1959 short fleetside

[Russell Ashley]

Looks like a solid truck, better than the initial pics would indicate. Has some surface rust but looks to have very little rust through to need patching. It looks like it still has the factory grease pencil markings on the firewall. Please take some good pics of those before they are wiped off or painted over and post them.

[Kim57]

Nice progress.
Kim

[1968aj]

pictures of firewall and something i found between bed and cab

[Russell Ashley]

I've never seen a truck that still has the factory marks so that's why I was interested in a better pic of them. Anyone have any idea what the markings mean?

BTW, that bar is the cutter blade from an old sickle-bar mower.

[1968aj]

thought about patching rusted out areas and not painting the truck at all. tried the clr diluted and straight out of bottle. it only removes very light rust. tried wd 40 it worked better. rubbed it down with nu finish and that also helped. will experiment more tomorrow .as i see it i sure cant hurt the paint. any ideas on what will work on heavy rust? cant afford new paint right now because its going to cost plenty just to get it running ,driving, and stopping.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Phosphoric acid will get that rust off. It's available in gallons at Home Depot. I can't recall what their name for it is.

It is very mild so you don't need to worry about it. I SOAKED the interior of my '55's doors with it on drenched terry cloth towels overnight. Then I sprayed it with Rustoleum's rattle can rust encapsulator. But since you're concerned about keeping the current appearance, buy some Gibbs oil and spray it on. The rust will not come back.

[1968aj]

this weekend im going to take the cab off. itried the search but its not working. any tips on cab removal? looks like body mounts and steering column are all ineed to remove. any ideas on best place to separate steering column? from the frame or inside of cab? any tips would be helpful.

[C10Sim]

Originally Posted by 1968aj

this weekend im going to take the cab off. itried the search but its not working. any tips on cab removal? looks like body mounts and steering column are all ineed to remove. any ideas on best place to separate steering column? from the frame or inside of cab? any tips would be helpful.

Since I going with an after market column, I just used a band saw and cut right off. I also unbolted the steering box and then had hell removing the pitman arm so I wacked that out too. I wont be needing none of this stuff so it was ok for me to go this route.

[rgunlock]

If I remember right, the column doesn't separate from the steering box (or at least not easily) so you have to pull the wheel and then remove the column and box together from the engine side. Otherwise, it was pretty much just the cab mounts to deal with if you've already disconnected electrical, hoses, shifter linkage, etc. Also, depending on how you plan to lift the cab off, removing the doors and seat first will lighten it up a lot.

[1968aj]

got bored today. waiting on a engine hoist. i pretty much sprayed the whole truck down with two large cans of wd-40. i sanded and sprayed and got alot of rust off. tried clr but this worked better. talked to a man nearby who will sandblast frame. said he could use sugar sand on sheet metal. i think i am going the blast method as sanding is too much work . im getting old and lazy not sure about the finish yet may go with patina look maybe not

[1968aj]

i have been reading this forum for hours and im moreconfused than when i started. im looking for a donor truck for a motor and transmission.thinking i can use alot of parts and sell or scrap the rest. im looking for any recomendations on any particular year model will work the best or any year model to stay away from. trying to make a v8 automatic conversion but want to keep it simple as possible.im pretty much at a standstill till i figure out which way to go

[arturo7]

Which motor do you want to drop in? You can get a crate for a very reasonable price.

[1968aj]

i want to use a 350. i think i can pick up a donor truck for a thousand or less. lots of used later model trucks around houston for sale