The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by rusty76

That's a total bummer about the '78. I was looking forward to reading about it. Oh well. I'll take the control arms and all the suspension, lol.

I don't know what I'll wind up doing with it. All I know is that I now have three pickups and that's one too many. I only built the stepside to keep myself busy. I've driven it maybe 100 miles since I got it on the road. It just sits for weeks at a time. I just don't like the truck really. I only built it because I got it for free.

Originally Posted by darkhorse970

'78? Got pics? How did I miss that?

[SCOTI]

Tx.... Are those the KH 15x8's on the back of the 78 that you got from me?

[Tx Firefighter]

No sir, they're stock 6 inch wheels on all four corners. Powdercoated white with a set of five dollar swap meet hubcaps. 215/75-15 front, 235/75-15 rear. Spindles and springs front, flipped in the rear.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

No sir, they're stock 6 inch wheels on all four corners. Powdercoated white with a set of five dollar swap meet hubcaps. 215/75-15 front, 235/75-15 rear. Spindles and springs front, flipped in the rear.

Gotcha. I'm on the hunt for another pair. Might have to buy them new/aftermarket.

[Stoney]

Going to keep the Hillbilly Deluxe?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I don't know what I'll wind up doing with it. All I know is that I now have three pickups and that's one too many.

That's a good one....

Oh wait. I have 4 so that's not one too many. Whew, I was worried for a minute.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Stoney

Going to keep the Hillbilly Deluxe?

You can count on it. I've built this truck to be exactly what I want without any regard to resale or any sort of financial sense. I've wanted this truck for 20 years. If I ever sold it, I doubt I'd be able to replace it with as good of one in the future.

Originally Posted by SCOTI

That's a good one....

Oh wait. I have 4 so that's not one too many. Whew, I was worried for a minute.

I have three trucks, my little Honda daily driver, two trailers, my tractor and more motorcycles than I can think about. Plus Valerie's car. That's too many to keep on top of.

[rusty76]

You see if you were closer I'd take the '78 off your hands. It appears to be in better shape than my ole '76. I understand having one too many. At one time I had three squares. I had my '76 Silverado, '74 Cheyenne Super and '87 Silverado. I like the older round eye ones better. I hated the '87. I'm not an electronic nutt. So when the windows didn't work and other crap didn't work it was time to move on. I like simple. I don't do complex.

[Tx Firefighter]

I'm somewhat frustrated at the pace I'm making on this dually. I guess I'm saying that my patience is wearing a bit thin.

Here is where I stand now...

1) The fuel filler project is complete other than final hardware to bolt the neck to the bed side. I'm using a couple of various screws right now until my McMaster Carr order of stainless steel bad assedness arrives. I'm currently in day number 9 of it sitting at the UPS Atlanta hub. I contacted McMaster and their response was, "UPS is having a hard time making deliveries into Texas. We are aware of the issue. Please continue to follow the tracking number XXXXXXXXXXX for updates as they occur."

2) Front suspension is rebuilt with new ball joints and lots of cleaning and painting. I cut one coil from the springs to lower the front to match the lowered rear. I also installed new shock absorbers at that time. The control arm bushings were tight both upper and lower so I did not change them. I'm still mulling over the tie rod ends (and awaiting next payday to possibly replace). I have a buddy who does me top of the line alignments. When I call in a favor for an alignment, I try to only take him stuff that's 100 percent perfect.

The brake rotors are good and bearings are good. I'm rebuilding the calipers rather than exchange for rebuilt ones because the rebuild kits are a couple of dollars and swapping them out for rebuilt ones is particularly expensive. These aren't the 14 dollar parts store ones like half ton trucks use. More like 40 dollars each. I have new brake hoses to install at that time also.

Currently waiting on banjo bolts, banjo bolt crush washers, and wheel bearing dust caps. Both of my caps are haggard so I ordered new ones. They are particularly hard to find. O Reilly cannot get them, Autozone is back ordered on them. No deal at Summit. I had to order from Rockauto.

