Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
Glad you have some progress going on. Not much going on here, let me know if I may be of service!
Ben

[jeh]

I knew you would get it right on the money Vic, you'll be laying black marks with that Ls before you know it!!!!

[Low Elco]

Congrats Vic! Should I be at your house Saturday with the trailer?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Congrats Vic! Should I be at your house Saturday with the trailer?

Wish I could say yes, Chip, but not likely. My Dad took a couple of nasty falls this week and broke his left wrist the second time. We've been in and out of Urgent Care and the ER at Liberty Hospital and have appointments the rest of this week for follow-ups. We may not even be able to attend this year. Will keep you posted. Current status is that all the welding is complete, but no grinding as yet...

[snipescastle2]

Chip, when is the Nats? Coming up soon I'm guessing.
Ben

[tune_1]

Vic, Hate to hear of the problems that your Dad is having. Hope he is better soon. Glad to see that you are making progress and see a end to the frame troubles. Looking good.

Dwight

[snipescastle2]

Vic, sorry to hear about your father. Hope he heals soon.
Take care!
Ben

[Elliot949]

Hope your Dad improves quickly... great news on the truck...

[swamp rat]

Sorry to hear about your dad Vic.

[Low Elco]

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, Vic. Anything you need, let us know.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by snipescastle2

Chip, when is the Nats? Coming up soon I'm guessing.
Ben

It's this Saturday! Yaaay! Hope to see a certain beautiful black truck there!

http://www.alltrucknats.com/

our guys-

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=710064

As they said in the 70's- BE THERE!

[Vic1947]

Went out to the Midwest All Truck Nationals this morning... what a beautiful day for it!!! We've had some rain recently, so the ground was a bit soft, but the Chevy/GMC club folks are no dummies and had a plan to minimize the damage by judging all the trucks in place instead of queuing them up in lines like they usually do. Saw several of my forum buds but had to leave early to help at home with Dad. All in all, though, even if only for a couple of hours, it's the best show I go to all year.

I've started grinding the welds on the frame rails and have the driver side finished. When I get the passenger side done, I'll fabricate the reinforcing plates and drill all the holes before sending all the parts out for sandblasting. I'm on the clock a little bit. I'm scheduled to have the pterygium removed from my right eye on the 20th. Finally found an eye doctor with lots of experience that can fix me. Since it covers about 60% of my eye on that side, he'll do an amniotic membrane transplant to cover the area and use a chemotherapy drug to help prevent me ever getting it again. Once I've healed, he'll do the left eye. I'd like to have the frame at the powder coater while I'm recovering since I probably won't be doing much in the shop during that time.

[Vic1947]

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the best wishes for my Dad. His arm is in a hard cast (purple!) for the next 5 weeks. Makes it difficult to do everyday tasks, but he's adapting very well.

[Xeen]

I'm happy to hear your dad is doing better.
Your welding skills never cease to amaze me, I can't even tell it was welded.
I bet you are feeling a lot better about the project now that you have the frame situation under control and you can breath a sigh of relief and move forward.
I know you don't need to be told you are doing a good job because you already know you are but I'm gonna say it anyway, good job!
Good luck with the surgery, we need those eyes nice and sharp so you can keep doing beautiful work and inspiring us.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

...Your welding skills never cease to amaze me, I can't even tell it was welded...

Thanks, Brian. I've always thought I was an average welder with above average grinding skills.

The last of the welds are smooth and the few remaining rivets that didn't want to come out of the x-members are history. We're ready for the sandblaster, so I hope to load all the pieces up tomorrow and haul them to George at Eagle Auto Stripping. I decided to blast everything first so the turnaround at the powder coater will be shorter. Plus, I can weld a couple of tabs that were on the original front section to the donor rails and not be fighting the "crust".

While the parts are at Eagle, I'll fab up the reinforcing plates so they'll be ready to use as templates for drilling the holes in the frame. I also have a small side project to make some mounts for my buddy Jay down in TX for his fine little red Chebbie truck.

[swamp rat]

Seems like a few of us are paying the piper a bit this year, I did a little reading and it sounds like the recovery time should be relatively short for you, good thing. Glad your dad is doing well too!

I could use some of them sanding skills, i always seem to under sand the weld a bit.

[Low Elco]

Glad it is going together well. Good to see you Sat.!

[Vic1947]

Eagle Stripping called yesterday afternoon and said my parts were ready. Luckily, we had a dry morning today so I was able to pick them up without having to dodge any rainstorms. They look great and all I need to do now is some welding and hole drilling before they go to the powder coater.

My trailer situation came to a head this week. Got a letter from the HOA saying I had five days to move it. So my brother will haul it back with him tomorrow and we'll have to figure out the best way to get my parts to Sedalia when the time comes. Maybe have to shuttle the trailer back and forth a couple more times. I can't complain, I guess. We really haven't had (or needed) a HOA in our subdivision since we first moved in. Our original builder went belly up and the new builders never got the residents on the HOA dues gravy train. Not sure who's funding the current monitoring agency, but I reckon that shoe will drop in due time. Anyway, enough of that. I'm just happy I can now move forward again.

[jeh]

It's good to see you moving forward now Vic, should be a "fun" truck when you get it finished!!!!

[Elliot949]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Eagle Stripping called yesterday afternoon and said my parts were ready. Luckily, we had a dry morning today so I was able to pick them up without having to dodge any rainstorms. They look great and all I need to do now is some welding and hole drilling before they go to the powder coater.

My trailer situation came to a head this week. Got a letter from the HOA saying I had five days to move it. So my brother will haul it back with him tomorrow and we'll have to figure out the best way to get my parts to Sedalia when the time comes. Maybe have to shuttle the trailer back and forth a couple more times. I can't complain, I guess. We really haven't had (or needed) a HOA in our subdivision since we first moved in. Our original builder went belly up and the new builders never got the residents on the HOA dues gravy train. Not sure who's funding the current monitoring agency, but I reckon that shoe will drop in due time. Anyway, enough of that. I'm just happy I can now move forward again.

Man HOA's have their place but sometimes they just piss you off being rediculous... Glad to see you are rolling through...

I hope your Dad continues to improve...

[sduckworth13]

Awesome Vic! I have a feeling things are about to pick up speed . I hope your dad is doing better.

[mcbassin]

Killer work on the frame! Looks great

[snipescastle2]

Vic,
Sure wish I had a vehicle worthy of pulling a trailer, I'm only 25 miles from Sedalia....... I could always borrow the Step daughter's boyfriend's truck..... let me know if I can help!!!
Ben

[jlsanborn]

Looks like you've got it whipped Vic. Looking forward to more of that sanitary assembly you do this winter. Good on ya for looking after Pa too!

[roOstersan]

Hey Vic, I was curious why you chose to straight cut your frame instead of the Z cut method. I'm in the middle of a LWB to SWB conversion on my '72 c10 (until a torn ACL and Miniscus from an MC accident took me out for a while).

Everything Ive read said the Z cut was a stronger joint, when you add the frame reinforcements in that area of course.

Thanx again for doing such a great documentation of your build, this is me taking notes!