1972 gmc 2wd highlander with original paint

[67ChevyRedneck]

When the bolts are that bad on a bed, overtighten them with an impact, 90% of them will instantly snap off. I've used that method on 4 beds now

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work on the truck. It's getting really close. I'm getting ready to pull the bed off my 72 so I can finish the floor and paint it. Hopefully I can get it done before June.

[kehstr]

Originally Posted by Devil Pup

Haha. well good, if you don't have those it should work out good

Yeah that is the hope

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

When the bolts are that bad on a bed, overtighten them with an impact, 90% of them will instantly snap off. I've used that method on 4 beds now

I would have done that, the problem was the square part of the carriage bolt that holds it down, was rounded off from being rusted, so they would just spin until I had vise grips underneath holding them while I drilled the bolts out.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice work on the truck. It's getting really close. I'm getting ready to pull the bed off my 72 so I can finish the floor and paint it. Hopefully, I can get it done before June.

Thanks! Yeah so close, but yet so far away! At least your bed should come apart pretty easy since it has been apart before HAHA.

[Dieselwrencher]

Yeah, I remembered how much fun it was getting those little sob's out. I tacked a lot of them to the bed floor and then broke them off and cut the tack welds. That was big fun. Haha

[kehstr]

I've been hard at the truck getting it ready so we can make it to the brothers show this Sunday. Which I am in fact going to be at!!!!
Installed new headlights

built a coolant overflow bottle bracket that mounts to the battery tray

[kehstr]

This is a picture of the air box my dad fabbed up. I know the picture is not that great and does not show very much about it, but it is the best one I have.

The next big thing was the hood. But luckily enough for me, my uncle came over and between him and my dad I didn't have to do much. It was a pretty big mess. Someone at one point decided to spray yellow-orange color on parts of the hood, for an unknown reason. Someone also decided to spray the driver side of the hood with new paint. Needless to say, we sprayed new paint on some of it.




But as you can see it turned at really good and matches the truck really well!

[Dieselwrencher]

Man, that hood turned out really nice! Have fun this weekend! You should be proud of your truck. I sure didn't have anything nearly that nice when I was your age that my Dad and I built.

[Greg58]

Great progress, you will enjoy showing off your efforts!

Greg

[kehstr]

Then it was onto fixing the bedsides. The first thing we tackled was the big rust hole in the passenger bedside from the saddle tank it had.
all the rust cut out

Then the patch piece we cut out of the red bed we used the bed floor from. Isn't it kind of funny how the orange and red have faded to be a very similar color

This is my dad's buddy fixing the rust on the bed floor. It turns out there were 2 spots he had to weld a patch in, and about 3-4 spots that were just starting to pinhole but the metal around it was still strong enough that we just put a copper spoon behind the metal and welded them shut. Surprisingly enough the floor has not had a single hole drilled in it!

Here he is laying color on the front panel for the bed. All of the parts seen in this picture came from the red bed.

Then after it was all painted we assembled it and got it ready so my dad could spray this very beautiful rhino lining

[kehstr]

I almost forgot, before my dad could put the bed together, he got his fuel fill idea all set up and burned in.
piece all fabbed up

burned in

final product

Then while we are on the topic of the bed, I might as well show you a picture of my tailgate. We had to buy a new one because the original one was rusted in every spot these tailgates can.

[kehstr]

Next, my dad got the exhaust run as much as he could until the bed is on

serviced the rear diff and threw this chrome cover on that I have had since before I even started working on the truck

Then build my dummy filler. I just cut the end off of my fuel tank and welded it onto a small plate. That way no crack-head can just walk up grab it and go.

It also rests in there perfect. This is how it normally sits

This is as far as you can pull it out.

[kehstr]

The next project was to get the interior all wrapped up. So we laid down some roof sheeting for insulation

cleaned up the door panels

get them mounted

then lay carpet and start wiring up the sound system

including the kicker panel speakers

[kehstr]

then finish wiring the sound system

install the cab corner speaker brackets, 6x9 speakers, and the party knob (sub adjuster knob)

install a new steering wheel, and cruise switch

Then I "borrowed" a buddy's seat out of his truck and through a saddle blanket on it, since 1. I have been fighting to get the material for the seat and 2. my seat frame was stolen out of my backyard where I had it tucked away, and somebody knew what they wanted because nothing else was stolen.

then installed my sill plates

[kehstr]

On the rear of the truck we next through the rear tires on

set the bed on

put all of the trim on

put the rear bumper, hitch, and tailgate on it, and started driving it!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool! I just tried doing the tail light filler on my truck but my fill tube is too big so I had to go with plan B. In the bed ahead of the stake pocket. Dang it. Haha The truck looks awesome! You guys sure kicked butt on it. That stinks about your seat too!

