[Chaparralman1974]

1/2/2023
Begin disassembly / cleaning of cab. Removal of seat and all butchered wires and add-ons that are not factory. There is surprisingly little rust on this truck! The rockers are not that bad and there is not very much rust on the floor. I also found that at some point a previous owner laid down some kind of asphalt on the floor that may have actually preserved things. It does look like some holes were “repaired” via a ton of bondo. All of that will need to go. The wiring on the entire truck is a total disaster. It looks like every inch has been hacked apart, so a replacement harness is definitely in the future. I also discovered that some previous owner took a torch to the transmission hump cover. Apparently they had no idea as to how to remove the hump and cut it into two pieces. This will require repair. I proceeded to pull out the seat to continue the clean up, and the original build sheet was discovered in pieces under the seat! I had to dig through about 2” of mouse droppings, but wow! What a find! From what I can see, it definitely aligns with how the truck is optioned. This will definitely be something for the scrapbook. At this point, I have the front clip off, the engine mostly disassembled, and the cab is ready to pull. All that remains is the speedometer cable, the steering shaft, the emergency brake, and the cab bolts. Lastly, I was able to fabricate a cab dolly out of scrap steel that I had. This thing is stout! I am finally using up some of the extra steel and hardware that I have laying around. This should make the project a little easier to organize in the garage.