Old Roy

[Aus69c20]

Great work and good progress.
It’s nice you know the history and the original owner can see his truck has gone to a good home.
I’m also contemplating the switch to electric fans. How have you found yours?

[68Gold/white]

Job well done!!!

[68Gold/white]

Disc brakes and AC are about only un-done chores for this pickup!!!

[Never enough]

Yep, great update and very nice of you to take it back to visit Roy.
If you have any connections to a GOOD PDR person, they could probably shape up that dent in the left side much better.
That is a very nice grille, for a local find. I had one shipped all the way here from Washington state. It had a few dings in it and the PDR guy where I work part time removed them to the point, I can't tell where they were anymore.

[68Gold/white]

I am just pushing this thread back to the top, so that some folks that may have missed it, can read an awesome build!!!

[saxart]

Hey, thanks for the bump. It's nice to know that people are reading these threads!
Ironically, I was laying on the garage floor under the truck all day. Today's job was "rear suspension removal". If you ever have an enemy that needs to be avenged, have them remove the original rear suspension on these trucks. I think the first direction in the manual should read, "Take every tool out of your tool box and throw it under the truck. At some point you're going to need it." Jeeze, every fastener on this was either welded with rust or rounded off, or BOTH!

Having said that, with the help of a cheater bar on the breaker bar and a Mapp-Gas torch, we got 'er done!



When we visited last, Roy had told some pretty amazing stories about loads he's hauled in this truck. (concrete blocks stacked higher than the cab??) . Needless to say, the rear trailing arms are toast. The reason I was removing them is because the bushings need to be replaced, and I wanted to swap the springs for a lighter duty spring. (The SPID lists a "heavy duty spring" option which are the same as 3/4-ton springs). This truck has that unique extra load helper spring that contacts the very rear end of the trailing arms when a heavy load is encountered. Apparently Roy's had some heavy loads in this truck because the rear end of the arms had been snapped off and repaired "farmer style"!

Here's the driver's side arm:


Here's the passenger side arm:


This arm has a crack:


Who the hell knows what he did to the lower shock mounts. Either way, he "fixed" them!



What was planned on taking a couple hours ended up taking all day. I'm going to hurt tomorrow morning!

[68Gold/white]

I'll be curious to see how you like the lighter duty springs. The Heavy Duty springs are actually are actually dual rate springs. The coils in the middle give the better ride (when there's no load) they will compress closer and the rest of spring absorbs the load, THEN the corn cob repaired overload leaf springs take over...I've see the middle parts of the rear coils compress completely together...when loaded

Are you getting new control arms???

[68Gold/white]

Bringing this to the front. Good info. A stock GM crate engine was used. Good info for someone wanting to do same.

[saxart]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

I'll be curious to see how you like the lighter duty springs. The Heavy Duty springs are actually are actually dual rate springs. The coils in the middle give the better ride (when there's no load) they will compress closer and the rest of spring absorbs the load, THEN the corn cob repaired overload leaf springs take over...I've see the middle parts of the rear coils compress completely together...when loaded

Thanks for the bump 68Gold. It looks like I missed your question back in March. We LOVE these front and rear springs with the rear shock relocate kit. The ride is so good, that even my wife, who isn't a huge fan of the truck in general, commented on how nicely it rides now. The suspension travel is very predictable and smooth. No more pounding over expansion joints in the pavement.

[Rich72C10]

Great truck, enjoyed reading this thread :-)