The Brown Turd

[Thebrownturd]

Then I put the new wheels on and painted the wheel wells black. also the front fenders and grill went on. The panel adjustments took forever and never lined up great but its good enough.

[landarts]

Looks awesome! You are going to enjoy that thoroughly.

[Thebrownturd]

First round of cutting and buffing with Ira's help. Yes, it was cold playing in the water wet sanding at 20 degrees.

[Dieselwrencher]

It's looking very nice! You should be proud!

[bilfman]

Who said you can’t polish a turd? Looks great.

[7dee2]

Nice truck it's looking great, no turds no mo!

[Thebrownturd]

After many hours of cutting and buffing, the Turd was becoming more and more polished. You can now see your reflection almost clearly. Much better compared to the heavy orange peel it had from paint.

[landarts]

Looks awesome, nice work!

[DWilbur]

Nothing like a polished turd looks great.

[LT7A]

All of you work is paying off. Truck looks real good.

[Thebrownturd]

Here is the pictures with the 2" lift on the front with ORD's grease-able bushings . It raised the truck a total of 4 1/2" in the front. I believe it was due to the fact that the rubber bump stocks were almost resting on the axle. Lets just say the old springs were well used. I used the 3" spring on the back to try and keep the truck level but, the rear only came up about 2" from where it was, even with the factory block back in place. I think all i need is a little taller block which is ok since I need to reset the pinion angle to get rid of the small drive line vibration i have developed.

All I need is to find some gas tank doors for the bed. They are the aluminum Travel Tanks doors but i cant reuse the old ones i pulled off since they were all bent up. Anyone know if there is a replacement source. Seems like quite a few people are able to get them.

[Thebrownturd]

Theses pictures are from about a year ago, so I have finished getting all the trim on and a few other things. I also figured out that my truck was starting to run pretty inefficient. I was tracking my fuel mileage and it went from 9-10 to 7 mpg. It turned out to be a bad brake booster and was pulling vacuum off of 2 cylinders. I think that maybe why I've had a hard time getting it to pass smog.

Before I left home for the summer I managed to get 12 mpg! Not to bad for the tired worn out power plant in the old Brown Turd.

When I get back home in a few weeks I plan to tackle a transfer case rebuild when I am redoing the pinon angle and related work. It has had a tendency to not want to shift in or out of gear. I want to take a look and I will be able to seal up one more leak for a while.

[Dieselwrencher]

Your truck is looking really nice! I found this place that sells the gas doors.

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Doors/Ul...Fd66wAod6sQOoA

[Thebrownturd]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Your truck is looking really nice! I found this place that sells the gas doors.

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Doors/Ul...Fd66wAod6sQOoA

Thanks Ill check it out.

[Thebrownturd]

Its been a while so here is the what I've been working on lately.

Winter 18-19:
I pulled out the transmission and attempted a rebuild in my dad's garage. It went fairly well other than being super cold but, that is what insulated catharrt bibs were invented for.
I cleaned and painted the housing. All of the clutched inside the tranny were toast and it was only a matter of time before there was nothing left. Not to mention, I had found out that a few large chunks of metal casting had come off of the shift rod where it contacts the pawl, near the spring end, and had been floating around the tranny for some time.
I pulled a bunch of funky work done on the valve body and reset everything back to stock configuration minus a shift kit. I ended up needing to buy a new drum/input shaft since a chunk of that metal got stuck behind a thrust washer and chewed a bunch of the bearing surface off the drum.

[Thebrownturd]

End of summer 18:

NP 205 rebuild. It was such grease ball that I had no idea what an NP 205 looked like until after 2 days of soaking and wire brushing in a tub with a few gallons of degreaser and water. New paint, bearings, seals, ect. and a clear coat to hopefully prevent rust and make cleaning easier in the future.

[Thebrownturd]

Spring 19: I had been chasing down a vibration that was getting pretty bay while driving. Had the rear drive line checked due a small dent in the middle. Guys at the shop said it still looked good and I had it balanced. I also had to get the front drive shaft stub replaced since it was also shot. Still had a vibration. All the wheels had recently been balanced rear bearings replaced a few years back so I was stumped.

Fall 19: I ended up putting the truck on jack stands to look at the front end. That was the one spot on the truck I had never touched other than the lift springs. I found s that the pass wheel hub nut had backed of and the hub had enough play to rub the back of the on the knuckle studs. This created a seal failure and all the wheel grease had obvious been compromised by water and metal shavings. As I pulled the front drums off they were in bad shape so I decided I would rebuild front end. I ended up buying an axle out of a early mid 70's chevy that had disc breaks. You see where I'm going with this.

[swamp rat]

I think its safe to say you can change the name of your thread now, even if you had a couple paint issues you have something to be proud of..

[Thebrownturd]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I think its safe to say you can change the name of your thread now, even if you had a couple paint issues you have something to be proud of..

Thanks, I am proud of all the work I've been fortunate enough to achieve. I never had giving up on it come across my mind, even if I should have. Guess, I'm a little too stubborn.

It seems something else always needs fixed (just like anything else I own). Finally starting to get ahead of the curve. I guess I could rename it the money pit Turd or Golden Turd.