[kehstr]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Yeah, I remembered how much fun it was getting those little sob's out. I tacked a lot of them to the bed floor and then broke them off and cut the tack welds. That was big fun. Haha

Yeah, I am for sure glad that that project is over. And thank goodness it went together much easier.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Man, that hood turned out really nice! Have fun this weekend! You should be proud of your truck. I sure didn't have anything nearly that nice when I was your age that my Dad and I built.

Thanks! I am so proud of this truck, so far we have put about 1300 miles on it, and she has not skipped a beat!!

Originally Posted by Greg58

Great progress, you will enjoy showing off your efforts!

Greg

I can't tell you how long the last month or 2 have felt like, trying to get it ready to show off at this show! I can't wait to show it off!

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Very cool! I just tried doing the tail light filler on my truck but my fill tube is too big so I had to go with plan B. In the bed ahead of the stake pocket. Dang it. Haha The truck looks awesome! You guys sure kicked butt on it. That stinks about your seat too!

Oh, that does stink! I have really liked mine so far, it is kind of nice to be able to just back up to a pump that someone is partly blocking, and not have to worry about the hose reaching HAHA. Yeah kicked it in the butt was an understatement, my dad and I worked on it every day after work from about 6 until at least 1 in the morning. Oh well, lots of work so I can enjoy it!!
The whole seat thing really ticks me off, hopefully, it shows up, I have a few suspicions of who could have taken it. I guess I will just keep a close eye out, and hopefully, I can find it before SMS gets off their butts and can send me the material I need. But at this rate, I think I have a while LOL.

[kehstr]

Man, it has been quite some time since I have updated this thread. I have been driving the wheels off this truck whenever I get the chance. I only had a few months after we "finished" the truck (we all know they are never finished) to use it before I headed out to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for 2 years. Aug 2017-Aug 2019 I spent out in the Kansas City area spreading the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, without the truck!! I definitely missed it, but as soon as I got back home, I will say one of the first things, if not the very first thing, was go for a drive in the truck. And before anyone asks, yes I did leave some white clouds of tire smoke behind it where I went!!
Been tinkering on it, and still improving it as I go. And bear with me, cause this is going to be quite the update of the progress I have

Here is the picture of the truck off Brothers site from when we went to the truck show literally the day after we got the truck ready for the 2800 mile trip!


Then here are a couple of pictures from my time as a missionary I thought were appropriate for this forum!

[kehstr]

I decided it needed a receiver hitch to use it as a truck should be used.
I bought a hidden Hitch from CPP, which was total garbage. 4 of the 8 bolts were supposed to line up with existing wholes, and none of them did. So I had the joy of getting the hitch where it needed to be and drill all 8 holes.




With the bumper bracket where it is, I had to cut the plate that comes in the kit intended to bolt it to the side of the frame. Only using it for 2 bolts rather than 3. Worked good in the end, but I wasted a lot of time to come to that conclusion




where I had to cut the license plate piece for the receiver to go through. The hole for the electrical connector was already there. Just had to open it up a little, and a 7 pin connector went right in.


The worse part of the whole deal was opening up the receiver to fit the hitch. I spent at least 2 full hours with a small belt sander, making my hitch fit.
Now it is done, so I can move on luckily.

[kehstr]

Then after adding a hitch I, of course, needed a trailer brake controller. I kept dragging my feet about adding. Cause a traditional style trailer brake controller, was going to look completely out of place, and be super ugly.
But luckily I stumbled across the perfect one on Amazon. It is called the compact IQ by Reese and works perfectly. Just took a small piece of 1-inch aluminum angle we had sitting around, drilled 2 holes, and mounted it with some double-sided tape through one of the heater control holes.


I do not know why these pictures turned, nor how to fix them. But, this picture shows you ruffly where I mounted the control box on the brake pedal bracket. Works perfectly.




I was a little worried that the adjustment knob was going to be in the way and people were going to hit their knees on it and brake it since it sticks out a little. But as soon as I got it the seat, I realized that was not going to happen. I am 6'2" and do not even come close to hitting the knob.


Then of course a picture of it being used. I need to put air helper bags on it, cause in this picture it is about an inch off of the bump stops. luckily we did not have to go far.

