She rolls

The front and rear is bolted in. I have the wheels and tires on to test the height of the front after putting the weight of the motor on the new lowered springs. I’m betting that I’ll need some spacers. But I love how low she sits right now. 

Suspension

This is like an advanced Lego set. I’ve been cleaning the oil and grime off of the old suspension parts. Wire wheeled and scuffed them, then spray paint. Since this isn’t a show truck that will sit on mirrors at a schmancy car show, no need to glorify the underside with fancy colors. 

Frame is sealed up!

Finally! Took forever to strip, sand, clean and coat the frame. I’d rather paint a bus. 

I am, however, very excited this is all moving along. 

Waiting on supplies and parts

Ok so I am still waiting on suspension bushings and frame paint. Both should be here by the end of the week. 

In the meantime I have completely pulled apart the front control arms and spindles. The passenger side shock mount had a cross threaded bolt so I plasma cut the welded nut off of the lower control arm. I’ll weld a new one on before paint. 

Tagging every bolt and nut I can to make re-assembly easier on me. 

Current challenge right now is to figure out the serial numbers on the Firestone airbags to replace them. Just gotta keep researching. 

Patience and decisions

I’m at a speed bump on fitting the rear suspension to the frame due to not having the new leaf spring shackle hangers. Once I get those I can find the spacing of the rear Kelderman air ride system. They should be in within two weeks. I did fit the rear shock mount crossmember. So that’s great. 

So while wait, I decided to go ahead and dig into the motor. 

Once I took the exhaust manifold off I found the #6 port to have what I thought was oil in it. So I figured a scored cylinder. 

Luckily, I think it was just evidence of a valve stuck it not seating right. Cause once the head was off I can see that the cylinder walls are beautiful. Still has the original crosshatching. 

So now I have a decision to make. Leave the block as is or rebuild it. I think I’m gonna just go ahead and rebuild it. Should be fun. 

Does it still fit?

Since I am using a frame different from what the suspension parts came from, I am 100% ensuring that all parts fit/bolt up/whatever before I strip /seal/paint the frame and suspension parts. Doing this gives me peace of mind but also tests my patience! Hurry it up already!

I also bodged up the crossmember lower bolt mounting holes on the frame. So I lined her up and tack welded in some washers to help align the bolts when I’m ready for final mount. 

Need to order the new rear suspension brackets that will lower the rear end. That way I can cut/drill the mounting holes and ensure fitment. 

THEN I can strip and paint the frame. Need to start thinking of overall color scheme. I may want to paint the frame and suspension parts that will go with or match the rest of the truck. 

Photo dump

Donor parts truck is gone!

Finally I have everything g off the donor parts truck/frame I need. The frame is cut up and out of the shop. 

Next is to mock up the crew cab frame with all suspension and crossmembers except for the tranny crossmember. Still not sure what direction I’ll go with that. 

Moving along!

Sick of crossmembers

After getting the engine crossmember off of the donor truck, I realized I can’t just slide it on the crew cab frame. It has to sandwich between the motor mount plate and the mount for the shock and upper control arm. 

So I carefully cut the motor mount plates off. I drilled pilot holes first to align them when I bolt and weld them back on. 

Now I’m just getting the crossmembers off of the donor truck. Next I’ll need to cut the welded holes on the crew frame, then mock up everything. 

VIP’s!!!

In order to take the motor mount/suspension crossmember off of the donor frame, large heavy rivets had to be removed. 

The plasma cutter and the air hammer were the real VIP’s in making that happen today. 

Spring Squisher

The grand Tennessee Redneck spring compressor worked great! Thanks to my evil genius of a father for giving me the idea. 

Tada! Frame rotisserie!

Had to weld the brackets onto the frame for safety. But it works great!

Slow process

Alright. First off some jack wagon stripped one of the bolts for the lower shock mount. Great. I’ll deal with that later. 

To safely remove the spring I’ll need to compress the spring and remove the spindle. More to come on how I’m going to do that. 


Lastly, the upper shock mount was so rusted I had to use the trusty cutting wheel. 

Next update should be about the Tennessee frame rotisserie. 

Steering is off

Took some creative inginuity but I was able to remove the steering components. Not sure if I’m going to replace it all or just the bushings. Depends on the shape it’s in I guess. 

I really wish I could find an airbag kit for this beast. Maybe one day. Right now I may just keep the suspension as is (with upgrades of course) and lower it a smidge.