Once my Rockauto and McMaster Carr orders make their way here, it should be short work to finish up and bolt the Alcoas onto the front and set the truck on the ground. At that time, I'll bust down the old front wheels and tires that I took off, powdercoat the wheels, install new tires, and bolt them and the last two Alcoas onto the truck to have a full set of new wheels and tires on the ground, and to be able to see the new lowered stance.

I'm not sitting around watching TV here, my hands are just tied until holiday rush at the various shipping companies clears out and my parts arrive here.

[Palf70Step]

Holiday does tend to interfere/cut into that truck time.

Your are making way more progress than I am. But like you I am gathering stuff.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I'm somewhat frustrated at the pace I'm making on this dually. I guess I'm saying that my patience is wearing a bit thin.

Here is where I stand now...

1) The fuel filler project is complete other than final hardware to bolt the neck to the bed side. I'm using a couple of various screws right now until my McMaster Carr order of stainless steel bad assedness arrives. I'm currently in day number 9 of it sitting at the UPS Atlanta hub. I contacted McMaster and their response was, "UPS is having a hard time making deliveries into Texas. We are aware of the issue. Please continue to follow the tracking number XXXXXXXXXXX for updates as they occur."

2) Front suspension is rebuilt with new ball joints and lots of cleaning and painting. I cut one coil from the springs to lower the front to match the lowered rear. I also installed new shock absorbers at that time. The control arm bushings were tight both upper and lower so I did not change them. I'm still mulling over the tie rod ends (and awaiting next payday to possibly replace). I have a buddy who does me top of the line alignments. When I call in a favor for an alignment, I try to only take him stuff that's 100 percent perfect.

The brake rotors are good and bearings are good. I'm rebuilding the calipers rather than exchange for rebuilt ones because the rebuild kits are a couple of dollars and swapping them out for rebuilt ones is particularly expensive. These aren't the 14 dollar parts store ones like half ton trucks use. More like 40 dollars each. I have new brake hoses to install at that time also.

Currently waiting on banjo bolts, banjo bolt crush washers, and wheel bearing dust caps. Both of my caps are haggard so I ordered new ones. They are particularly hard to find. O Reilly cannot get them, Autozone is back ordered on them. No deal at Summit. I had to order from Rockauto.

Once my Rockauto and McMaster Carr orders make their way here, it should be short work to finish up and bolt the Alcoas onto the front and set the truck on the ground. At that time, I'll bust down the old front wheels and tires that I took off, powdercoat the wheels, install new tires, and bolt them and the last two Alcoas onto the truck to have a full set of new wheels and tires on the ground, and to be able to see the new lowered stance.

I'm not sitting around watching TV here, my hands are just tied until holiday rush at the various shipping companies clears out and my parts arrive here.

Brother.... I hear ya. I ordered the steel parts to build my Panhard bar BEFORE the ice storm hit. The lady suggested it might take an extra day or so because of the holiday shipping flood. Then the ice storm hit so everything sat idle & I've been waiting since.

I just picked it up yesterday.

[jhama78]

What size bolts are you waiting on from McMaster? Ive got a pile of SS button heads in 5/16" flavor that I could drop in an envelope and send ya. Ive got 1/2", 3/4" and 1" long with nylocks. Let me know if you want me to send ya a handfull.

[Low Elco]

Good to see ya makin' progress. It's gonna be really nice when it's done. You gonna clean up the paint any?

[Tx Firefighter]

Ten days, I finally see some progress on the McMaster Carr order. I should have it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Good to see ya makin' progress. It's gonna be really nice when it's done. You gonna clean up the paint any?

I'm gonna have to do something to it. There was an underhood fire at some time in the past which scalded the paint off of the hood. I've been kind of talking to another member on here who is somewhat interested in buying my 78 stepside. If he decides he's not interested, I might pull the round eye front clip off the 78, straighten it up some, and swap it onto this truck. In my parts stash, I have all new upper and lower moldings for a 73-80 truck. That would all work out pretty slick.

I should have an update today later. I'm headed home from work now and hope to at least get the rotors, bearings, and calipers done up today. Then it will just be a matter of brake hoses, banjo bolts, and grease dust caps.

[Sodell]

That storm backed up everything.

