The building of "Monroe" 72 4x4 swb

[tutone]

I did a lot of precision grinding to keep the patina. Next , I shorten bed sides. I watched " Coyote Customs" cut a side down and used his method on the outside panels. I also started with th passenger side in case it looked bad, so I didn't have to look at it every time I got in the truck. This will take a few posts to show the progress.

[tutone]

Primered and moved on to the front. The marker light is a pain, but no warpage. There was already some scraped and dings. They stayed, but made it harder to work.

[tutone]

Next, on to the styling curve in front of the rear wheel. I pie cut the panel, saving the edge reveal and worked it slowly into position. Added a pice of metal and then filled the middle stake hole. After priming all the cut areas and applying filler, it is ready for touch up. This catches you up and I still have the driver side to do. When I get to the rotten tailgate, we will have some fun then. Chassis parts arrived, so when I get this bed together, frame work.

[tutone]

I will assemble all this just to get it out of the shop, and take a good photo and put it up. Here is a shot of the mostly finished bed floor that I forgot to post. I know that it isn't as nice as a new one, but I don't have a thousand bucks in it either.

[tutone]

Bedside mounted, touchup left to do on many parts of it. Here is a gallery of pictures for you to look at.

[tutone]

Working on color blending. Sand and redo. Hard to match 50 year old thin faded paint.

[tutone]

Knocked out the other bedside today. I still have a little touch up to do and should get it mounted on the bed floor by end of the day tomorrow. The tailgate is next. I really am not sure if I can make anything of it. Lucky, though, all the rust is confined to the bottom. It doesn't have a bow in it like someone loaded cattle in it, so I am hopeful.

[tutone]

I've never seen anyone cover this on youtube or here for that matter. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. Maybe I just didn't search for it correctly. But, lets talk about the styling curve in front of the rear wheelwell opening. Most people leave it when they shorten a 68-72 long bedside. 67 is the same on both. I found a way to do it easily in less than an hour and it is a whole lot easier to do on the table than on the truck. It can still be done , however. In the 1st photo, i mark a straight line from right below the trim molding, and basically stay off the edge reveal far enough to weld and grind. Iend up carving out a 3/4 inch place to patch and dolly and bend it wth channel locks until it conforms. Start welding at the top and weld solid your bedside edge.. At this time you can level and tack towards the bottom on the wheel opening side. Make sure you tack it enough that it doesn't break loose on you. Take your time and work it till you like the look of it. Takes less than an hour to do, but it is a nice little detail.

[tutone]

Bedsides are on and out of the shop. Touchup left to do. Next is the tailgate. This thing is rough but it goes with the truck. I think I can salvage it with this strip of 16g sheet metal I picked up today. Time will tell.

[tutone]

Tailgate repair. I hate it. This one has maximum patina along the bottom trim area. A large dent at the top drivers side that we will address later. I bought some 16 gage metal to patch this with. I dont have a metal brake, so i used redneck inginuity to bend it. Here are some pictures as I go.

[tutone]

And more

[tutone]

More yet

[tutone]

I still have to finish weld and grind. This is not a concours restoration, just trying to make it a little more presentable. I think after I blend in the paint, it will look like it never happened.

[Getter-Done]

Looking Good

[tutone]

Thanks, we had a few days of downtime due to the big tornado. We went without power until last night. Been helping tarp roofs and hooking up generators for the past few days. Glad to spend a little time on the truck.

[tutone]

Well I got the patch panels welded up on the bottom and primed and puttied. I will color match as best I can when I get it sanded. I have this dent at the top drivers side to work out. Tailgate dents are a PIA in general, and this one probably wont let me down. I plan to go in on the inside and cut a genorous access panel and work the dent out and reweld and color match that. If it weren't for the disc brake sticker that I want to leave, I might try another method.

[tutone]

Well I cut me an access hole for dent repair (pictured), knocked out the dent and saved my weathered disc brake sticker. The less paintwork the better. Now to the slight bow. I plan to use my truck front end as a press. I hope it works. I will post a before and after shot of this catastrophy soon. After I weld and finish grind my access hole, color match this mess and get the slight bow out, on to the frame.

[tutone]

Closing in on this tailgate. Should still blend in well with the rest of the truck. Got the access hole filled and pressed out the bow with the front drivers side of my 4x4.

[tutone]

Tailgate is done, bow is straight enough and the paint matches good enough for a parts running truck. I'm tickled with the entire bed and the way it turned out. I will sand and finish color matching the bedsides as I go. Spoke for a sbc and 700r4 today, so I plan to shorten the frame that is under this truck.. I will save the other frame for later. This project won't take too long once I get the wheelbase adjusted and the 3/5 drop kit installed. I took a couple of shots of the tailgate, leaving just enough rust to keep folks from looking too close. After tailgate trim , this should even look better.

[tutone]

I was making room in the shop to cut the frame, so I put the black cab and blue bed on the 4x4 frame. Looks pretty good, but it is all a matter of storage for now. Garage will be a mess while I cut this down, so bear with me, I will post as I go.

[tutone]

After running into problems with clearance on my np203 case before cutting the old bed floor out, I set the cab and shimmed it to height. Thanks to 72again4x4 for the measurements. This build may take a drastic turn after I get the blue truck on the road. Mounted the doors and looked it over, and it looks awesome as a 4x4. If I can figure it out later, who knows, it may very well stay a 4x4. If I cannot, it can easily be a 2wd. Either way the truck gets saved.

[tutone]

Spent the day chasing 5 lug steel wheels and swapping some tires over on them from ones I pulled off the 55. I know the fronts are a little small but the idea was to have a matched set in the front and another in the back for the frame cut and lowering. I will dial it in and outfit it with a new set of rubber. What do you guys think, white wheels or black?

[BigBird05]

As long as you asked I'm going with white.

[tutone]

Originally Posted by BigBird05

As long as you asked I'm going with white.

I had two white ones, but found one to be bent. We had these others that are spray painted black , but under the caps they are white. I love steel wheels and have seen red, black ,white and body color on these trucks. I'm like you with the white. No whitewalls for me though. Not a fan.

[tutone]

Front cap off to expose the guts of ol Blue. Gonna put the drop kit in before I yank the cab to cut the frame and install the eng/trans. Then, all this goes back together. Hopefully this wont take a big amount of time.