Man I wished my truck started off that clean (rust free) and good looking I would not have to do a complete tear down.

I started this just before the holidays 2015 and the only thing slowing it down is me....well not totally, no heat in the garage and kingpins that don't want to come apart yet.

I also drive tank trailer trucks up early, home late so weekends is the only time to work on the truck. Plan is I will paint it so no shop to wait for.

Waiting for pictures of your truck painted and then back together.
Dave ----

 

I'm envious of your workspace...

I was surprised by the lack of rust myself. The entire body is in really good shape. The frame a little less so, but even that isn't terrible. Still, I'm sure I'm going to have a hell of a time removing the ball joints on this too. They pretty much look like part of the knuckles. I removed and painted the radius arms this week and that was tough enough, ended up cutting the one stud. But hey, it's never going to be all easy on a 30 year old vehicle...

 

The garage is a big up grade from what I had only a year ago April, little 1 car and a drive way full of car trailer/drag car. The garage was one reason we bought this house.
From this

to this


The only bad thing of having a big garage/work shop is you have more projects, like my trucks now. What you cant see in the truck picture is just to the left is the parts truck and next to that (cant be seen) I have an AMC factory v8 Gremlin. To the right is a work shop and parts shelves. It just needs heat & AC to work in year round.

The AMC Javelin in the above small garage picture is now in the house garage and my DD is outside along with my car trailer/drag car.
Sorry for the hi jack
Dave ----

 

That first garage is small! But still better than working outside, I guess... Looks like it was hard to just move along the sides.

The new set up looks perfect, that would be my ideal too. Attached garage for the wife with a separate detached set up like yours. What I have now isn't bad, but it's two cars one in front of the other. So when I was still driving the truck we could fit both cars, when I'm working on it the wife has to park in the drive...

But as you say, if you have the space you tend to fill it!

Anyway, back to work for me. Away for a couple of weeks and then hopefully working on the truck over weekends.

 

That small garage was tuff working on the car. After that photo I took the whole car apart to rebuild it. I bought the HF 4 wheel dollies that go under the wheels and would push it to 1 side to give room on the other side to work.


I bought a 2nd set for this garage as the summer heat blew up 2 of the 4 old tires on my Gremlin. I can move the car any where I want now. The other set is under the parts truck as that has no motor so I can move it.


Anyway keep us posted on your truck work we all want to see how you are doing with it. Next week they say it will be warmer and I am home from work to take care of the wife after an operation so hope to get something done on mine when I can.
Dave ----

 

So it's been what feels like forever since I last posted here and sadly nothing happened to the truck. I only got it back from the shop after I told the painter that we were leaving SC. He was still after more money, so he finally 'finished' it. More than 12 months after starting what was supposedly going to be a 3 week job...



It looks really good from a distance, but within 10ft it's a poor paintjob. I won't get into details now as I'd just get frustrated all over again and it's taken me over 2 years to make peace with it...

So I moved the truck to AL on a Uhaul trailer in pieces and stuck it in the garage at our rented house. Then I went back to driving OTR until Mar'17 when we bought a house, during which time I didn't touch the truck.

I decided that I would do all the renovations and updates to the house myself and 2 years later I'm still busy... But at a point where painting the laundry room can wait.

My basement garage is narrow, but long and will have to suffice as my workspace to finish the truck, sooner rather than later. I'm aiming for end of summer, but end of the year will do.



The bed and cab was removed over the weekend. First on the to-do list is 1- removing and disassembling the engine and getting it to a shop to have it 'cleaned' inside(advice on what I should request would be appreciated), 2- replacing the seals and gaskets on the transmission, 3- cleaning and painting the frame, 4- minor rebuild of both axles(seals, joints and bearings), 5- install the engine, transmission, transfer case and rest of the driveline. That would do it for now. It has a feedback carb, but everything was hacked up at some point. So I'm considering a duraspark conversion.

I will have plenty of questions along the way. I have appreciated all feedback/comments in the past and will continue to do so.

First question(that didn't take long...)

Should I replace the cab bushings? I have a set of poly replacements(supposedly a harsher ride?). They are apparently a pain to remove. Without having tried very hard I have been unable to do so.

The old ones look in reasonable shape...

 

Those dollies you have the truck on, are those from Harbor Failure? Do you like them? Or, more to the point, are you afraid you're gonna bust a wheel off at any moment?

Those cab mount bushings look serviceable to me.

 

It's hard to tell on my phone but they look like the ones I have from HF and the wheels are on pretty good.
I have 8 total the first 4 I used on my 70 Javelin and that floor was not smooth so was hard to get going but no issues with the wheels.
I bought the other 4 when I moved into the NC house and the floor is smooth. Too smooth that I can't get my truck up ramps with out spinning a tire.
Dave - - - -

 

Yes Chris, most of my tools are from Harbor 'failure'... And that's not really been my experience. I think most of their products are perfect for tinkering., but I realize they have a less than stellar reputation with serious mechanics... Anyway, these dollies are heavy duty and I'm not worried about them failing, however they're not necessarily great either. The rolling resistance seems to be very high, so it requires some effort to move the truck. Also, I imagine once I get off the smooth garage concrete onto the rough stuff outside I will have even more issues, but at least then it will be a bare frame.

 

Hi Dave, you've made some great progress on your truck since I was last here. I've had the same issues with smooth concrete too. Tried to get my DD('86 Toyota Pick up) on the ramps in the garage with no joy, had to do it in the driveway. Either the ramps move, or the tires spin...

 

I wonder if at least some of that resistance is intentional. Most garage floors have a slight slope to them, usually towards the door for drainage. If the dollies rolled without any resistance, the vehicle would wind up against the door or in the driveway.

 

Thanks if I had a little more motivation I would have had it in paint by now.
On the ramps moving I had a few truck mud flaps that I put the ramps on that is when the tire started to spin. I did not want to charge it for fear of running off the other side

IIRC the wheel are hard rubber and I might have given them a little squirt of oil so that would roll & turn easier.
My fist garage had large stones in the concrete so was hard to get it rolling but once started it was not bad.
In this garage with smooth floor I have more problems when trying to move only 1 end of the truck the other end would also move.
I have been in a lot of garages and and I have always needed to push liquid to the door it never went on it's own.
Dave ----

 

Yeah, not so sure about slope in the garage, not as the norm anyway. My wife's car is constantly leaving puddles(from AC and/or rain) that don't go anywhere. Might look for a marble/bearing and test your theory... But anyway, these dollies have 'locks' on two of the four wheels, so intentional drag would seem superfluous. More likely it's due to it's 'budget' design.

 

Yes, it's quite annoying. The wife's FWD gets up the ramps no problem. At least we can reverse up them(not that I've tried, just assuming). Would be really annoying if the car could reverse up it too! Might do some testing if I'm really bored one day, probably won't be any time soon... Actually I might try it when I change the DSG oil next week. I was planning on putting the front on ramps and the rears on jackstands, but the opposite would be easier if I can get it on the ramps(won't be so annoying then). It's a pain to place jackstands under the rear of an A3.

 

You sound like me, balancing a Reno on the house and working on my truck.

I have those HF dollies. They go together quick and are solid. Bought them after Dave mentioned them for a tight garage... Complete game changer loving them.

That had them on sale last week for $37/pair