[83GMCK2500]

Excellent! I am happy to hear that you will be able to plug away at things as you would like.

[Tx Firefighter]

I've been casually poking away at rebuilding the calipers today.



Rockauto rebuild kits. Just a few dollars each.



The bores of the calipers had a lot of crunchy junk down inside of them.





Pistons were pretty skunky too.



I soda blasted the pistons and then polished the outer surfaces on my buffing wheel with rouge.

[Low Elco]

Are they as easy to rebuild as it seems? Barring complications, obviously?

[aggie91]

Those pistons cleaned up nice.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Are they as easy to rebuild as it seems? Barring complications, obviously?

Extremely easy. Once you have a clean caliper and a clean piston, it takes maybe two minutes to do one.

There are exactly two parts in the rebuild kit. The sealing ring and the dust boot.



You install the sealing ring into its groove down inside the bore, then the dust boot into its groove. Then lube the piston and bore with clean brake fluid and install the piston into place. The only part that takes any deftness is stretching the dust boot over the piston. You have to push down on the piston and use a hook type of tool to run around the piston to lift the boot over the piston edge. Easier to do than to try and explain.

Originally Posted by aggie91

Those pistons cleaned up nice.

Thank you Karl. One step at a time and hopefully I'll someday be finished.

[rusty76]

So do most calipers rebuild the same? Like say on a 1/2 ton will it be rebuilt the same way? It looks fairly easy. Those cleaned up nice.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by rusty76

So do most calipers rebuild the same? Like say on a 1/2 ton will it be rebuilt the same way? It looks fairly easy. Those cleaned up nice.

Exactly the same except being proportionately smaller.

[Alan's Classic]

Signing up for some great info and great workmanship.

[Tx Firefighter]

More baby steps fellas. After two full weeks, my order of stainless steel hardware finally arrived. The fuel filler project is now fully complete. These pictures are for those guys who politely told me I was being cheesy for using pop rivets. You were right. It cost more and took a long wait to get the stuff, but this is the more sanitary route. Point taken and constructive criticism is always welcomed. I sometimes lose sight of the big picture.







Reminder of what I started with...




In retrospect, I wish I'd have made another pass with the welder and ground it smooth to make the seam between the bed side and the added section below it more seamless. It very strong and welded thoroughly as is right now. But, the bed side channel had a significant rounded edge so when I welded the extension to the bottom of it, there was a good sized channel that the weld laid down in which is less than flush and smooth. I'm not gonna go back and mess with it though. It doesn't really bother me, it's just something I could have done better.

Am I wearing you guys out with this glacial pace I'm working at ?

I try to never be the guy who says "it will do for now" or "I'll tidy it up later". I try to start a project and complete it in its entirety then move onto something else. Nothing to finish up later. When I run out of projects, I'm done.

Next is finishing up the front suspension.

To recap, I have done the following....

New upper and lower ball joints
Cleaned and painted lots of stuff
New front shock absorbers
New front brake hoses
Rebuilt front calipers

I am still waiting on a bulk order of crush washers for the brake hoses and new wheel bearing grease caps.

But, everything is clean and redone, just awaiting re installation of the rotors, calipers and pads, and brake hoses. I'm still not totally happy with the steering linkage. If I can squeak some money out of the budget next payday, I'm gonna go ahead and do new tie rod ends and adjuster sleeves. Then I'll install new wheels and tires and it will be ready for alignment.

It looks like I'm gonna get about half a day or more of truck time on Wednesday to make some more progress. I've got to go to work tomorrow and then I'm gonna hold over for a few hours Wednesday morning so one of my C shift buddies can get a few hours with his kids before coming to work on Wednesday. After that I hope to get some stuff done. At least until Valerie gets home and I have to come inside and do that holiday crap. I told her the one thing I wanted most for Christmas was some truck time. After 40 years of being drug all over hell on Christmas Day, I wanted one time to do what I wanted. She's cool with that and is off to see her mother for a half day.

[Jonboy]

Kevin, are you visiting the in-laws for Christmas? I have a Jeep steering shaft here at the house. It's a little crusty, but you are welcome to it for your truck.