Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

I have been around these forums for a while, cruising around and checking out the many killer builds on here but this will be the first full build that I will be posting for everyone to check out. I have had a bunch of C10s in the last few years, both stock and modified. A few of my favorites were this 72 C10 in original paint that had a full CPP suspension,
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and my last build was this 74 C10 that got a nice drop and some Coys wheels.
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After those builds I finally found a rock solid 71 and decided I would go all out on it. I love the color, Gumby green.
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My truck is all original paint which was a must on my wish list. Also its a 3 on the tree V8 truck with a fresh 350 in it. It was all stock, another on my wish list and it was almost totally rust free. The truck came out of AZ and aside from the rocker rust, there is no other rust anywhere on the truck, and that sold me on it! The interior has been redone in 80's tweed at some point in the past but thats getting changed. Here are some photos of it as it sat when I got it.
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The plan as of now is to get the suspension and wheels/tire situation sorted out and then redo the inside, and then buff the original paint back to a great shine, in time to make the Goodguys show at Del Mar in April. Follow along, this should be a cool build!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Nice start you got there! Im in, keep the pics coming.

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Thanks, lots more photos coming. I have been rounding up parts for a while and getting ready for phase one, dropping the truck. Here are some more photos of it.
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Looking forward to getting that rear bumper off!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Looks good...can't wait to see more!!!
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Just finished rounding up all my parts and getting ready to get this project started in a major way! Here is what's going on the truck.
ECE 4/6 drop but I added 3 inch coils up front for a 5.5 front and a 1 inch block out back for a 7 so call it a 5.5/7 drop :lol:

CPP tubular upper and lower control arms
CPP bolt in C notches
ECE super track bar kit
Factory disc brakes, new calipers/lines etc
CPP power booster kit
15x8 and 15x10 Torque thrust D spokes
Some other odds and ends too. Pics of the install are coming soon.

I also plan to ditch the rear bumper in place of a new chrome one.

This truck will be slammed but retain a nice ride.

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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

love the color, subscribed......
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Ok, fine, ya sold me. I like the first 2! This one's gotta be good!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Love the plan for this truck!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Wow nice pile of parts you have there! Cant wait to see it come together!!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Love it already. Those wheels NEVER get old.

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Keith, I totally dig your Red truck and that helped me pick my parts and tire sizes. Thanks for all the looks guys, This will be a killer build, and yeh torque Thrust D's never get old! I just placed a gigantic order for all the interior stuff I need, so next week is going to be really busy, but right now I have to focus on suspension. Thats coming soon! Thanks for following guys.
My inspiration:
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Well a lot on the truck has changed over the weekend but before I post all those photos up, here are some shots of the interior and exterior as it was, all stock.
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That carpet is classic, and how about the foam rimmed steering wheel that looks like its from the Pole position arcade game? Those are going bye bye.

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Some more photos of Gumby.

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Had a visit from my buddy Russ in my old 55

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So ready to pull these mirrors off for good!

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So happy with how nice the bed is!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

I am along for the ride ! Sweet Truck !

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Thanks guys! Like I said, it was a long weekend, but here we go! Over the last week I have been taking care of things around here, and since I am in a hurry to get this truck back on the road (it is my daily driver) and I did not see any step by step lowering pictorials on the site, I decided to take it up to my friends at Teds Rod Shop in Riverside to do the install. I figured that way, I could photo document the job step by step, and others on here can use it as a guide to lowering their trucks. Kill 2 birds kind of deal. Driving the truck in stock form was fun for a while, but you never get used to the tippy nature of the truck and its hardly sporty... An altitude change would fix all that for sure.

I have lowered a bunch of trucks in the past but never spent the time to take step by step photos that others could use as a guide so I called Teds Rod Shop and thankfully they had time. If the name sounds familiar then you may have seen them in action on the Speed channel show, Chop Cut Rebuild. Teds built a Killer 40 Merc hot rod on that show a few years back and have been turning out killer Rods and Kustoms there for years! I used to work right next door to them years ago and always admired the cars coming out of there. Eric is the owner and he agreed to let me shoot the whole install while they kicked ass on Gumby. I loaded up Gumby and got to Teds right when they opened with all my boxes and my camera. Here is a step by step for all the newbies out there contemplating lowering your truck. Teds also does one day in and out lowering service as well if you don't want to do this yourself. Arrive at 10, drive out at 6. Doesn't get easier than that! Here is their 40 merc from the TV show just so you can see the kind of cars they turn out. Impressive!
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Looks like a good start. I like all the previous builds too.

