I'm in Corvallis Oregon! I thank you for the offer but mine are pretty darn good actually, no dents!

I bought the truck for $600 and sold the motor and tranny for 400! Not a bad deal if you ask me lol

We slid the cab backwards on the frame to pull that contraption, in doing so... we found out these cabs are darn heavy! Is there any trick to getting it off the frame without damaging anything? I am tempted to put two tow straps around it and lift it with the over head, my doors and cab seem pretty darn solid? Then getting it out of my pickup and into the garage seems like a challenge!

Lets here some tips and tricks! Do I make a dolly, bolt castors to the cab mounts... I'm open to ideas! I do need to set it on the nose though so I can do some custom fab to the back bottom of the cab, I will document it well and I think the group will enjoy it!

 

Two guys can lift a single cab around just fine. A couple furniture dollies to roll it around in the garage, and if you need to do under side work, just tilt it on it's back.

I handled several crew cabs by myself with some help from a engine hoist or planks and slide.

No special equipment needed.

Be careful strapping it through the doors, just take them off and it will be 1/3 lighter.

A bare cab is lighter than you think. I remember putting a 1960 cab in the back of my f350 bed by myself in a few minutes. Just one end at a time.

 

Ill pop the bench seat out and make sure the fuel tank is empty, with those still present, its lretty darn heavy!

I go to pick the motor up tonight amd I've been ordering parts so it should all come together really soon!

I've decided to blast out all of the rivets because a few have noticeable rust issues, with fastenal in town, why not!

 

My engine is home! All nice and pretty, soaked in WD40 for now to prevent the PNW moisture from getting to it while I still wait on parts.

I keep eyeing my rear suspension on the 600 trying to decide what to do, and curious as to options. So with any high power set up, ladder bars are usually a good idea. Whether it be heim joints or bushings in a plate with weld on or bolt on brackets for the axle, preventing axle wrap is usually a good idea! Then I get to thinking I want air bags for the sake of a better ride and load leveling capabilities.

Is it even possible to remove the leaf springs? Even with a very strong set of ladder bars to prevent the forward/back movement of the axle, is it safe to remove the leaves and use only air bags for the vertical movement? Even then, finding a set of bags skinny enough to fit between the frame and tires could be an interesting one, might have to put the bags inside the frame rails if I do keep the leaf springs.

Edit: Looking into building a 4 link now. The whole idea is that the leaf springs are so darn hard, and air bags usually offer a very nice ride as long as my bed is heavy enough to keep some weight over the tail

This is mostly just curiosity to find where i compromise safety with my modifications.

I'm gonna head out to the shop now for a bit and see if I can get anything done on my truck, or I might start on my laundry list of stuff for work haha

 

The freightliner airbag setup has a sort of half-a-leaf which is a(torque leaf cut in half) and that doubles as a ladder bar. The 60s and 70's heavy duty trucks have a torque leaf and no ladder bar is needed. Ladder bars make sense for a lifted small leaf spring set up but are just unnecessary for a big truck.

I know someone has done air bags on an f600, and there are pics, have to look for them, think it's on FTE.

 

Pacific recycling came to change out our bins today (I am a scrapper) and I was eyeballing their sterling for a while, they have a half leaf with a 4 link type set up also, plus some monster bags! I think I will just get it back on the road with the stock suspension and do bags and a 4 link or ladder bars in the future.

Work has me 50+ hours a week lately so the 58 is off to the side while I spend a bit more on the motor. Hopefully I can seal the motor up here in the next week or two then focus on my cab modifications, I think y'all will get a kick out of it! Minor rust repairs and beginning to sand down and prep for paint!

With the interior being sooo orange, I think I may just go through, rough the whole thing up and do it more of a copper color. I think I will herculiner the floor, the fire wall, and then clean stuff up for the most part.

 

Well sanding is fun! I've been working on the motor mostly and decided to go out and start getting things ready! I can smell the color blue right now!!

 

If you want what might be a better way to clean the body: try concrete cleaner, miriatic acid. I do not know for sure if it will eat through the paint though, but it takes the surface of the metal off, which is used for sheet metal to heat color.(removes mill-scale and oils). Be careful though, it can eat you too! Wear chemical (plastic/latex) gloves and a respirator at the very least. Use a plastic bowl and a paint brusht to apply.

