and a small area of the Captain's side kicker panel at the bottom.

Had a few challenges with the odd shapes and angles on this one. Then I had my welding wire issues on my new machine jamming up where it feeds to the gun on the inside. So what should have been an hour's worth of work to tackle these few turned into three to four hours. I guess it is part of the kicking and screaming these old trucks do when you are trying to bring them around.

Hopefully, after a few adjustments, I can get through the last of the metal work on the cab and finish up the last round of sanding filler on the back and corners of the cab. If it fights back today I have a new welding hose inner sleeve made for the .023 wire I am using. The new machine inner sleeve was for .030 and .035 wire.

Pic 1 -Hole in the cab to be repaired
Pic 2 -Repaired and ground down
Pic 3 -Holding the cut piece with tape, it would not set right with the magnet
Pic 4 -Repaired and ground down
Pic 5 -The mess after a few hours of work