Got it....So, what was confusing was that vent hose. I thought it was supposed to attach to something, but it doesn't. It vents to atmosphere. And I thought it was supposed to be venting the differential through the differential housing, but that through hole in the brass block goes into a tapped hole in the axle, so it vents it out of the axle. Once you remove the vent hose, there is a 9/16" nut attached to the vent that goes through the block and secures it to the axle. Easy to see once out, but wasn't seeing it all together. And the main brake supply line doesn't come out of the distribution block (just as your picture shows).

 

So, at this point, the truck is disassembled as far as I think I can take it. Most every hose, line, cable, etc. is off. Front Clip off (left the radiator support to be blasted and painted), bed off, gas tank out, bumpers out, heat shields and grounds off the bottom. The only thing I left was the transmission Speedo cable, the hood latch cable and the E-Stop cable since those went into the cab. Going to tow it to the nearby sand blaster hopefully next week.

 

So the cab is still on the frame? I'm curious because at some point in the future I'd like to take the bed off my truck again and have the back half of the frame blasted. On my truck the front half of the frame has little rust thanks to being oil-soaked most of the time, but the rear half does have some rust. How will you (or the person doing the blasting) protect the cab?

 

Not sure but the plan is to paint the cab too so if there's some sand over spray shouldn't matter. But I'll probably have them lift the cab off at the shop. If they can't I'll just put some Jacks under my lift and take the cab off myself. I've been debating doing that anyway because I bought all new poly bushings. It shouldn't be hard to remove the cab right? Just bolts at the corners? Also I went by the shop that's going to blast today and they were throwing out 20k prices to paint or 10k for a Maaco quality job. I have no rust and all panels are straight so I'm rethinking whether I'm going to use them. I'm not looking for show car paint quality. Just a nice job. I can't see that costing 10k.

 

Wow, 10K? Its been a while since I priced a whole car paint job, but that definitely seems steep to me. When they say "Maaco quality" are they including the inside and out of the cab and engine bay, etc? If they're planning to prep every panel, inside and out, and do the frame, then it makes a bit more sense, at 10K anyway.

 

Nope Frame alone to blast and POR is $800. So that's above everything else. 10K is to do a basic prep, spray and 2 coat clear. Nothing on the inside. It would include the engine bay, but I suspect it would be like factory and an overspray style. I'm honestly not getting a warm fuzzy about them. I chose them because they're 2 miles from my house and they seemed to not have any bad reviews, but I've been there a few times now, and the same people aren't working and the owner is never there....some red flags, IMO.

Plus, their 'plan' was to sandblast the frame with cab on it and POR underneath the cab. Also blast with all the suspension on it...Not sure I like either of those ideas as it seems it will leave too many mating surfaces untreated. I'm almost considering dropping the suspension and just having a mobile glass bead service come in and strip, and I'll prep and POR it myself. Not sure of the price of that tho.

 

Have you thought about picking up a compressor and a media blaster and just doing the frame yourself?

Also, if you haven't already, check out tbugden's "victim build thread" and see what he did using electrolysis. I've since seen where people have built a shallow pool with timbers and a polyethylene liner to de-rust an entire frame! It only takes off the rust, not good metal.

 

I have a full garage with a 120 psi 80 gal compressor...I'll blast small stuff but I've seen what silicate lung disease does and have no desire to mess with alot of sand. Soda maybe. Just for the boards info the mobile glass bead guys would do my frame for 400. I ended up working out a good deal with the local restoration shop. They're going to blast the frame, the suspension, under the cab, firewall and radiator support...prime the firewall and support. Spray POR (not brush) the frame, suspension and under the cab. Also I have a split in the firewall so they're going to weld that up too. All for sub 1k so not too bad. Then the only thing left I'll have to pay someone for is paint. I know I could spend about half that for equipment and supplies and do it myself but in this case it wasn't a job I wanted to do.

 

And no...I hadn't seen that particular thread but I have watched YouTube videos on electrolysis rust removing. I'm a EE by trade so anything electric fascinates me. I have a vibratory tumbler I use for small stuff like bolts and brackets...but I might try the electrolysis just for fun

 

I understand regarding the silicate exposure, I don't like that stuff either.

The deal you worked out with the restoration shop sounds like a good one. They sound very reasonable. Please post the results with images, I'd love to see how it turns out.