8 12 2007 update:
Day one of the chassis swap has finally arrived. I had the help of a friend and Tofer (from here) stopped by. Unfortuanetly his 81 22r carb is setup far different than any 22r I've ever seen, I couldnt help him to much get it running perfect. Need diagrams for that fusterfluck of vaccum lines! He was a big help as well tho getting this truck dismantled!
I decided since I'd need a cherry picker atleast for 2 days, if not 3... and the only place in town that loans them out is $30 a day...So I decided to just buy one $150 after tax from schucks... 2-ton things actually pretty damn nice. $20 rebate to mail in so all in all damn good deal and I know it will see many many many more engines =) My press has already paid for itself about 3 or 4 times over now!
Wheels chocked, ready to start the tear-down:
heh we drove the truck for some coffee and to pick up the cherry picker. Kinda funny feeling tearing a decent truck apart COMPLETELY, LOL. End of the day its hard to imagine you drove it that morning (see the pics below, you'll see what i mean LOL).
Ok so I drained all the fluids (except the differentials). So transmission, transfercase and engine all got emptied. Im putting synthetic back in the tran/tcase and my motor was timed so the fuel tank would be empty and it was time for its 3k oil change (planning for the win! lol).
Removed the rear driveline, disconnected the front at the front flange.. then pulled the transmission out:
Forgot the speedo cable so that made things frustrating till tofer found that and letting the tranny down it slipped on the jack head, I got a lil anxious and it slipped off right before the jack grounded so luck was on our side there no one got hurt and the transmission wasnt damaged. It was strapped to the head but the strap slipped.
Replaced shifter seat with new one.. or maybe its called a bushing, i forget, its the little plastic ring that fits in the gear shifter.. My OEM one was well worn and cracked in a few places, so I got a new one from marlin.. We'll see how big a difference it makes in a few days =)
Then I decided we'd get the bed off before taking out the engine
Man o man I wish I was flat bedding this baby now. ugh.... money, if only there was enough LOL not to mention putting my front axle under it!!! ..next August =)
Next came the engine:
Getting the engine out was really easy, I've only ever helped pull a V8 out of a fullsize Ford earlier this year so this was my second time getting a motor out and first time using a cherry picker (we had a shop and overhead hoist for the V8
) ... Went real smooth.. I already know every hose on 'my' motor so it wasnt hard disconnecting everything, or getting the transmission out or any of the other stuff I've already replaced or taken off and reinstalled a dozen times.
Then came the biggest headache of the day, getting the cab separated from the chassis!!!! ... So after contemplating a hundred different ideas on how to go about lifting the cab and supporting it and ROLLING the chassis out (pushed out behind the cab). we were able to muster about 5 guys that came over on a whim and helped lift the cab to roll out the chassis, threw some tall jackstands under the rear of it and finalized todays goals. =)
backing up, i got kinda lucky since the these heavy duty metal yellow jackstands with a huge 4x6 beam across fit perfect just barely above the front frame crossmember... so we lifted the front, slid the beam between the frame and body then lowered the torsion bars all the way down to make the front of body rest on the beams that then rested on the saw horses so we got the front supported off the frame pretty easily.... We then just lifted the cab up, rolled the chassis out and threw stands under it.
hehe, we set up a roadblock of wood, jacks and tires at the end of the driveway(slope) to keep it from going into the road... it worked. LOL Soon as the cab was lifted the chassis rolled out on its own.
Rolled it up on the other side of the driveway where tomorrow I'll begin dismantling it and reinstalling it on the new frame.
---------------
Ok I didnt get a good shot of the 'bent' frame but heres the best way to 'see' how screwed up it is. When the frame was separated from the cab every was astonished at how messed up it was an how much easier it was to tell with the cab off, hehe.. "I TOLD YOU I WASNT JOKING. IT REALLY IS BENT!"
Ill try and snap a shot from a higher angle to show the mass curve in the torsion bar and how not straight it is.
but even with that bad angle there you can tell the difference by comparing it to the other side (unbent)
The torsion bar isnt the bent part, the frame right where the torsion goes into the splines on the upper A-arm is pinched right there. It rolls inwards a bit to and the lower A arm mount is pushed in as well. Its one big pinch. The truck WAS hit on the back of that pass side tire. The fender and door have been replaced and now seeing the evidence on the frame its pretty obvious what happened.