vipergtrdj
I'm Awesome
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2011
- Messages
- 285
- Reaction score
- 4
So the start of nice weather for 2012 has started, and that means time to tear down my truck again.
This is the first picture of when I picked her up for $700 (it was either $600 or 700, cant recall).
After Tropical Storm Irene hit us in Vermont, I was financially hit hard - lost most of my tools in the flooding, so I got her all together and she looked like this ..
I drove her like this for the winter, and January 1st, my bad luck returned and I lost a leaf spring while driving. Luckily I was only doing about 20mph so when I noticed my tire rubbing against the bed I pulled over fast. Found out the overload spring had some how flew out, found half of it down the road. I managed to jack the frame up and move the axle back into place, tightened the leaf springs down, and parked her. I have driven her off and on, but no long trips. Now with the nice weather returning, and I replaced most of my damaged tools, I am going to start her again. Unfortunately I do not know where to start, and my head is going several different ways.
I started an excel sheet of 24 things of what I want to do ... I have most/all of the parts (minus the cylinder heads). Everything else I have on hand ready to install. The stepside bed I have I need to weld in new square tubing for the bed rails that bolt to the truck frame.
Here is the excel sheet -
Replace front suspension = replacing ball joints, tie rods, sway bar links, torsion bars w/ 3/4ton t-bars (mine are worn), the new leaf springs I got are 3/4ton ones 6leaves. I am parking my truck this Saturday, and plan on starting the work from then until July or August (even later if needed). When I say clean the frame, I am going to use POR15 (Marine cleaner , and metal prep solution) to clean it. After I wire brush and use my air chisel to knock all the current rust off.
So - what does everything think I should do first? Obviously I will do the body work/painting at the very end, but I don't know what to do first. I don't know if I should do the transmission first, or if I should start with the suspension work. I also am doing all this work to get her ready for a long drive the summer of 2013 when I move to Florida. I plan on using her to haul all my stuff down there, hence the rebuilt transmission.
This is the first picture of when I picked her up for $700 (it was either $600 or 700, cant recall).
You must be registered for see images attach
After Tropical Storm Irene hit us in Vermont, I was financially hit hard - lost most of my tools in the flooding, so I got her all together and she looked like this ..
You must be registered for see images attach
I drove her like this for the winter, and January 1st, my bad luck returned and I lost a leaf spring while driving. Luckily I was only doing about 20mph so when I noticed my tire rubbing against the bed I pulled over fast. Found out the overload spring had some how flew out, found half of it down the road. I managed to jack the frame up and move the axle back into place, tightened the leaf springs down, and parked her. I have driven her off and on, but no long trips. Now with the nice weather returning, and I replaced most of my damaged tools, I am going to start her again. Unfortunately I do not know where to start, and my head is going several different ways.
I started an excel sheet of 24 things of what I want to do ... I have most/all of the parts (minus the cylinder heads). Everything else I have on hand ready to install. The stepside bed I have I need to weld in new square tubing for the bed rails that bolt to the truck frame.
Here is the excel sheet -
You must be registered for see images attach
Replace front suspension = replacing ball joints, tie rods, sway bar links, torsion bars w/ 3/4ton t-bars (mine are worn), the new leaf springs I got are 3/4ton ones 6leaves. I am parking my truck this Saturday, and plan on starting the work from then until July or August (even later if needed). When I say clean the frame, I am going to use POR15 (Marine cleaner , and metal prep solution) to clean it. After I wire brush and use my air chisel to knock all the current rust off.
So - what does everything think I should do first? Obviously I will do the body work/painting at the very end, but I don't know what to do first. I don't know if I should do the transmission first, or if I should start with the suspension work. I also am doing all this work to get her ready for a long drive the summer of 2013 when I move to Florida. I plan on using her to haul all my stuff down there, hence the rebuilt transmission.