C10 Goldilocks

[I Have No Idea]

Truck is coming along great! And amazing photo's BTW

[jhama78]

truck is looking killer, love the wheels and tires, subbed for updates

[Gregski]

pulling up a chair for this one! BAM

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by builtbyKane

No fasteners or clamps. I just went to Lowe's and got what I needed. Need a cut off wheel to cut the braided line.

Me and the death wheel have gotten quite friendly over this build so I'll call her to duty once more. Good info.

Originally Posted by I Have No Idea

Truck is coming along great! And amazing photo's BTW

Originally Posted by jhama78

truck is looking killer, love the wheels and tires, subbed for updates

Originally Posted by Gregski

pulling up a chair for this one! BAM

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Does anyone happen to know the bolt size for the 4L80e for the mount? Rather than grab a handful of bolts from work and trial and error it, I'm hoping someone can chime in. I searched around but no luck.

I gotta start tackling this firewall rot too, I think I'm gonna go with nsanehotrodz piece and just straight up replace it. Any tips in doing that would be greatly appreciated. Need to order a carpet, double check I have a high hump, clean and paint my rear end... the list goes on.

[Bennett68C10]

Awesome job on the build, I have been following along on IG and just read through your build thread here!

[Phill0406]

Finally bought myself a welder so I don't have to call up a friend whenever I need to get some work done or borrow one. Went with the eastwood 135 because I couldn't find a bad word about it. Wanted to keep it 110v because unfortunately the shop space I'm renting will be coming to a close this year, the building's selling. Excited to start working on the frame for the raised bed though!

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Awesome job on the build, I have been following along on IG and just read through your build thread here!

Thanks Keith! Been keeping my eye on yours as well, great work.

[rusty76]

Awesome build. I'm late as usual but man this is going to be sweet.

[GR8-68]

That frame looks amazing Phill !! And as far as the wallet and the bank account, well, lets just say it will never be the same again
I look forward to seeing the next stage of your build

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Awesome build. I'm late as usual but man this is going to be sweet.

Story of my life, so in here, you're right on time!

Originally Posted by GR8-68

That frame looks amazing Phill !! And as far as the wallet and the bank account, well, lets just say it will never be the same again
I look forward to seeing the next stage of your build

Thanks Larry!

Went to the shop last night in efforts to pull the rear end, clean it down and paint it. Instead I ate half a sandwhich, drank a beer and took some photos. Somedays you just don't feel like working.

The good news is the hood fits with the motor in withou the cover. JUST barely though.

[MMcMasters]

Man that looks so good

[GR8-68]

Man that is one sweet ride , if I did another 68 it would be the gold and white. I understand the not wanting to work part, sometimes I just dit and look at mine

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by MMcMasters

Man that looks so good

Thanks Mike! Like I said, anytime you wanna come over to the littlest state in the country I'll happily let you stitch up my firewall

Originally Posted by GR8-68

Man that is one sweet ride , if I did another 68 it would be the gold and white. I understand the not wanting to work part, sometimes I just dit and look at mine

Man, it's so funny you guys love the color because before I put the white walls on it I HATED the gold and white. I resented the fact that it's two tone because the big transit wheels looked dumb with a white bottom which was my original idea. I bought this truck on a total whim online but it's turning out alright!


Anyways, last night I was feeling guilty I didn't get any work done Wednesday night so I laced up the boots and went to the shop. Pulled out the rear end and got it on a little dolly. Boy did I under estimate the sheer weight of that thing, so did the top of my foot!

Got it outside and started sand blasting it only to run out of sand in about 5 minutes haha. Sometimes it's better to just stay home. Went out this morning before work and got 4 more bags of media to finish the job.



Hoping to finish stipping it, put a posi in it, get the rear brackets welded on, perhaps paint it, start fixing the firewall, and get the bed floor out this weekend.

Gonna need more coffee..

[Phill0406]

Saturday night was a success. Got everything done that I wanted to except weld on the bag brackets and paint the rear end (waiting until the brackets are on). Got the posi in and started removing the rusted firewall. The bed floor was actually pretty fun to take out, some of the bolts were trouble some and needed to be cut out but it wen't pretty smoothly. For anyone interested, I loosely followed this guide which is for swapping to a wood floor but still goes over removing the steel floor.







You can see here I have the rear end sand blasted (no blast cabinet, what a mess) and the diff cover painted.





