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Ugly truckling build
- Thread starter RivMan
- Start date
No wasted time today!
Engine, trans, and transfer case are installed! Minus one exhaust pipe, everything is pretty much all hooked up. I need to tweak one of the downpipes to seal better at the donut gasket. All fluids are topped off, and no leaks so far!
Front and rear driveshafts are installed, and greased.
The frame is nearly ready to drop the body back on it. I’m having trouble deciding what to do now though. I want to weld up holes in the floor of the body (seat mounting holes) and clean / paint the underside of it. I can see that project taking a few days of hard work, pushing back my finish date by quite a bit (took this week off work to hopefully finish the truck). If I tackle the body fix, it’ll take the rest of my week, and I probably won’t have this thing back on the road for another month.
I guess I’ll decide tomorrow morning what the plan is!
-Rob
Engine, trans, and transfer case are installed! Minus one exhaust pipe, everything is pretty much all hooked up. I need to tweak one of the downpipes to seal better at the donut gasket. All fluids are topped off, and no leaks so far!
Front and rear driveshafts are installed, and greased.
The frame is nearly ready to drop the body back on it. I’m having trouble deciding what to do now though. I want to weld up holes in the floor of the body (seat mounting holes) and clean / paint the underside of it. I can see that project taking a few days of hard work, pushing back my finish date by quite a bit (took this week off work to hopefully finish the truck). If I tackle the body fix, it’ll take the rest of my week, and I probably won’t have this thing back on the road for another month.
I guess I’ll decide tomorrow morning what the plan is!
-Rob
Deciding how far to go is difficult sometimes.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Slow progress today.
Spent most of today checking and rechecking every bolt, hose, and wire on the chassis. I had left a lot of bolts loose for mock-up, and got everything torqued down today. I hooked a battery up to the fuel pump, and ran it for a while pressurizing the system, no leaks.
I also spent a lot of time redoing the exhaust. I wasn’t happy with the clamps I had on there, and the tailpipes were short since I went from 52” to 57” springs. I ended up removing both exhaust pipes, welding all of the seams, and extending the tailpipes out 6”. I also picked up new donut gaskets, studs and springs for both sides.
Mounted the front bumper.
And decided I’m not going to do all the floor work I want to. I started cleaning the greasy mud off the body from a leaking pinion seal before I owned it. I think I scraped about 30lbs of stuff off so far.
The chassis is ready for the body, and I’ll probably mate them together tomorrow evening!
-Rob
Spent most of today checking and rechecking every bolt, hose, and wire on the chassis. I had left a lot of bolts loose for mock-up, and got everything torqued down today. I hooked a battery up to the fuel pump, and ran it for a while pressurizing the system, no leaks.
I also spent a lot of time redoing the exhaust. I wasn’t happy with the clamps I had on there, and the tailpipes were short since I went from 52” to 57” springs. I ended up removing both exhaust pipes, welding all of the seams, and extending the tailpipes out 6”. I also picked up new donut gaskets, studs and springs for both sides.
Mounted the front bumper.
And decided I’m not going to do all the floor work I want to. I started cleaning the greasy mud off the body from a leaking pinion seal before I owned it. I think I scraped about 30lbs of stuff off so far.
The chassis is ready for the body, and I’ll probably mate them together tomorrow evening!
-Rob
Lots of work today, but I’ll start with the money shot!
Body and frame are one! Dropped on the frame with no issue or surprises. Ride height with the new rear springs looks a little high, but should settle right where I want it!
Body mounts torqued, brake lines hooked up, engine wiring all hooked up.
Before I dropped the body down, I spent a few hours cleaning it up.
After I got the body on the frame, I discovered the shift lever collar cracked. I’m not sure how I did that, but it must have happened during disassembly.
Anyone replace this before? Is the collar the same for a TH350 vs 700R4 / Tilt vs Non-Tilt Steering?
Thanks!
-Rob
Body and frame are one! Dropped on the frame with no issue or surprises. Ride height with the new rear springs looks a little high, but should settle right where I want it!
Body mounts torqued, brake lines hooked up, engine wiring all hooked up.
Before I dropped the body down, I spent a few hours cleaning it up.
After I got the body on the frame, I discovered the shift lever collar cracked. I’m not sure how I did that, but it must have happened during disassembly.
Anyone replace this before? Is the collar the same for a TH350 vs 700R4 / Tilt vs Non-Tilt Steering?
Thanks!
