Today I sold the bed off the Dakota. The guy is coming tomorrow afternoon to pick it up. Yesterday I sold the engine and trans. I still have the cab, one fender, both inner fenders, the radiator, and some other small parts.

The bed is ready to crane onto his trailer tomorrow.


This is what I have left.

 

The cab still looks to be in rather good shape..... But, that would also imply that's fairly normal where you are?? Around here, you could sell that in a heartbeat.

 

I bought the truck in Manteca, CA. It is rust free, and in very good shape. The floor on the bed is in amazing shape for it's age. Virtually no denting in the bed floor at all. The front wall took a cargo hit and got tweaked, but repairable. On the ad I placed for the engine and 5 speed manual trans, I got 564 clicks. I had 7 guys trying for it. Me thinks I could have gotten more, but never having seen either operate, I sleep with a clear conscious. I was fully up front that I bought it non-running. I guess the 5 speed non 4wd transmissions are sought after. I am just happy most of it is out of my shop!

 

Ah, California truck. That explains a lot.

 

Test fitting the frame boxing plates on the driver's side. Some grinding and notching going on. All in all they came out pretty close.

 

I just received the parallel four link rear suspension kit, and panhard bar kit. Everything is TIG welded, and really well! After running a metal fab shop for 22 years, and certifying 4 out 5 welders for aerospace welding, I can tell the supplier of the kits know their welding.

 

I got back from my trip back east, and I am done riding on airliners for a while. I removed the rack and pinion steering, and the sway bar, to get the rubber and seals replaced. I also need to wire wheel the frame clean underneath it. I am starting the tear down of the front suspension. The frame, ahead of where the boxing plates get welded, suspension arms, and r & p will all get painted with the chassis saver paint. The suspension is getting all new bushings, cv's, seals, springs, and shocks. I also started to make the motor mount adapter plates. After the first fitting, I will need to remake the driver's side plate. The material should be here tomorrow. Once the motor mounts are completed, I will mate the transmission and get the assembled drivetrain mounted to the cross member and get the pinion angle set. It's good to be home, and back in my happy place!

 

Air travel has become too much of a chore for me to enjoy it any more..... That, and I have real issues giving complete control of my life to some guy/gal I don't know from adam/eve..... Prolly been more than 10 years since I last flew commercial.....

Good to see some progress on this again. Getting close to where you were pre-fire.

 

I had to take a step backwards (likely to occur many more times...) with the frame boxing plates. After reading through the instructions for the four link suspension install, they recommend 3/16" material at least two inches in front and to the rear of the link bar attachment brackets. So, four of the six boxing plates I made need to be done using thicker material. Off to the metal supplier again. It's only 45 miles away, one way. I will also pick up some square tubing to do some bracing before boxing in the frame. At this point, my main focus is getting the front suspension and steering rebuilt, though. I have most of the parts coming, due to arrive next week. I haven't ordered the lower arm ball joints yet, as I am not sure if they are the thread in style, or press in. Once I get it apart I will be able to tell. I have a spring compressor tool, the type that fits on the interior of the spring, This type seems safer to me. Compressing the springs is the only scary part for me in doing the front suspension. I am watching a lot of Youtube vids so I can learn from other people's procedural hiccups. The upper bump stops are being a total pain as the rubber is rotted, and they just keep crumbling instead of threading out. We will see how that goes.

 

There is a first time for everything. Today was my first time disassembling a coil spring front suspension. With the right tools, it's not too bad. I did have to run out for a new pickle fork. Then I had to modify it to work as the ears were too long. The internal spring compressor worked like a charm. Avoided all the drama that comes with those pent up pieces of pending death. The opposite side went much quicker. Slowly getting closer to painting the front half of the chassis.