Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

I finished removing the rear cab and front bed mounts. removed the center cab mounts from the frame sections I saved from the suburban. I will be dropping off the frame and parts to SRS for media blasting on Wednesday. Then it will go to Sky's shop to stretch the frame and fit the cab and bed.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

lookin good! Thanks god you have a good body guy. Some people get all the luck. :wash:

Chris

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Santa Claus was early this year. I got my 4 speed Atlas T-case today. I dropped off my frame and related part at SRS to get media blasted the 11 smaller parts will get power coated black. after the frame has been modified I will have it powered coated as well.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Hello cmabolt. Yes I'm lucky to have Sky working on my truck. It's not his usual type of work. He like working on older hot rods thirties roadsters is what he works on mostly. I was lucky he was slow in the shop and I'm able to fund having him work on my truck 3 days a week. But things are getting busy for him now. hopefully he will finish up with my truck the first week of October then Charlie will do the final body work while Sky is on vacation. I might be able to paint in November.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

I have been waiting 2 years to see the bed back on the frame and Friday it was reality.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

I had Sky move the bed forward 1 inch to center up the wheel in the wheel well. I think it looks much better thsi way. Frame has been stretched 24-1/2" to fit the crew cab. next week we will fit the cab and the rest of the sheet metal.
I have to take my NV4500 to the trany shop to have the harmonic balancer removed so I can install the new tail housing for the Atlas T-case. it requires special tool to remove the nut and balancer. Yes that is rust on the bed and frame as it rained in California Thursday and Friday.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

those T-cases sure are beefy!

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

I finely got the T-case together for the most part. missing 6 bolts and rear yoke. I thought the yoke was being delivered with the disk break parts I received in the mail today. I will call AA Monday and see what happened. The instruction to install the T-case are not very good. I assembled and disassembled parts 2 to 4 time before I figured out all the parts and the sequence to assemble them. I took picture of the assembly not sure if I should post them all. Let me know what you all think. We will be mounting the cab for the first time Saturday can't wait.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Ok, I've been meaning to ask, How did you hear about the Atlas T-Case? I didn't even know it existed. Also is the rear shaft disk setup from the same company that makes the one for the NP205?

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

beefy looking combo DWilbur!


:o

where have you been?!? haha. the atlas has been around for a while. i think the original is old enough to vote!

made by AA and in pretty much all of the "cool" off road rigs in the late 90s and through today. the atlas II has a pretty solid track record.

if you would like a 205 rear output brake, Jesse at high angle driveline will be able to help. i am sure there are a few others that make them as well, maybe NWfab. they can be home made also, but for the time and design invested, id buy it. for the ultimate in holding power, a rear output band brake would be ideal. not to many options there.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Advanced Adapters makes the T-case they have been around for several years in 2010 they made several improvements as some guys were having some issues with them. by 2011 they are one of the best aftermarket t-cases you can buy. they tailor build them to what you will use it for. all kinds of options. to fit any truck you can think of. the one i bought is a 4 speed t-case 1to1 high gear and 5.3 to 1 low gear. They can build them with 10 to 1 low gear if needed. 3 shifter levers to control it.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Forgot the parking break is made by Parts by Mike. I think they make one for the 205 T-cfase

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Finally after work on the truck for just over 2 years the cab is installed on the truck for the first time and looking very cool. I will be dropping off some of the front end part Monday to be installed for final fitting the body panels.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Where have i been? Riding and racing dirtbikes most of my life. Never followed high performance off road or 4X4 builds even while i owned my truck since 1994.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Thanks for the info! your truck is taking shape nicely!

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Spent 2 hours installing a dust reclaimer on my media blasting cabinet. it vacuums up the glass bead dust and you can recycle the glass bead. now the bead blaster is clogging up constantly and not able to get my parts blasted. so I set up my sand blasting pot in the back yard and at least blasted my bell housing so I can paint it. Also painted some sample colors for the truck. Champaign beige Honda color and Vibrant Copper Volvo color. Having spray gun issues and I'm out of thinner to do a good cleaning.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Your truck is taking shape quite nicely!

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Thanks Dieselwrencher.
Its been 2 years and 4 months to this point. with 2 people working on it things move along. Sky is working on sheet metal and I'm working on the mechanical item so after the frame is painted I can start install engine trans and axels while the body work and painting is getting done. I'm still hoping it will see paint in November.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Good luck with it. Paint will surely help your motivation. Although it's the part I demize the most. Have to be careful to not scratch it all up. :lol:

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Cool build DWilbur I'm in...

