I hauled my cab home today from my friend's barn. I now have the cab, doors and hood in the garage. I'll start tearing into it soon, but at least it is back home where it belongs.

 

Let the fun begin.......

 

Let the fun begin.......

Where's the pic?

 

I ran out of bandwidth on my PhotoBucket account. It resets in a couple days, but I think I'm just going to upgrade it to unlimited so it doesn't happen anymore. I apparently have a crap ton of people reading my treads and looking at my photos each month.

 

You keep it interesting, are helpful and doing an awesome job on your build...Maybe that's why?? lol

 

true that gmack. I think u are one of the best thread makers here.. lol I loved the 22r thread u have. Keep up the good work

 

I got lucky with photobucket ..
they offered me unlimited bandwidth as a "special" offer of course i said yes


.

 

Ok ok ok, you nosey beotches caused me to have to upgrade my PhotoBucket account! As if this build isn't costing me enough, now I have to dish out $2.99/month to keep my photos live! LOL No really, it's a good feeling knowing that there are a lot of people following my progress and learning from my successes as well as my mistakes. Thanks for the support guys!

 

So I'm starting to get situated in the garage and sort through things that I can store and assess the body damage. As you all know by now, my work space is limited at home but I have access to tons of space for storage off site. I think what I am going to do for now is haul everything off to my cousin's garage except for the cab since I think I'm going to have a little more work to do than anticipated. Plus it will eventually be painted at his shop or right down the road from him so eventually everything will be headed that direction anyway.

So first things first, removed the glass. I double checked that the gaskets were readily available prior to cutting the old one out. It wasn't in bad shape, it is one of those things that I'd rather go new on. First surprise was a good one, NO RUST around the windshield! (Corey, I know you're jealous!) And yes, that is an UNCRACKED factory original dash:



The back sliding window came out easy and I didn't even tear up the gasket:


This is where the problems start. I know the floorboards are thin around the middle body mounts, but I'm not quite sure the extent yet. And if I recall correctly, I believe that the driver side middle body mount is pretty rotted out. I think I am going to end up replacing the floorboards from the seat mounts forward and from the rocker panels to the tunnel. The good news is that my rocker panels are damn near perfect! Right now, I am going to work on removing all the sound deadening material to see what I'm working with underneath. There is a ton of it, any suggestions on a quick and easy way to remove it?????????



I also removed the 30 year old factory headliner. I have a couple cool ideas for the replacement that will hopefully include a couple dome lights and maybe some overhead storage. Personally, I HATE visors (visors and tall people don't mix) so I doubt the final product will incorporate any visors. Literally, the ONLY thing I use my visors for is to hold sunglasses!



I need to do some cleanup inside and out before I move along. I couldn't break out the shopvac tonight because my son was asleep and his bedroom is directly above my garage. It's really not in bad shape, but it's got just enough problems that I can't over look them. I've also bought all the materials that I need to build a dolly/stand for it so I can scoot it around. I have come up with a pretty good idea that will make it realling easy to work on AND to mount back on the frame without damaging anything. Stay tuned for that one.

Again, suggestions on removing the sound deadener crap???

 

Good heat gun and scraper...

I used an old wood chisel and a hammer a few times...Not much fun.

 

Well I have all of those tools, so I guess it's just going to be some MORE grunt work

 

I wonder if paint stripper would break it down? Or maybe a grinder with a cup style wire wheel. It would have to be the braided style wire wheel tho to be abrasive enough. Either way good luck. You've got a nasty job ahead of u.

 

I tried that once.....Slung it EVERYWHERE..... It gets soft and sticks..

 

What I suggest for the sound deadner is to use dry ice, you let it sit on the sound deadening for a little while then you break it with a hammer! It's quick and acutally fun to do, much better than a hammer and chisel!

Edit here:

How did you lift the body to get it on the trailer? I tried to lift mine by the back and the front gently and I bent the area where my fenders bolt on the passenger side, the front seems very weak.

 

Hmmm.....didn't think about that. The dry ice method sounds promising.

 

Let's see... if you give me a hammer I will smash my thumb, if you give me a knife I will cut myself, if you give me a flame I will burn myself, if you give me dry ice I will.... you starting to see a trend here?! LOL What the heck, I may just try it! How does one go about getting dry ice anyway??

As far as moving the cab. I actually got it off the trailer by myself using a dolly that I made a while back. I just lifted up the rear of the cab and slid the dolly under it and picked the other end up by standing inside the engine bay. It really wasn't difficult at all. My custom dolly that I plan on making should make it even easier.

 

Thanks. For the dry ice, here I can get it from a welding supply shop (no idea why), or I suggest you go to an ice cream shop and ask where they get theirs or if they can sell you some.

 

At the place I work we get dry ice in bulk from the welding gas supplier in town. If you use a large quantity of it be sure to leave the garage door open. That's a lot of CO2 to put into the air.

I second the comments on the removal methods. Not sure if it's remotely the same stuff but on my 85 Mercedes heat gun and putty knife are the best. The wire wheel just basically melts it.

Absolutely awesome work BTW. Great inspiration to get started on mine.

Eric

 

Doing some organizing today with my little man. He thinks that he's going to drive my truck...

 

cool man ..
I remember those days (when my boy was a baby) .. in all seriousness , it goes really FAST , so take the time and spend it with him ........

back in the mid /90's , about 1997 goin' fishin in the "white knight"
my boy is 18 now and off to University




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