Well, I finally had a day off to where I could get some stuff done in the shop. I also decided to really "open up" my F150 for the first time in a few months.

I must say, I'm pretty disappointed in myself. I've had this truck for 5-1/2 years now, and it looks like something you see in the junkyard. Green organisms growing all over it, black spots all over the hood and roof, branches and old bottles in the bed, and mildew all throughout the interior. I used to love this truck, but lately I've let it really fall apart. I managed to blow all the sticks and leaves off of her, and clean out the bed. But tackling the mildew and green organisms will have to wait until Thursday due to all of the rain we're having.

It started to rain pretty heavily after I finished cleaning out the bed, and so I ducked into the shop to clean it up. I stumbled across my front drive shaft, and immediately thought about Gary and his drive shaft saga. So I decided to pull mine apart to see what kind of trouble I was looking at. I was pleasantly surprised to see blue paint still on the splines, as well as what seems to be very little wear. The U-Joints were factory Dana/Spicer, so I imagine the drive-shaft has never been rebuilt before.

Hopefully Thursday I can get out and really get this old girl cleaned up. I only have a few things left to do on my Ranger before I can start buying piddly things for the F150 again.

I couldn't have asked for a more dreary backdrop to help demonstrate the shape the truck is currently in.











Drive-shaft splines:

 

Shaun, have you ever even driven your truck?

 

Yep! It used to be my yard truck. Used it to clean up leaves in the fall, trim branches in the spring, and I used to move it onto the carport every Hurricane season. But then the 300 popped a freeze plug, and so I parked it. That was back in early 2010 IIRC.

 

The glide coat on the stub looks pretty good still. That slip yoke has a grease zerk on it so be sure to use it. I would paint it down with some grease before I put it back together. Then grease the zerk after it's installed.

 

You lie! I'm with Matthew - that truck has never been driven. That driveshaft and stub look perfect. Trust me, I've seen worn shafts, and that's not one of them. Apparently the PO did a good job of keeping both the shaft as well as the joints well lubed.

 

Well, the Bronco this came from was pretty beat up. It looked like some kid owned the truck and beat on it, but not in 4x4. It was probably a well taken care of Bronco before the kid bought it.

Hopefully I get just as lucky when I find a rear driveshaft for my truck.

As for the truck actually moving under it's own power, I have videos.

 

But has it actually been driven down the road?

 

It only went around the neighborhood a few times after I would tune something. So that basically means it hasn't seen the open road in over 10 years!

 

More progress on my Super Cab.

 

Looks good David!

 

Well, here is what my truck looked like last year..
The paint was peeling off (literally)...


I started blasting with a hand sand blaster(not enough heat to warp panels)
It is quite similar to painting a two story house with a 1" paint brush...


This is the last pic I took.. It is now at the body shop and will be painted within the next 6 weeks max..probably sooner...
Anyway, I will take pictures(lots)when I get it back and as I'm putting all the trim and stuff back on....
..

 

Trav - That looks like an excellent job. Well done!

 

Trav, It looks like you are doing an awesome job. Just remember that the prep is 99% of the job. And the better job you do prepping, the better the paint job will look in the end. I am teaching myself to do mine as well, and feel like if I can do a pretty good job at the priming and some of the body work, then I might even be able to do the paint too.

 

Aired up 2 tires that were low, nothing else to do on it

 

Finally got the last piece of sheetmetal for my truck.
Hope to get it all patched and painted before it gets too cold up here.

Of course it's raining today... and tomorrow!