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Thanks for looking in 7dee2.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Nice color combo!

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Friday was rot repair on the 2 right side doors. I was hoping that it was goning to be small panels to repair and it ended up the hole bottom of both doors.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Today I sand blasted the transmission and painted it.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Wow! That turned out nice.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Did not think about using my engine stand for the transmission.. Thanks for the pictures. Now I will not be wrestling this bad boy around the garage floor!

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Hello Dale
The idea came to me when I was getting ready to paint the transmission it weighs over 100 lbs. I can roll it around the shop until I'm ready to install it as well.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Very nice build looks awesome thanks for letting me know about it. I will defineltly be following your build. Just wondering are you planning on adding a 4th door to it or just keeping it 3 door. I am going to start planning on what and where I'm going to cut this weekend and will be doing a lot of measuring and deciding if it would be better to cut the entire back of the cab off with door jams and all to make it easier to ad the 4th door but I'm not sure if they line up yet or not I'll be posting pics this weekend of my build. I plan on doing about the same set up but just a mild cammed 6.0 4l80e combo . Gets the job done would really like a 6l80e but they are outrageous. And my funds are limited at this time. I was wanting to run a sm465 at first but decided an automatic with overdrive would be more sutible for my needs. I already have a long bed and really want to have the extra bed room also. I'm getting my bed lined with linex I have it in my 04 z71 and I love it strongest liner ever and life time warranty. Can't wait to see more keep up the good work.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Hello thebowtierranch
I'm keeping the cab as 3 door. some guys cut the suburban half way through the back door and cut the back of the truck cab half way through the front doors and lower the roof to match up with the truck cab and add the 4th door. if you google 67 to 72 crew cab you can find several builds and different ways to fit the part together. their are several members on this site doing the same thing. good luck with your build.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

I finely fixed the shock mounts on the rear axel to match the mounts on the frame. the axel is out of a 1973 truck and 1 shock goes back the other goes forward. finish painting the axel the afternoon.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

May be a dumb question but what is the brake for?

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

it is a parking brake. instead of setting the rear drums you set this brake. or if you have disks in the rear with no parking brake capabilities.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

That's correct it is used as a parking break. I replaced the rear drum breaks with disk breaks. I tried the Cadillac Eldorado break calipers and I can't find a right and left side to get the parking break function to work so I went with the disk break on the T-case.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Wednesday I dropped off 10 pieces for power coating inter fenders hood hinges and latch and some frame parts. I bead blasted some nuts and bolts after I replaced the glass bead media in my blast cabinet works much beater now. kept clogging up. I picked up factory alt/ power steering pump bracket for my engine at local junk yard Friday cleaned it up and installed it. Installed the Vintage Air AC pump today.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Looks good!

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Friday I picked up the part I dropped of about a week ago for power coating. The front inner fender wells, grill parts, hood hinges, hood latch. I stopped by Sky's Hot Rods to see how things went while Sky was on vacation for 3 weeks and nothing was done body wise. As the old saying goes ( when the cat is away the mice will play) Next week the gas tank door will be installed in the bed. hopefully it will fit on the left side of the bed in front of the rear wheel. I bought a new gas tank a while ago it's about 28 gallons to fit in-between the frame rails under the bed.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Those parts look like they came out real nice.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

Hello Rick
Yes the power coating looks good. The only thing I was not aware of is power coating moving parts as they get stuck together. The hood latch took some massaging to get it to function. Then I used silicon grease to get it working like new. It was a learning curve for me. Next time I will take the moving parts apart and have them coated separately.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

I dropped off the gas tank and gas tank door I cut out of 2004 Suburban for Sky to install the gas door on the left side. good thing is the tank is set up for left side fill. I should be getting my frame back by the end of the month so I can fit the NV4500 and Atlas T-case cross member then the frame can be power coated. Final body work will start in about a week.

Re: 71 4X4 Frame off Restoration
 

A picture of the gas tank door installed I dropped off the filler neck and tubing today. Sky will mount the gas tank so he can set up the filler tubing. Missing rubber body mount for the radiator core support this is the 3rd time I have ordered rubber mounts from LMC.