Well I'm finally satisfied with the progress im making so its time I started a build thread! Il start with some history+specs on it, I bought the truck in 2009, got a great deal. Sold my 98 Jeep TJ for it (too small for my trips). The truck had 160km on it (= 100mi) and was in good shape mechanically. Basic rundown:

4x4, with skid plate package
318 v8 with tow package
5 speed nv3500 tranny
9.25 LSD rear end
SLT package, all options expect power windows+locks. (reminds me of 60's mopars, order anything you want to or dont want to!)

The clearcoat however was starting to go, and there was a nasty dent in the right rear box from the PO jacknifing a trailer into it. Ontop of that the throwout bearing in the tranny was making a fair bit of noise. Around the same time i messed up my leg pretty good and couldnt drive the truck for the first few months i had it.

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Being stuck around the house I did the best i could on one leg to pull out the dent in the box. This is what resulted:

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2010 rolled around by the time by the time I was able to drive it, my first major expense was reaplaceing the rusted out exhaust system with a 2.5" piping dual system, flowmaster 40 muffler, no cat and o2 simulators. It sounds awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN8gxWHVZjA

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Over summer 2010 didnt do much with the truck, I replaced the clutch and throwout bearing assembly in the fall ( no pics ). Also in the fall i added 4 clarion speakers, and a self powered bazooka tube to my alpine deck. Its a great sounding lowbudget system. I wired the bazooka under the center console and it sits behind the drivers seat.

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And then, the work ended, I was too busy to get anything done and being the kind of person who likes to get everything all done at once, I started saving up. In the meantime the truck was being used like any truck should!

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Then, summer 2011 came up! I had afew purchases and ideas planned. Wheels and tires were soon to be bought, so a body lift was in order:

I did the box first:


Then the cab:
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Finished product!:
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The wheels and tires should be in by late this week. thinking of all the effort, time and money I am putting into this, i thought my underbody needed some attention. It isnt bad but it wont match the rest of the truck when its done. Heres some visable rust:

Inside of bumper:
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Rear frame:
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I noticed the welds didnt seem to be cleaned very well from the factory, they then scabed off after paint was applied and rust started right away. Also, my reciever hitch, skidplates and diffs were pretty rusty too.

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So, yesterday after work a case of beer in exchange for some sandblasting and priming resulted in this! :

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Just a light dust coat of primer to stop the rust for a week until I remove the bed and hit the underbody with por15!

Quick weld to stitch together the hole in the box:

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Over the next week i will start sanding down the body, hopefully have paint on it in 2-3weeks.

 

really nice work on the truck! wish i had the tools to do a lot of this. I have a dent in the side of my bed just like yours, but it is located in the front left corner of box from when i bought it. I was planning on doing a 3 inch body lift. How hard was it to do? and if you could have would you have gone with a suspension lift instead?

 

Its really not hard at all, can get alittle frustrating if you have a rounded nut or coroded threads. As for the body lift vs suspension lift, had my finances allowed it, I would have went with neither. I would do an SAS with coils and dana 60s and get it onto 35x12.5s. Then throw a 4bt/nv4500 in there. would be one hell of a 4x4 truck that got low-mid 20's mpg wise.

Thanks alot for your interest

 

i thought about the 4bt option. i was going to do it with my buddy, but i just dont have the experience nor time. though body lift im still interested in because of the fact that i dont have $800.00 to spend vs the $250.00 for a simple 3 inch lift.

 

After I finish writing this I will head out and finish up afew small pieces I missed and put the truck back together so it can make me money for the next week!

This part of the build took a long time and was a nasty process. I started on thursday night by dissasembling everything, putting the truck on jackstands and then laying under the truck with a pressure washer and degreaser. Not something I was looking forward too. Took a long time but well worth it.

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Then, friday morning I basically hit everything with a wire wheel or 80 grit. If it had the dust coat of primer on it, i went through it. If it had surface rust, i took it off. ntil there was no more surface rust coming off

(same thing done for the front suspension and also under the truck (framerails, crossmembers, bracketry) :
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Then, friday night I was able everything back of the box:
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Then on saturday the front was painted!:
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I will add afew more pics soon, wheels and tires *should* be here this week now....thanks to shipping delays. Il have bit of a suprise for both, I changed what I was originally going to go with.

 

looking great bud, just need some tires haha and gap guards, which i do as well haha

 

Thanks blaze, what did you use to get the extra 2.5" lift?

Wow, now that.... was a long weekend. 20 hours a piece for my dad and myself to prep it all and paint it over 3 days. Not mentionion all the little things that were accomplished as well. It turned out great, I'd recomend this por15 to anyone.

My truck was not a rust box by any means, i was in very good shape. I just wanted the inside to match all the work Im putting into the outside.

All I have left now is the sanding and bodywork before a friend from work sprays it for me. Easy work

Pics!

Por 15'd the inside of the front bumper:
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Gas tank skid reinstalled:
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Front diff and transfer case skid reinstalled:
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Rancho rs9000xl shocks (9 position adjustable, abit overkill haha but I had an amazin deal)
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Shot from the rear, superclean! :
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As it sits now:
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Took it for a little test drive afterwords, ran the shocks on a 3 setting and was just about right. Ran them on a 9 haha and I swore I was driving a lumber truck.

All thats left on the checklist:
wheels - this week
tires - this week
sanding, bodywork - partially this week
paint - roughly 2 weeks

and...

a rear bumper, mine was rusted through, im debating building one or buying from a wrecker. anybody have any ideas or have a custom rear themselves?

 

got my torsion bars cranked between 2-2.5 and 2" rear blocks. so technically 5.5 front and 5 inch rear lift with 305s i can fit 315s but refuse to go that big because of tire prices lol

 

How does it ride with the t bars cranked that much? You gotta clean those frame rails up por15 em like mine!

I have 285,75s coming. Stoked.