well i bought this 87 dakota 4x4 w/ a 3.9L for 400 bux. i did some bondo work and im getting ready to sand and paint it either a blue or a red. the bed was rusted above the fenders so i took it off and imbuilding a flatbedfor it. the cab is in good condition.. it has a little bit of rust on the rocker panels but ill fix that. heres some pix of what i did today. this is going to be a worklog so bare w/ me and ill get it dun asap.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...30-07_1603.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...30-07_1632.jpg

heres the old bed that came off of it.... it fits in my old ford purdy good

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...30-07_1631.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...30-07_1630.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...30-07_1629.jpg

and i started on a bumper last week and this is where im at so far

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...25-07_1714.jpg

im planning on makin my own shakle flip and adding 2in blocks in the back to give me some hight bc the bumpers a little low. i still have to put the top bar across the top of the bumper and finish welding it... i would have been dun w/ it but i ran out of wire in the welder

 

btw ill try to get better pix... these were w/ the camera phone, ill get some w/ the digital camera tomorrow

 

Looks like a fun project. What you going to do with the flatbed? Hauling anything? Lets us know when it gets done!

 

well i just want it to look better than if i had a beat up, and rusted out bed. all i ever haul is my four wheeler or my dirt bike.

 

looks good, cant wait to see pics when its done.

 

Well the flat bed will make the truck a perfect hauler for the atvs, and dirt bikes. Add some tie down shackles and there you go all set.

 

i was thinking of some eye bolts but yeah it'llwork great for the 4 wheelers and dirt bikes. im gonna try to get 1 of the sides dun today. i only have 1 piece of steel so im going to work w/ what ive got.

 

well i got 2 mounts bolted to the frame and i got 1 piece of the bed cut to length, im out of wire for my mig welder and im waiting on some more steel. i started my truck today and it sounded louder than normal so i popped the hood and saw that the passenger side exhaust that connects to the manifold was not even touching the manifold. i ended up pulling all the exhaust out to just manifolds. im going to work on it to make it dual exhaust into some glass packs or some flowmasters or something.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...31-07_1054.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...31-07_1055.jpg

i gotthe drivers side exhaust cut to where i can attach some pipe to it.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...31-07_1526.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...31-07_1527.jpg

i have more pix on the digital camera that ill post soon

 

well not any progress on the flatbed bc im waiting for more steel but i havent been sitting around, ive been sanding and primering. i got the drivers side fender dun and ive started on the hood so hopefully in a couple weeks ill have it dun and all in primer. heres a pic of the primered fender.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...05-08_1715.jpg

 

well got the steel so i finished the frame. i still have some welding to do but not 2 much left. gotta find some wood this weekend.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/100_0153.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/100_0154.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/100_0155.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/100_0156.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/100_0160.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/100_0162.jpg