2001 3500-HD / 2002 3500-HD - NEW build with 2002 truck now .

[sweetk30]

Bolted side plates to truck frame . Slid in the tube and centered . Burned over 50% of it and let cool . Took it off the frame and finish welded it and now the paint is drying as the fan blows on it .

 

[sweetk30]

Got the hitch on the other day and forgot pics . . . Now to shorten the bed and remove the icc bar so the hitch can be used .

 

[sweetk30]

Took apart the drivers door and KILLED the yellow jackets nest . Then i pulled the door panel and diagnosed the inop window that went down but up was a PITA . . Front lower track had broken weld nuts so it was letting the window slide forward and bind . Then once that was fixed i found the arm for the front roller to glass track was twisted up around 30* from flat and pushing the glass nose down on the front side . I tweeked that back and now its all good and goes up/down like it should .

 

[sweetk30]

Bye bye 2ft hang over . . .

 

[sweetk30]

2ft of bed over hang .... GONE !

 

[sweetk30]

2ft of bed rail and icc bumper gone .

Tail set and ready for burn in .

 

[sweetk30]

Before and after shot . And now i can use the trailer hitch .

 

[sweetk30]

Well that didnt take long . . . First time ever pulling a trailer this afternoon and she did good .

 

[mrk5]

Looks like that should be easier to get around in now.

 

[sweetk30]

Wasnt bad before . But i like the 10ft better already . Just didnt need a 12ft bed . I only cut the bed frame work . The truck side frame was already the length it is .

 

[sweetk30]

fixed the bad exhaust manifold to down pipe gasket on pass side that was leaking . but to get the pipe to drop to let me get the old one out i had to drop the driver side and use a few ratchet straps to pull in 2 directions . since i had the driver side down i went and got a 2nd gasket and did both now and done with them . she is a little more quiet and less rich on slowing down now and yes i cleared the ecm stored data so the fuel trim maps would relearn faster .

i have the new muffler and hope to get the local custom exhaust shop to bend me up some pipes and install it for me this week .

 

[mrk5]

Wasnt bad before . But i like the 10ft better already . Just didnt need a 12ft bed . I only cut the bed frame work . The truck side frame was already the length it is .

Wow, it doesn't look 10ft. Would have guessed 8ft max.

 

[sweetk30]

Yaa . . Was 12ft head board to tail before . Now 10ft and much better .

Side note its a dam shame the screws are so rusted i cant get them out cause the deck boards are all RED OAK and still solid . . But the whole metal frame is SHOT to hell from rust .

Stopped by my buddys place today i got the truck from . He said its off the over-load springs now . . I noticed a tiny bit harder ride in the rear now also . . But that o.k. by me as its way more useful this way .

And the whole combo dont buck as much as my k30 did when pulling the same trailer .

 

[sweetk30]

@mrk5 zoom in on this pic and see my yellow marks for 9ft . . 9ft 6in . . 10ft . . Up to 12ft .

 

[sweetk30]

Called the muffler shop this morning at 8am . They said not a problem swing by at 9-9:30am we get you in . So today i should have a more normal quiet exhaust .

 

[sweetk30]

wow i can here now and had to turn down the radio a bit . soooo much better exhaust level of sound now .

 

[sweetk30]

Well the new bed showed up today . Now to pop 8 bolts and pull it and then set it on a trailer for storage until ready to swap over .

little bit of funny trivia about this whole setup . . . its the truck my 550gal sealer tank come off before i owned it

 

[sweetk30]

So the bed has parted ways with the FORD tonight and i already setup the flatbed tow OUT OF HERE for the ford back to were it come from !

 

[sweetk30]

Got my bed wires figured out tonight . Played with my LED lights in the dark .

 

[sweetk30]

Its there 1 min . . Then its gone . . . Oh there it is on the shop floor .

Had to pull the front to let me cut 2ft off the bed to make it 10ft length over the 12ft it is now .

Plan is to use most of the 2ft cut to make a metal headboard for the new bed . I will tapper in the sides to be closer to the cab lines over my current 96" wide x 4ft tall wind sail on my current bed .