Probably, it won't be much use to me now I guess...

 

Scratch that last idea. The truck was rusted out and would have taken far too much work. Back to putting the super cab on.

I committed fully to my bullnose clip and ordered a set of Bushwacker cutout flares and some 37" Goodyear MTRs.

 

Pics for reference.

 

The flares came in and I started to install one but the instructions are awful.

I got the bed off in preparation for the cab swap. I hope to have the new cab on after next weekend.

 

The tires came in and are massive in person. I bought some steelies to put them on but they're a bit crusty so I started sanding them down and repainting. I went with Rustoleum silver at first but it showed every imperfection so I shot some Hammerite over that and it looks great.

Today I built the new rear cab mounts, it took some thinking but they turned out great.

After that I had about an hour of daylight left so I tackled the cab removal. Much easier than expected, there's really not that much that has to be pulled off the firewall.

Finished up in the dark so no pics today. With any luck the new cab will be bolted down by the end of tomorrow.

 

The new cab is on. I had to do a 2.5" body lift to clear the frame kick up. I had planned on 2" but it was a little too tight.

Unfortunately I broke one of the fuel tank connectors so I have to source another one. I wonder if gas trucks use the same fitting at the tank?

 

 

Plugging along plugging stuff back in. Everything on the firewall is connected back up again. Still have to put the new driver door on, put in carpet and seats, lift the core support and reassemble the front end. Also the front and rear glass needs to swap over and I need to refinish 3 more wheels so I can get the tires mounted.

Oh and I need to cut out that rotted area and weld in the patch panel. That's going to be all kinds of fun.

 

I nabbed a Explorer tilt column from the junkyard today. It will be interesting getting it to fit but I really want to get the wipers and hi-beam dimmer moved to the column.

Also I got the door wiring harness for a 8th and 9th gen to try to get my 9th gen doors working. Looking like some splicing might be in order.

 

Had a good day today, I got the power windows and locks working and switched out the lock cylinders. Of course 8th and 9th gen have a different cylinder and linkage so I had to change out the linkage too.

I got the rear window swapped too. The new cab had a slider but the latch was broken. My cab had a fixed window. Call me crazy but I prefer the fixed window, especially since I'll have a headache rack blocking it.


Yesterday I got the cab squared up and bolted down tight. I started prepping the core support to be raised and got one of the bushing cups drilled out for the longer bolts but then my drill battery died and I moved to other little stuff.

 

Slowly but surely getting there. Here's one of the 37s mounted. It actually looks a little small with the cutout flares I think but not bad.





I made a bracket for the parking brake cable since it no longer fit the old hole with the body spacers.





I modified the lower fender mount on the cab and took step by step pics. I'll put up a separate thread later because there seems to be some interest in how to do it.

 

After much hemming and hawing and checking my bank account, I decided to chop down my bed and put it back on for now instead of building a flatbed right now. I can revisit it later but this is free and will make it quick to get on the road.


Marking out 22" to remove.







After some more tinkering this weekend this is how she sits.

 

22" taken out of the bed. It's now 6'3" inside.

 

not bad looking so far really like how it is coming out.
Trav

 

Thanks. I hope the proportions are ok once it's all together.