With my new blaster, I figured it was time to clean up the rear frame.

 

Meanwhile the bed is done and ready for color. For it and a bunch of other parts to live outside, I sprayed them all in epoxy.

 

Rusty crusty brake lines. Better take care of those while the bed is off. Thankfully Dorman makes a fully pre-bent stainless kit.




I also noticed a spot on the frame that was holding some rot, so I cut that out and made a plate for it.

 

Time for a rebuild of the leaf springs. Bye bye old dry rotted bushings.













I also took the liberty of installing new leaf spacers, and coating the underside of each leaf with UHWM tape to reduce friction and hopefully both save the paint a little and make for a better ride.

 

Next up we're tackling the rear diff and shocks. Shocks are painted the same as the wheels, and the diff cover is bodycolor (Rocket Red Pearl from Tammy Miller). Granted, it was winter again so these got brushed on, which is very much not advised. They look find from a distance and they're under the truck, otherwise I wouldn't do it this way.

 

Next the exhaust tips are primed and painted in the accent color to match the wheels. 2k urethane automotive paint is supposed to be stable to around 500* so it SHOULD be fine for this application, but we shall see. Either way, I'm deleting all chrome from the truck so the tips had to go. I ran the truck a while and the IR gun never registered over 200 at the tips.

 

The factory skid plate snapped 2 bolts off in the frame a few years back when I removed it to replace gas tank straps, so it's been off the truck a while. Got those holes reamed out with a carbide and the brackets cleaned up so I can re-install it.

 

Meanwhile the rear driveshaft got a grind and paint job with fresh joints. Drums cleaned up as well.

 

Back to the bed as I didn't finish the underside work on the "new" one. I wire wheeled off what rust I could, and converted the rest before painting with rusty metal primer and topcoating.

 

Disaster! The wind came through and knocked the bed over, smashing up the bottom.