 

Holy paint stripper batman! I literally just scraped off two layers of paint haha just the cheap paint stripper at home depot worked! I'm hoping to sand more tomorrow and see what it looks like under that, definitely necessary for gloves and a respirator! This kind is a gel you brush on. The baby blue and dark blue came up immediately, the brown and white give this stuff a run for its money!

 

I finally got around to bringing the cab home... definitely time for a bigger garage! New welders are in the way, engine parts, transmissions, all sorts of projects and crap taking up space!

I will be making a cart to roll the cab around on and one I can lean it back on so I can prepare and coat the base of the cab

 

I made a little cart to roll this sucker around the garage on, it actually works quite well! Headliner out, rear window out, lights off the roof. I'm not sure why I was surprised by this, but while taking the marker lights off, I realized they were glass! I am used to these crappy plastic lights that crack when you look at em funny.... I threw these suckers in the dishwasher! There is quite a bit of rust in the lights, the die cast aluminum covers aren't in too bad a shape. There are a few spots water was coming in, good part is the part of the cab that rusted out is the part that is slotted for removal anyways! She's coming along good

 

Great pics, always good to see someone enjoy their truck.

Maybe you could get rid of those two big white boxy lookin' things in the back of your garage for more space. HaHa!

 

Being 21 in college town... the part that is most in my way is the mountain of recycling in the back lol! We stopped counting at 700, and its grown since then! At some point all the recycling will get turned in and it will be put into the keg fund.... ah youth!

Besides all our shenanigans, a work crisis has delayed me working on it this week, damn co workers! I'd like to get the windshield out this weekend or early this following week, then make an even taller stand or just lay the cab on its back so I can start to wire wheel the bottom. Based on reputation and recommendation I will be using 3M's undercoating spray then will Quietkote the inside most likely with a bedliner product on top.

I want to get the back base of the cab cut out and the new sheet metal mocked up in the next two weeks or so.

 

Update time! Everything is a little slow around here, highs of 39 degrees makes for slow work! Mostly just been sanding and stripping paint when I have time. The cam is back, all the parts are set up ready to be put together, just waiting to get the pistons back Wednesday.

I request input, I have never done any project this large and need help deciding the order of events and cash flow heh

My brother is coming up to visit for a week. He and I will take the frame apart and wire wheel it clean, axles, frame, everything! Then I will Por15 it then rustoleum black on top. Do I re-assemble in stock form or spend the $500+ now on triangulated 4 link and air bags? Not that it is too much considering the whole budget, but I am adding a pretty heavy flat bed, would the ride be that different? If I air bag the back, should I take a leaf or two out of the front and add air shocks or something?

I plan on cutting out and welding in a bracket for a radio in the dash, then cut outs for speakers near the floor vents. Does anyone have photos of radio additions?

We are gonna lean the cab on to its back so we can re-build the rusty cab mounts, then Por15, with 3m undercoating on top for sound deadening purposes. The inside of the cab will have Quitekote or other thick coat for sound purposes. I am hoping to do inside of the doors also, not sure just yet!


I think I will wait to re-assemble the frame for a little while, I'll need new cross members and may steal a section of frame out of a junk truck to figure out how the motor will mount. I brought in an industrial 6.9 with the front mount and adapter plate mount instead of side of the motor, its an SAE 2 bellhousing so it opens up my transmission possibilities!

I think I am just going to use the ZF5 I have and get a brownie box, or a gear vendors, or US gear box. Definitely keeping my eye out for a box someone isn't trying to get $1500 for!

The rear axle is staying, I enjoy the two speed too much, so and overdrive unit is the only way my truck will be highway friendly!


I have many questions and idea's to pose to the great folk of FTE but this is all I can think of for now! Pictures to follow soon!

 

One of the biggest things I can't stand when dealing with old vehicles is all the hacks and holes people make for stereo stuff and cheap acessories. Audio is an always changing technology. An amp and speakers can go under the seat and a head unit just needs to play an iPod etc. it can be concealed in the glove box or mounted under the dash. Someday in the near future, that giant head unit will be obsolete and then what? Weld a patch in the middle of a once perfect dash? Not trying to sound like an ***.

How about bucket seats and a tuffy console? The head unit locks away inside the console.

Sounds like good progress tho!