yeah butch is the man. I was over there yesterday and he was taking the bark off some pine wood his son picked up because it had beetles. a whole trailer load of wood, just stripping the bark and treating it with pesticide so it doesnt hurt his neighbors pines.
august is the cruelest month, its suspension and steering time. new uppers and lowers, new spindles, new springs and shocks, new steering u joints and shaft, sway bar endlinks. and bunch of other stuff.
[soapbox] normally I would take my leafs to the local spring shop and have them dearched, but on the last truck I paid for 4" and got 1 1/2", then I had to pay again for longer u bolts to put on 2" blocks. so I was already a little chafed. I took the leafs in and asked for 4" again, and brought one of the original u bolts that galled up coming off to see if it could be rethreaded. they said "no" flatly, and offered to sell me another. then he quoted me almost $100 more than I paid in march for the set on Hannah. I was a little taken aback, and told them I could order new springs for less, they said sorry, labor has gone up. well ok then, add new springs to the list, and forever. [/soapbox]
the control arms and the leaf springs showed up the next day, which was nice, so I decided to start with the back since the spindles arent here yet. there are two people I would like to punch at GM, one is the guy who puts in the seat torx bolts, and the other is the production engineer who decided that the leaf spring hanger bolts should be put in from inside out and never looked down the line to see the gas tank prevents the bolt from coming out.
IMG_0777 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
but its out, you say. well, first I tried unbolting the gas tank, but the strap bolt just spun. I tried lifting it a little with a jack but the creaking made me nervous. so I took the easy way.
IMG_0776 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
and that cut one came in handy for punching out the hangers, which the new leafs did not come with.
IMG_0778 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
I will pick up another bolt tomorrow, I spent the rest of the evening scrubbing scale out of the u bolts, which I didnt have to cut off for the first time in ever. the new pack has less springs so I need them to go deeper.
IMG_0782 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_0783 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
I told you not to worry about the chevy tailgate, I ordered this one on fleabay. got a decent deal on it too, shipping cost more than the gate. maybe I will sell the chevy or maybe keep it for the future.
s-l1600 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
I decided on wheels and need caps. this is partly a larger discussion of truck color I mentioned, but I wanted to see the two caps I was considering in person.
IMG_0766 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_0765 by
Joe Doh, on Flickr
I chose the red caps, because I am going with red on the artilleries. and I think I have decided to wire brush the whole body and lay down some matching slate blue. which means the interior will be blood red too. I am pretty pumped.