Nice work Rob. Definitely has come a long way. I love how the first sentence in this thread started with "Not going to build anything" and here you are ready to build the truck back up again. HA! Funny how far "tinkering" gets ya. I run into that problem with the MAW (might as wells). Well since I'm here, might as well.....ya know how it goes.

The cab bushings look fine to me. I didn't change them over when I did my body swap, they're pretty durable. Sorry to hear about the paint shop, I've heard more horror stories about them then I have good ones. Just adds another reason to why I'll never repaint any of my rigs.

You'll get her back and going soon enough!

 

I never made it to "MAW" on my 81 F100 flare side. Once I knew the motor ran good, had a miss on the vary short road test, I started on a cab off frame rebuild.

On the cab bushings I would say don't worry and use them. I don't think mine looked that good and I reused them.
Only bushings I did replace was the front pivot bushings, the radius arm bushings were replaced with poly on 1 of the 2 trucks and I used them.
Rear rubber spring bushings looked good so I reused them. If I was to replace them I would only replace the front one as the rear bushing are just along for the ride.
Dave ----

 

Well the dash in my 82 was cracked all over by the speaker so I pulled the speaker grill out, put it on top of the dash and covered the whole dash with dash carpet with one from Ebay

 

Not much balancing here, it's either one or the other. If I was able to balance multiple projects the truck would have been running already. Now I probably won't touch the house until the truck is running, unless something breaks and requires attention, then the truck will be abandoned again...

Yes, this project did snowball significantly... As long as I'm happy with the finished product, it will have been worth it.

I've got a dash carpet cover in my Toyota. It's certainly better than a nasty cracked dash, but my dash is actually still in really good condition. It's just that speaker cover... I see LMC now has a full dash pad, not just a cover for sale. $400 is a lot, but maybe someday.

 

Not much to update on the truck as yet. I've found a shop to give my engine a 'clean'. I don't have the facilities to do that myself. They'll vat & clean the block, install new cam bearings & freeze plugs, hone the cylinders, mic & polish the crank and rework the cylinder head for about $600. All they do is engine rebuilding, so I'm hoping for the best. Although I hate to rely on someone else again.

I'm planning on just replacing the seals and gaskets on the transmission. I've found a kit on Bronco Graveyard for $20, any other suggestions? The transfer case had no leaks when I removed it and since I don't plan on doing any serious off-roading, I'm leaving that as is.

Any advice or tips on my immediate plans?

 

Yeah, those full dash pads are nice. I contacted my local SEM dealer and its $75 for 4 oz. of the SEM 1796 Nutmeg (Garys) So I will probably just sand down and paint my door panels black and leave the dash carpet lol

 

My truck just rolled 40k miles so I havent done any deep engine or transmission work. Just maintenance stuff - plugs, cap and rotor, etc. So I dont have any insight on your immediate plans.

 

So two months have flown by again! At least some progress has been made. I took the engine back out and got it to the machine shop.



Then I got the frame outside to give it a good clean.



And then I started at the back with the painting... The u-bolts were a right nightmare. I got the air impact wrench from HF and was bitterly disappointed when it proved about as useful as a paperweight! So much for 950ft-lbs! The cheap electric one I already had did a better job. At least it broke the nuts loose, but that's all it would do, from there I had to use the breaker bar. I actually bent one of the u-bolts... I returned the air impact wrench and got the more expensive electric one, so far it hasn't really been tested. (Might return that one too as I'm done with disassembly now)



I left the diff alone for now. I did not want to rebuild it myself and I did not want to rely on anyone either. Without knowing what I'm looking at, it looks OK...



I did replace the axle bearings and seals. I'll also have to replace the pinion seal, the current one leaked badly. I finished the painting, replaced the brake hardware and reassembled everything. New bushings on the leaf springs too. I managed to remove the rear ones myself, but the fronts I had a guy burn and hammer them out. Instead of paying him to do the shackles too, I just bought new ones.



I picked up my 'new' engine a couple of weeks ago. That project snowballed as well and ended up being more rebuild than clean... At least the guy was professional and did everything in a timely manner. It's got a new camshaft and lifters. New pistons on the old rods. New timing gears. Bored cylinders. The head was just reworked.

 

I had to start another post, the browser was getting super slow...

Anyway, so the engine is waiting while I proceed to the front of the truck. Disassembled that last week. I haven't uploaded the end result pictures yet, but most of you can imagine what I struggled with...





The spindle did come off rather easy once I had the right tool for the job... https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7769181

The ball joints were a different story. For one, the cotter pin broke off on the driver's side, while stuck inside. Also, both nuts on the driver's side were a different size from the passenger's side?! The passenger side was a breeze with a 3/4" socket set's breaker bar. The driver's side, less so. On top I managed to hammer a socket on(after going at the stuck cotter pin with a punch) and then with the help of a 3ft pipe over that breaker bar got it loose. I had to buy a 28mm socket for the lower nut, but got that done too. Then it was just a case of hammering the **** out of the joints to get the knuckle off. Now I still have to remove the joints from the knuckle. Still contemplating buying a press or taking it somewhere...