[kehstr]

more updates to come soon. Temporarily cannot upload more pictures

[cornerstone]

You've built a beautiful GMC! What ever happened with your stolen seat? Did you get it back or find another one to recover?
The sideways picture posts are common. This may work for you if you are taking the pictures with a smart phone. Try holding your phone with the home button on the right side.
Brian

[kehstr]

The next thing I decided I needed to do was a 5 lug swap. My truck is obviously a 72 and was 5 lug from the factory. But the frame was completely stripped of all suspension components when I bought it, so we had to find another chassis. The chassis is a 69, making it 6 lug. I decided that needed to change. I was looking for a month or so for a 5 lug coil spring 12 bolt, and there just is not that many out there. Luckily I stumbled across a truck bed trailer that had one. It had been hit in the front drivers corner, so they were dumping it. Got it for less than I was thinking I was going to have to pay for a bear axle. More work, but more parts for less!!

I, of course, used the truck to go get it.


I did not even have it for 3 days, and I started the teardown. Cut the dented section out on the bedside and went to work on those carriage bolts. I did this one 99% by myself, and now knowing the best way to do it from all the beds I tore down for parts on my truck, along with my brother's blazer, it really was not that bad.


This felt like a sign from above that I was meant to have this axle. 3 Musketeers are my favorite candy bar, so I was super stoked when I found this in a rear stake pocket on a bedside.


For those of you that do not have a tractor, I wonder how you do what you need to, cause when it is just me out working alone, our tractor is my go-to for moving things around. makes life real easy.


Got it torn down to the goods I bought the trailer for. And I did not even have it for a week at this point!! Felt really proud of myself!

[kehstr]

Then I got right to tearing the rear end down. We are ditching the drum brakes and going to Disks. I have wanted to do that to the truck since I build it in the beginning, and decided I better do it to this axle now or I will regret it later.



For the disks, I am using everything from a 10 bolt that a friend of ours got for cheap to get the gov-lock out of it, and gave to me to since he had no use for it.


Since it was free, and there are only about a million of them in the junkyard, I also cut the housing (no guilt whatsoever), in hopes we can machine the brackets down and weld them directly on the 12 bolt housing.


I also got a steal on this OEM Tailgate. I put a reproduction on my truck, but they are junk. Really flimsy, and makes me worry I am going to ruin it by using it. So I have been looking for a while, and when I found this one, I jumped on it, cause otherwise, I knew I would regret it. The only issue with it is the rust hole below the handle. Ironically I paid the same amount for the tailgate as I did for the entire truck bed trailer, but still a WAY good deal.

[kehstr]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

You've built a beautiful GMC! What ever happened with your stolen seat? Did you get it back or find another one to recover?
The sideways picture posts are common. This may work for you if you are taking the pictures with a smart phone. Try holding your phone with the home button on the right side.
Brian

Thank you!

Funny story about the seat. It was never actually stolen. I had always thought it seemed a little weird for an old seat frame to just randomly disappear, after all, it did not look like anything special. Turns out, my parents took it to get the seat upholstered. They bought everything for the seat as a graduation/birthday/Christmas present and were hoping to surprise me with it being done before I noticed everything was gone.
It was an awesome surprise for the upholstery guy (who is a really good friend of my dad) to pull up to my house with the seat all finished in the back of his truck. Needless to say, I looked at my dad who was next to me, and told him he was a jerk. Glad he did it though.
Here is a picture.

[kehstr]

I have tinkered with a few things on the truck. (And I apologize again for the photos being sideways, still cannot figure out why they do that, even after being told more than once )

started by painting the Vortec lettering on the engine cover orange. The Silver that was on it just never quite fit the truck.


The Lower ball joints I put in the truck when I built it wore out. Supposedly there was a bad run of them at the time. The ones I replaced them with are much nicer. Hopefully, they last more than 5,000 miles


Then while I was in there replacing the ball joints, I put some KYB shocks in there. These were quite a bit more money, but well worth it for the ride quality change.


continuing on with my 5 lug project, we cut a replacement factory rotor for a 71-72, to make that into our hub. Swapped it on the passenger side at the same time as the ball joints, to take some measurements. Looks like some Jeep Cherokee Rotors will work perfectly. They are 5x5 bolt pattern, and we can use our same calipers, on the same bracket I built. Now we just need to machine the hub, so it looks like a hub, and not a hat cut off a rotor


The whole time I have been driving this truck the reverse lights never came on in Reverse, they came on in Neutral. Finally got around to adjusting the neutral safety switch (always started in Park, so it was not that high on my to-do list). While I was working on that I threw some super bright LED lights in the housings. Now I can see just about anything while backing up!