Here's a couple of mine. I still haven't fixed the body yet (working on that this summer/fall), but it runs and drives great. Changes since this picture are BFG All Terrain tires (33x12.5x15), and 3/4 ton rear springs (thanks bisquik!).
Future plans are to repair the rust (mostly doors and rear quarters), leave it in some epoxy waterproof primer until we decide what color it should be (and when I say "we", I mean "the wife"
), and start working on getting some more power to the ground. It does OK now, but there's always room for more HP.
A little history on it: I bought it in August of '02 for $800, with a newly rebuilt trans and transfer case. The owner got tired of dumping money into it, and it needed a fuel tank (40 gallon, not as cheap as I thought!), sending unit, valve seals, and front brakes. I did all that stuff, and started driving it. Then I installed a 2" Rough Country spring lift, with new shocks, steering stabilizer, tie rods, ball joints, mainly everything in the front end. I also installed new fenders and inners while the truck was down for the suspension work. I drove it some more, and added things as time and money allowed: Class 3 hitch, Pioneer CD player, Sony Xplode speakers, Uniden CB/K40 antenna, Energy Suspension body mounts, and a bunch of random maintenance stuff. It's finally getting to a point that I'm ready to start the body repairs, the rust is starting to get bad on the panels, but the floors and frame are very good. Seems worth it to me.
I'm pretty proud too, that I did all the work myself, mostly with hand tools until I got a compressor/air tools, a welder, torches, and a garage to do all the work in. I'm looking forward to getting the body panels done, along with fabbing up some custom bumpers, grille, and roof rack. I like making the stuff myself, it's cheaper, and exactly what I want.
So far this spring/summer, we've logged about 5500 miles, one trip to Disneyline in FL, and another to MI to visit friends. On the trip to MI I towed a car out and back, which I run on a road course out there. The truck behaved just fine, and my wife was pretty impressed that nothing broke. I kinda took that as a shot at me, but happily brushed it off as the truck just kept lumbering along.
Needless to say, I'm very happy with the truck, and the deal I got. I've still got less than $3k into it. A lot better than the $40k plus the new ones sell for, and I don't have to care if the kids make a mess on the back seats.
Sorry for the long post, but I love this truck!