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

And here we go... I arrived at Teds Rod Shop at 10am with gumby loaded down with all the parts. I let Eric, Jorge and Angelina take over from there. First we laid the parts out on the floor to get an idea of what was getting installed today. From the back to the front, CPP C Notches, ECE 6 inch lowering springs, DJM 1 inch lowering blocks, KYB gas shocks, ECE shock relocation kit, ECE super track bar and of course, getting rid of that horrible bumper! I had planned to run the TA performance rear diff cover but I had the wrong one, for 73 and up trucks, so we left that off. First here are some photos of the stock underside and the parts.
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Alot of members can learn from following this build.
Top notch all the way.

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Thanks Keith, thats is my hope. I am resizing all the photos right now, and I will post them up soon. Stay tuned!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

If you still plan to run a T/A rearend cover,... you may have to get a different track bar.
I think the ECE Super Track Bar will hit it.
The CPP "crooked" track bar would probably work.

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

I think at this point im going to just keep the stock cover on there. In the future I will upgrade to the CPP bent bar for sure, but right now, I plan to keep it as is. For sure, the ECE bar sits really close to the cover so if you plan to run a TA cover, it won't fit with that bar.

Here is a shot of the front upgrades. I went with CPP Tubular upper and lower control arms. These are great for many reasons, but the main one for me was due to the extreme static drop I am going for, these give you extra ground clearance over the stock, thick A arms. They also give you some castor back to get rid of the massive camber you get when going this low. I went with a CPP 3 inch drop spring and ECE 2.5 drop spindles. I bought all new tie rod ends drag link and idler arm. Best to replace this stuff now and have nice responsive and safe steering guys! When we pulled the front brakes apart it was clear that my stock stuff was shot so I popped for new brake rotors, calipers, pads and brake lines too. Luckily Teds had all this stuff in stock so I figured, go for it! Again, better to be safe now.
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The first order of business for me was to drain the rear end, and inspect it for any damage. Since my truck is a 117K mile original truck I wanted to make sure that everything inside there looked good and we got the old fluid out. Everything looked great so we sealed it back up and topped it with fresh fluid. I think this is mandatory for anyone working on one of these trucks. Its a quick easy way to prevent issues down the road.
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Now the fun stuff starts! Jorge jumped in and started to get the rear suspension taken apart. First you need to undo the springs from the trailing arms. There are 2 bolts that hold the spring retaining cups to the frame and arms. Jorge loosened the bottom bolts first to take tension off the springs.
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Keep'm comin' brother.....

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Moving along! Cant wait to see more pics!

Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Hey guys, thanks for hanging in there. I have found a much better image re-sizer for all my photos so updates should come up quicker now. Each image is like 9700megs so they are huge! Too big for this site but the clarity is awesome and that was the goal. So here we go.
Next step was to undo the the bottom spring mount on the other side. Jorge got that handled quickly too:
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Then he moved on and took out the upper spring mount
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From there you can pull the springs out. The reason for this is that it gives you access to the upper spring mount and allows the trailing arms to droop down. This will come in to play later on. Make sure you leave the shocks connected for now!
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Now you have full access to the frame area and spring mount. This is the area where the CPP bolt on C-notches will go.
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Re: Crushing Gumby 71 Shortbed Patina build
 

Now that you are at this point you need to get the factory rivets out of the upper spring mount There are 2 of them there. Jorge used a Plasma cutter to blow through the rivets first and then tapped out the remainder with a punch. Trust me, this is way faster than trying to drill them out. This is why a place like Teds Rod Shop is a great place to go. They have all the killer tools!
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Now you need to move a few inches back on the frame and get rid of the rubber snubber mount that acts as the bump stop. This bracket is U shaped with a lip on it. Jorge cuts off the lip around the mount to expose the 3 factory rivets inside of it.
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You can see the 3 rivets here that have to go. Again, Jorge busted out the Plasma cutter and got rid of those rivets too. Having good tools goes a long way on this type of work!
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