I got the old axle housing and spring perches completely out
And got all the brake parts switched over to the new old axle housing
new rear end was put in, and bolted down along with new shocks in the rear (I'll have to snap a picture tomorrow... apparently i didn't take a picture.)
With the rear end in, I moved on to another project... the cab corners.
I wish I had taken a before picture...
The corners looked pretty decent other than one or two rust hols about the size of a quarter or half dollar... I took a wire wheel to it, and took off about 2/5 of an inch of Bondo... and got down to the bare metal... looked like swiss cheese!!!!
Got the bad metal cut out.... solid metal surrounding the area thankfully.
Cut down and fitted the reproduction cab corner
Tack welded the corner into place
Cab corner number two is nearly finished. Just needs a few spots filled in and a few spot welds along the sides made.
Here it is when I got the truck... didn't look too bad other than a small hole or two and a bad patch job.
Took a wire wheel to it... now THAT is one bad corner... previous owner riveted/screwed (yes... both) some real thin and malleable sheet metal to put bondo over.
Cut out all the bad and got a replacement cut and fit... held on by some welding clamps
Here it is all welded (well... mostly welded) into place
A week or so ago (sheesh... probably closer to three weeks now) we had a warmer day so I slapped on a thick layer of bondo over the cab corners I worked on. Yes, the cat is my helper and does a great job.
Got that sanded down last night... still needs a little more bondo to even one spot out, and a little more sanding to get it all smooth with the rest of the cab
Since the bed I'm putting on is CLOSE, but not the exact one that was on my truck when it rolled out of the factory, I have to re-position some things, change the height of cross sills, move the angle strips... and to move those, I had to remove the old (much easier said than done). All the little squares in the following picture are where it was spot welded to the bedside... later I ground those down.
Today, I started mocking up the bed, to make sure everything was going to work
Put a fender and running board on
Cut the wood down to the proper length, drilled holes for the bolts in the strips, layed them in the bed
Now to sand the wood, stain it, blast the bed sides down, fix up both rear fenders (major task), and then re-assemble and put it on the truck until ready for paint! I got the bug again after today and can't wait to keep the motivation rollin! But... you are all caught up now with whats been done since I bought the truck on 6/23/13
