So I was finally able to get my buddy over to do some welding on the bad spots of my frame. Welded in 2 pieces of 2x2 angle on the back to reinforce where the hitch mounts up as well as repair a hole under the rear leaf hangar. Patched and reinforced the are around the front hangars, and got the hole and crack in front of the driveway ersside parking brake bracket done. In the process right now of scuffing and repainting with por 15.





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Very Nice!

 

Paint is done. Got the last crossmember and the hitch mounted, fuel tank straps got painted, got the fuel tank mounted. Next up is new stainless fuel lines, new brake line, strip and paint rear leafs, rear differential, driveshaft etc. Here's a pic of where I'm at with it right now

 

Looking real good, that'll be a relief knowing you've put the brakes on that rust. What kind of fasteners are you planning to use to replace the rivets, and are you going to use any material between the spring leafs?

 

I used all zinc plated grade 8 bolts washers lock washers and nuts. Once they were tight I spot welded the nut to the bolt just in case. Once I'm done prepping the leaf springs I'm going to por 15 them then I'll be adding Teflon leafspring pad between each leaf with stock style insulators on the end of each spring as well as adding new clamps

 

I'm also waiting on my step dad to bring me some 5/16 and 3/16 stainless line that I'm going to use to make new fuel line. I'll also be mounting the fuel lines using rubber insulated clamps. Then it'll be on to the brake lines. Probably use stainless for those as well or I'll use plain steel and coat them with por 15 after they've been bent up

 

The copper/nickel brake line is easy to work with, and far less prone to corrosion than the steel line.

 

Ugh... this is all too familiar to me. Nice job.

But I got a '02 Silverado in my yard that is worse than my '93 Dakota was. Pathetic.

 

Yeah not entirely sure what I'm gonna do on brake lines yet, but I've got this sinking suspicion that I'm about to be doing a full restoration on this truck .I've gotta take the cab off the frame to do all the sheet metal work on the bottom side of it so with all that frame exposed I'm not gonna be able to resist making it rust proof.

 

Paint the bottom side of the cab with the black stuff too.