The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build

[Stoney]

I forget that McMaster-Carr exists, too. I just went thru there website. They have a lot of hard to find stuff.
I am so glad we all agreed on the screws.

[Tx Firefighter]

Sometimes y'all just have to offer less than subtle hints to help me fine tune my tastes.

[Sodell]

Our Fastnal is pretty good. I have walked out of there for free a few times when I was just looking for one bolt or nut.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I'm researching now about bonding straps for the filler neck. I seem to remember that when the filler tube is isolated from body ground like it is with this fiberglass bezel, a bonding strap is required.

Any input ?

I'd screw/solder a standard ground strap to the filler neck and then sand off the paint on the back of one of those screws and screw it on. Alternatively, you could drill/tap a nearby crossmember for easy access, and sand/grease a nice bare spot. Knowing you, I'm sure you've already got hella bed/chassis grounds.

[Tx Firefighter]

A bit of a lame weekend update. No real work done though.

After literally 11 days of being below the radar, my UPS finally showed up with my gas filler stuff.





My stainless hardware is due from McMaster Carr Monday. Between the hardware and this box of stuff, I think I have what I need to get the fuel system finished up.

While I've been waiting, I did a little work on my daily driver Honda. I needed new tires so I got a set of steelie wheels off Craigslist and powder'd them at the same time.



Tomorrow is work day so I'll be at the fire station. But, Monday its due to be temperatures in the 60s so I should have good progress made.

[Tx Firefighter]

I got lucky and scored a vacation spot today, so no fire station for me.

I worked some more on the fuel filler today. The piece of exhaust tubing I bought from a Summit worked out very well.

It was bare metal so I coated it in Super Durable Wet Black. No real reason, I just still had some loaded into the gun from powdercoating wheels yesterday.








I'm hoping I've built enough slope into the system for quick fueling.
















I'm still waiting on my McMaster Carr order to arrive tomorrow with my stainless steel hardware.

What say y'all, do I have enough slope in the system ?

[ryanroo]

i think so. my jeep enters the tank basically flat and it fuels fast. it has a huge filler, but at the tank its only ~2" i think the issue is no tight bends or spots for it to back up. looks nice and smooth to me.

[darkhorse970]

Like Ryanroo said, I think that the key is no bottlenecks and some slope in the fill tube. Looks really nice!

[Low Elco]

Looks good to me!

[Tx Firefighter]

Rather than fool with getting fancy on the vent hose, I just ran up to the parts store and bought 4 feet of 5/8" fuel vent hose. Four bucks. Installed quick and easy.

I'm happy to report that it took five gallons of gas out of my gas can as quickly as the can would pour it out. Looks like problem solved.

Tomorrow starts front suspension, brakes, lowering, and front wheels. Should be fun.

For the remainder of today, I have to reorganize my shop a bit. I was seating some tires on the wheels with ether and a torch yesterday and overdid it a little bit. The concussion knocked a shelf off the wall and dumped a bunch of stuff. It wasn't a real massive explosion, but kind of a shock wave. I had the wheel and tire elevated up on a 5 gallon bucket, and it split the bucket in half.

[rgunlock]

Bet that had you scrambling faster than you thought you could! Fuel filler line looks great. Been enjoying your build for a while now. Gotta get me a powder setup!

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Bet that had you scrambling faster than you thought you could! Fuel filler line looks great. Been enjoying your build for a while now. Gotta get me a powder setup!

It was exciting for a few seconds. I had mail ordered the tires so they were banded together pretty tight. Then I let them sit on my porch for a day in the 20 degree temperature. So when I went to install them and seat the beads, they didn't cooperate and I had to move on to the ether and fire method.

[Low Elco]

Hooo-Weee! Glad you're ok! Ready for phase 2!

[Sodell]

I bet the wife gave you an earful....glad no pain.. Looks good, and should flow well too...

[Tx Firefighter]

This morning I started on the front end. So far, I'm about an hour and a half into it.













I'm actually having an off morning. While disassembling I broke one of my favorite SnapOn screwdrivers. It was abuse, I was tapping a cotter pin out using a little ballpein hammer and the screwdriver. My bad. I also slipped when popping the ball joints loose with my mini sledge and hit a tie rod end. Ruined the threads on that real quick.

So I came inside to drink a pot of coffee and use the Internet machine to find my parts to freshen everything up.

