Re: tilly to the rescue
 

This is gonna be a sweet shop truck..

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

february and half of march were pretty much miserable weather wise. rain and cold winds keep me inside and theres not much garage space around here. but there was a little happening on the utility shop truck.

the fenders were in worse shape than i hoped... the braces were gone and the lower rear sheet metal was a fiberglass matt that was breaking up. so , i opted to use some other fenders i had. they weren't a whole lot better except the braces were good.

blasted, ground, cut and patch... not shown is the blasting pic cause no way would the patch be welded up with it rusty inside. now where is that blasted blasting pic...

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

had a weekend that was not raining and around 50 degrees so figured it was time to disassemble the cab... tagged and bagged. i'm fairly disappointed with overall condition but its workable. lots to do.....

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Wow that door pillar looks rough, never thought they would get cancer up there like that !!

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

no problem, a man with your skills will breeze through this like a hot knife through butter:metal:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the bed has 2 coats of high-build urethane primer... let the blocking begin. also sprayed bed liner on the wheelwells and underside. the plan is to spray the gatorguard bedliner on the bed floor and inside all cabinets too. man, that stuff is expensive but nothing works like it does.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

got a couple of coats on the frame. took a little bit of time because there were some repairs and had to replace a couple of crossmembers.

i'm going high gloss on most of the suspension because the plan (for now) is a satin black paintjob on the cab and bed so a glossy frame will contrast a little. plus gloss paint is harder and more durable than the matte finished.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

just one more pic for now... say goodbye to my little friend.
i tried but couldn't negociate a deal to keep my old truck. the guy who has owned it for almost 30 years just couldn't let it go. hes a nice old fellow and i hope he can drive it around a little... i was just glad to hang out with the truck and get a chance to get it back the way it was the first time around.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

ok, just one last pic... got a new tool. this lift is really going to help out. poured a slab and footing and bolted it down a month ago but just wired it this last weekend. oh boy, can't wait.
the plan is to build a shop building where the white '48 sits.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

I'm sure you will be happy once that lift is up and running....they definitely come in handy!
Coming along nicely. Keep up the good work.
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Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Nice work on the box and frame. Like the lift too.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

COOL PICS! DUUDE you are a master craftsman your work is so nice:metal:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

i know... the rust on this truck is under 2 paint jobs. the victim of poor prep work. but the blaster will take care of it, i hope.

thanks man... i'm thinking that this is another big challenge and thats what keeps me going back out in the shop... love the challenge.

lift works great... traded a small airstream trailer for it and i couldn't be happier with the deal. and thanks.

appreciate it man... that lift will be perfect to install a tranny in the 1-ton. got a trans jack in the trade too.

thanks pal... seeing that satin black frame on your blue & white build made me want to do the same. it was beautiful and so smooth looking... but i copped out and went glossy. maybe next time.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

its early april and time for the march update.
the plan changed and it looks like my buddies cab is worse that we hoped. as murph noted it was rusty in places that don't usually get that way, even for our climate.
so we opted for another cab that i had. this was better in some ways, not so much in others. a big back window conversion is going to happen, one rocker needs replacing, 3 pretty major floor patches, the tunnel has to be changed to a big hump, 1 door pillar is toast, the dash will need a radio patch... and thats just the about it (hopefully) but it still less work than on the original cab.

first pic is the replacement cab after some sandblasting and scraping.
next pic is the first floor patch tacked in and the third is the fix.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

got a start on the big window conversion... i had already removed the inner panel from a parts cab, then blasted and etched it. after removing the small window inner panel from the replacement cab, the back wall was blasted and etched and prepped for the install. at the end of the day the big panel was glued to the ceiling panel with 3M panel cement and then clamped in place for 24 hrs. the plan is to fill this seam like chad did in his thread. i think that is a cleaner look and worth doing but that will have to wait till all the welding happens.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the frame was painted earlier last month but i was able to get the parts and prep them to rebuild the front suspension. using a cap.fab power steering plate and all the harder to find 3/4 ton stuff we're ready to get after it...thank goodness for that extra hour of daylight.
before you freak about the color on the springs, its burnt copper, one of the company colors for my buddies company. and i thought a little copper color on the chassis would be cool... but just the springs, everything else will be shades of gloss, satin and flat black.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the original rearend in the 3/4 ton is an eaton and the gears are 4:57, which are too low using a granny 4-speed and looking for a little highway time so we got a 14 bolt from salvage. its out of an 85 model which had leaf springs so the old pads were cut off and changed to coil springs and the track bar mount from the eaton was welded on. the new rear is from a auto truck and is 3:90 gears. much better.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

man your work is soo clean :metal:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Those springs in all that black are going to look pretty cool I think !!

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

:agree::agree::agree:

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Like the pic of all the nice new clean parts waiting for your magic touch to become a master piece.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

beautiful:metal:the black and gold is going to be super sweet together.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Looking good, and I must agree with the previous comments! Awesome work!!!

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

thanks guys... this build is kinda different for me because it belongs to someone else. and their direction is hazy at best. so any comments and critiques are welcome and appreciated.
more updates next month...

heres a quick pic of razorback red with dropped rear springs. they evened up the ride and i like it...

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

that looks great, how much did you drop it?

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

they were 3" springs. if they settle any i may wish i got 2" but for now they're great.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Looking good Clem :thumbs:

I assume you received the 14 bolt trailing arm mounts?

I've never seen 3.90 gears in a 14 bolt, usually 3.73 and 4.10's.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

yes sir i did get the mounts. and you may be right about the gearing, haven't checked yet, going by what the salvage guy said. will count teeth and inspect when the mounts and trac-bar bracket get welded. either ratio will be better than the eatons 4.57.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

clems is that the cab that was by the gate infront of the garage? razorback looks good with that stance!! tilly is going to be one sweet truck

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

i lov that red truck soooooo clean

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

april was one of those months where it doesn't seem like much was accomplished but a lot of time was spent getting nothing done.

spent a little time on the rearend... welded the perches from the captain and the tracbar bracket on the 1985 14 bolt. which did count out to be a 4:10 gear (you were right cap). after cleaning it up, got some satin paint on it.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

made a cabcart from the middle section of an old frame. around here everything has to be portable and the carts are easy to make. and they make the cab easy to work on.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

now about the cab... i was fooled on this one. after accessing the original cab and opting for a different one which i thought was better, was in fact just as bad. the new cab was crunched on the right side bad. after digging out the bondo i found out just how bad it was. fresh air horn, front door pillar, rocker, inner rocker and the entire rear corner from the middle of the window down. wow, this is gonna take some time and lots of patience.

pic of the bad corner plus the sacrifical old cab which was cut up for the fix.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

that old cab really came in handy not just right rear corner but it also provided the door pillar, several floor patches and the big hump trans tunnel.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

the next series of pics is some of the floor repair going on...

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

got the big window panel welded in... next, just need to cut it out.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

dang... forgot the pics.

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

awesome work,, subscribed to watch progress

Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Very nice work! :chevy:
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Re: tilly to the rescue
 

Always top notch stuff kat