No photos of the firewall, but all the spot welds are drilled out and it's hanging in there by a thread, gonna get some more progress swapping it out on Tuesday.

I need help though, this is my first time working on a rear end so I'm looking for some insight. I got the posi unit in, bearings pressed on, I didn't change the gears, haven't checked the backlash yet but there is a lot of slop when I twist the yolk by hand (as if the driveshaft was spinning it) before it will engage the gears. Surely it can't be normal, what do I do to adjust this? Anything else in specific I should note or look for? I used the original shims from the open diff.

Still looking for a steel high hump too if anyone's got a lead!

[MMcMasters]

Phill,

Get some gear marking compound and check your pattern. Here is a video that will be helpful. I would think that changing the carrier and bearings you will most likely need to set pinion depth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVb5WRUfM7Y

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by MMcMasters

Phill,

Get some gear marking compound and check your pattern. Here is a video that will be helpful. I would think that changing the carrier and bearings you will most likely need to set pinion depth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVb5WRUfM7Y

Good info Mike. I asked a few people and I really think it's because I used the previous shims so I took your advice and got those and some gear marking compound. Hopefully I can correct it because I called a shop just to see what they would charge to set it up and they said $650!! Hell no...

Having a little fun.

[MMcMasters]

$650 to set up a ring and pinion??? That's very high!

[69short]

Originally Posted by MMcMasters

$650 to set up a ring and pinion??? That's very high!

I paid $125 to have mine installed. That was also replacing all bearings and seals. $650 is way too much

[rustytruck50]

I'm really enjoying the build progress...keep up the great work!

[aggie91]

Just found this build. Awesome work so far.

Gear set up around here is about $450-$500 plus parts...

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Just found this build. Awesome work so far.

Gear set up around here is about $450-$500 plus parts...

Thanks Karl, greatly appreciate it.

Ya know, the tricky thing about these boards is prices fluctuate everywhere I've found. A guy up top paid $500 for his whole frame to be sandblasted and powdercoated, that's half of what I paid, plus I had to pay more for the loose porterbuilt pieces.

Same thing with this rear end - prices are all over the place depending on location.

I bought a shim kit and some gear compound, hopefully get it figured out this weekend.

[Phill0406]

Updates!
Welded in the rear bag brackets (tip for anyone doing this - a digital level is your best friend!), got the shocks back in, put the air bags in, threw some paint on it and viola... my rear is just about complete.



Just a quick video showing the front and rear airing up and down because my rear finally can, man I'm sure happy about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME1x5Hvja5I

More importantly though, the worst part of my truck was my cab. The firewall was bad, and I mean BAD. I bought a replacement panel from NsaneHotRodz which the pannel was cheap but shipping literally doubled the price. Here's some of the original carnage.







Drilled out the spot welds, ended up cutting it in half to get it out easier, and slid the new pannel in place. The lip where the firewall gets mounted is pretty well shot too so instead of shaping a new piece in it's place I'm going to just weld up the wire channel and use that to mount it. Filled in the cab hole with my Porterbuilt piece as well.

Don't mind the gap, it's not set in entirely, I have to take it back out to spray some kind of rust encapsulater (eastwood makes one - other recommendations encouraged) and then patch a hole under the cowl.





Not the most exciting progress but arguably one of the most important steps for me.

[flashed]

Wow ,that looks good .

[MMcMasters]

It's amazing how bad your firewall is considering the body is in such great condition.

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by MMcMasters

It's amazing how bad your firewall is considering the body is in such great condition.

Honestly, it's the strangest thing. It's like the original owner would pour salt water on the front of the cab every day... I don't understand it...

[Phill0406]

Finished bolting in the tank and the rear brace this weekend. Also got the fuel lines done. The kit from AzPro is literally awesome, everything I needed all in one. I actually had to buy a little more braided line because I had to use so much to get the regulator over to the frame - a little more real estate to cover with a big c notch haha. Other than that it went smooth. Going to work on the cab some more tomorrow so updates on that then.





More importantly though my amazing girfriend had a surprise party for me at the shop Saturday night. She tricked me by saying her dad wanted to come check out the truck (which he's been saying lately). Walked in and all my friends shouting surprise at me, a memory I'll never forget. She even hung up balloons and streamers all over the shop. I think Goldilocks looks good dressed up!



more this week.