I had already bought a few things. Shocks, grease seals, upper and lower ball joints, and idler arm.





I need to order brake hoses, a tie rod end (doh), and a dust cap one of the front bearings. Fortunately, the control arm bushings are good upper and lower. I say fortunately because these aren't just normal one ton stuff, they're some heavier dutier stuff than I have ever seen before. Looks expensive.

[rusty76]

Looks like you'll have your work cut out for ya. I can't wait to see them all cleaned up and ready to rock on back in.

[Tx Firefighter]

Here is where I stand right now.

The driver side is fairly funky due to past power steering leaks.



Passenger side is cleaner.



Don't worry, I solemnly swear that this front suspension will be fully rebuilt and sanitary when I'm through with it.


I've been cleaning parts all day. I also cut a coil off each spring to bring the front down to match the rear (drop shackles installed earlier).



I have a bunch more stuff that is cleaned and blasted and sitting in the blast cabinet awaiting color. I promised Valerie I'd buy her a nice dinner if she'd carry me to town tonight. I'll get some paint, wire wheel, cut off wheels, and new blast media. My blast media is contaminated so I need to buy a couple of hundred pounds of fresh stuff. By going shopping tonight (and buying Valerie dinner in exchange), I'll be ready to hit it hard first thing in the morning rather than having to take a couple of hours to make a trip to town which cuts down on my productivity during the day.

I'll try and get pictures tomorrow, but the lower control arms are weird on this thing. Rather than using u-bolts like most other trucks, the arms bolt directly to the crossmember with bolts and nuts. It's very heavy duty.

[Tx Firefighter]

I forgot to say, UPS dropped the ball on my McMaster Carr order of stainless hardware. This makes four orders that have passed through the Atlanta UPS hub in the last two weeks that have been delayed. Be forewarned, if you order something that travels in the brown truck through the Atlanta UPS hub, you're likely to get a delay. They must have a real mess going over there.

[Tx Firefighter]

Only meager progress today. I've been running around buying another old truck so that took a good bit of my day. But, I did get a pile of front end parts ready to begin assembly. I still have to remove lower control arms to clean and do ball joints, clean and restore the rotors and clean and rebuild the brake calipers. Then I'll be ready to look at reassembly.



I currently have three orders en route with parts, and all three of them are lost or delayed in the UPS and USPS systems. Now I wait and hope they turn up soon. Waiting on the hardware for fuel filler, brake hoses, and caliper rebuild kits.

[flashed]

What is the new old truck you just added ? Love your builds .

[eldogg]

Tell us about the truck you bought?

[Tx Firefighter]

I'll get pictures of the other truck Thursday. I've been watching it on Craigslist for a while. I drove it a week ago and left without making an offer. After a week of mulling it over the guy texted me and we agreed on a lower price. I'm happy with the deal.

Basically, its a K2500. 1990 model. 350 TBI. SM465. 4.10 gears. It's an 8 lug 3/4. Some of them were light duty 6 lug trucks. I only wanted the heavy duty one. I gave 1700 for it. Not a deal I'll ever brag on, but it seems to be somewhat below going rate.

[ryanroo]

I think that is a great price for a running driving k2500. glad to hear it worked out. i am really excited to see that one get the treatment. and i am a little jealous. i like those trucks.

i keep thinking to myself every time i read updates that i hope one day i own a truck you have already owned. what a treasure that would be. all the trucks i buy have PO's who were apparently mentally retarded.

[TheBlueBomber]

Good deal on the K2500. Dually or no?

[Tx Firefighter]

Ryan, I think that's a pretty good compliment you paid me.

I'm serious when I say it though, I'm about done. You're not gonna see me build very many more trucks. I'm tired.

I'm 7 years away from retiring from the fire department and I decided to go ahead and build my "rest of my life trucks". I wanted a dually for heavy work duties and a 4 wheel drive for everything else. I swore to not compromise. My requirements for each were TBI engines, standard transmissions, white color, regular cabs. I now have both of them.

Pretty soon its gonna be time to move on to something else. I want to restore some old tools and machinery for my workshop. I need to restore my old Ford 8n tractor (again). I want to do some fence work around our land and raise goats. There's one more motorcycle I want to restore for my collection (a Bultaco). Lots of stuff out there to do beyond Chevy trucks.