The Ugliest Z71 You've Ever Seen.

[Eveready]

Ok. Thanks! Paint is a long ways away so I'm not even worried. I got to get a new bed and gas tank. Might as well do them at the same time and be done with it.

It might be worth your while to plan a trip to this end of the country. In the South they don't tend to rust out . A front clip wouldn't be all that expensive and you could lose the rusted out fenders. Might even be worth it to find a parts truck to tow home.

 

[Jared Jackson]

I know the world hates rhino liner paint jobs... but I would have just pieced all of the body parts together, sprayed a custom color rhino liner on there, drive it and smile! probably a 1/4 the price of a paint job, and you want to go off road...

 

[Bad_Luck_Club]

It might be worth your while to plan a trip to this end of the country. In the South they don't tend to rust out . A front clip wouldn't be all that expensive and you could lose the rusted out fenders. Might even be worth it to find a parts truck to tow home.

I actually found some rust free fenders. I just haven't taken a good picture of those yet. It's in my profile ,but you can't see the wheel arches that well. Needs a couple of dents pulled out but that's alright. I found a couple of "good" beds ,but I just haven't pulled the trigger on them yet just because I'm going to need to grab a couple of buddies to get the bed on. And I need a new gas tank anyway.

 

[Bad_Luck_Club]

I know the world hates rhino liner paint jobs... but I would have just pieced all of the body parts together, sprayed a custom color rhino liner on there, drive it and smile! probably a 1/4 the price of a paint job, and you want to go off road...

I've actually thought about Rhino liner. That would be nice. I thought about just doing it in bed liner ,but that would make my truck look like a lot of trucks out this way. I'll probably end up undercoating it before I paint it though since Summer is quickly drawing to a close.

 

[Eveready]

Have you looked over the frame carefully? With that much rust there might be some weak points underneath.

 

[someotherguy]

Have you looked over the frame carefully? With that much rust there might be some weak points underneath.

Including, but not limited to, the small crossmember that the forward gas tank strap attaches to. It's not fun when that one lets go. Had that happen to a customer of mine a while back right after he filled up; front end of the tank dropped while he was going down the freeway. He towed the truck to my shop for a tank, hard lines, crossmember repair, and we replaced his rusted-out bed while we were at it. If I recall...he and the truck were originally from IL.

Richard

 

[Bad_Luck_Club]

Have you looked over the frame carefully? With that much rust there might be some weak points underneath.

That was my first concern when I was looking at the truck before I bought it. I looked over the frame carefully. There's a lot of surface rust but I did not see any cracks or anything. From what I've seen is that the frames fail by the bed and cab. So far everything looks good. I just need to get some POR 15 for the frame.

 

[Bad_Luck_Club]

Including, but not limited to, the small crossmember that the forward gas tank strap attaches to. It's not fun when that one lets go. Had that happen to a customer of mine a while back right after he filled up; front end of the tank dropped while he was going down the freeway. He towed the truck to my shop for a tank, hard lines, crossmember repair, and we replaced his rusted-out bed while we were at it. If I recall...he and the truck were originally from IL.

Richard

Oh I have to replace the gas tank anyway since it rusted out so hopefully that is still good and I won't have to worry about replacing or repairing that. I know my truck has a story. I wonder where it was originally from. It has a rebuilt title and it came from a Copart in California I believe. I'll have to look at the history report again.

 

[August76]

Rough, but hardly the ugliest.

Yeah I was going to say in fact I've seen a lot rougher in a lot uglier just running around town here on the daily basis

 

[Bad_Luck_Club]

Yeah I was going to say in fact I've seen a lot rougher in a lot uglier just running around town here on the daily basis

Well, that's good it's not the ugliest then. Glad I could get the door off on the driver's side. Bad thing is that I need to figure out what to do about the rocker since it's pushed in. I picked it up like this.

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