-Rob
Making good progress on final assembly.
Engine is all hooked up, and fired right up on the first turn of the key!
Core support, radiator and fenders are on, and mostly all hooked up. Probably one more evening of hooking things up, and a few hours to bleed the brakes, and I should be ready to test drive it!
-Rob
Engine is all hooked up, and fired right up on the first turn of the key!
Core support, radiator and fenders are on, and mostly all hooked up. Probably one more evening of hooking things up, and a few hours to bleed the brakes, and I should be ready to test drive it!
-Rob
Alan2smiley
I'm in the shop
looking good Rob.
May I ask how you are going about deleting the rear ABS, or are you keeping it? I am needing to delete mine.
Great progress by the way!
Great progress by the way!
I did delete the RWAL system. I found that you can just ditch the solenoid block, and directly connect the rear brake line that hooked to it, into the output of the combo valve. The threads are the same, and I was able to just straighten the rear line to connect to it. I cut the bracket for to combo valve, and removed the mounting feature for the RWAL solenoids and computer. I also removed all of the wires in the harness for the RWAL system.
-Rob
-Rob
Slow going the last couple days.
The only real progress has been getting the passenger side inner fender installed, coolant expansion tank in, and battery tray / battery in.
These are Rock Auto CAPA certified inner fenders, and so far they seem like a great fit. All the bolt holes lined up, no issues.
-Rob
The only real progress has been getting the passenger side inner fender installed, coolant expansion tank in, and battery tray / battery in.
These are Rock Auto CAPA certified inner fenders, and so far they seem like a great fit. All the bolt holes lined up, no issues.
-Rob
That underbody is super clean on that thing!
Rock Auto inner fenders fit great huh? I might have to look them up.
Big thanks to Jesse for swinging by to help with the brakes and hood.
Hopefully I can button everything up in the next couple days, and road test this weekend!
The rock auto fenders seem pretty good on the one side, I haven't installed the passenger side yet. I also don't have the fenders squared up yet, so there may be some fitment issues once I do that. I'll post up when that's done!
-Rob
Hopefully I can button everything up in the next couple days, and road test this weekend!
The rock auto fenders seem pretty good on the one side, I haven't installed the passenger side yet. I also don't have the fenders squared up yet, so there may be some fitment issues once I do that. I'll post up when that's done!
-Rob
Been putting some miles on the truck! Up to about 30 so far!
Found a pinhole leak in the metal heater line coming out of the intake. Replaced that with a brass fitting and new heater hoses.
Still have some leaks in the brake lines from the master to the combo valve. Working on getting those sealed up.
Also ran into some low speed driveline vibrations. My rear pinion angle is up 10 degrees, and the transfer case is down 4 degrees. I need to pickup a 6 degree shim and point the pinion down a bit.
Other than that, things seem good! New springs ride really nice, stance is dead on, steering is solid, etc!
-Rob
Found a pinhole leak in the metal heater line coming out of the intake. Replaced that with a brass fitting and new heater hoses.
Still have some leaks in the brake lines from the master to the combo valve. Working on getting those sealed up.
Also ran into some low speed driveline vibrations. My rear pinion angle is up 10 degrees, and the transfer case is down 4 degrees. I need to pickup a 6 degree shim and point the pinion down a bit.
Other than that, things seem good! New springs ride really nice, stance is dead on, steering is solid, etc!
-Rob
Don't get brake fluid on the powder coat! 
Also how much slip yoke engagement do you have? That one pic looked like it was barely in the tcase?
Also how much slip yoke engagement do you have? That one pic looked like it was barely in the tcase?
Not a whole lot of engagement on the slip yoke. I'll be measuring it once I get the new wedges, but I may have to extend the driveshaft a little. I'm only running ~3" of lift though, so I don't see why the driveshaft would be short.
-Rob
-Rob
At full bump if there is some engagement you are fine. It will slip in on droop and slip out on bump do to the flip..
Yeah it wont move much. My rear slip moves about 1/2" through 11.5" of rear spring travel. The front however is like 5 inches....
Good to know!
Ordered up a pair of 6 degree shims from Kert. Should be here by the weekend.
Stopped by a local cruse night tonight. Got a few doubletakes and some good comments on how clean the undercarriage turned out.
-Rob
Ordered up a pair of 6 degree shims from Kert. Should be here by the weekend.
Stopped by a local cruse night tonight. Got a few doubletakes and some good comments on how clean the undercarriage turned out.
-Rob
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