Yup I'm gonna POR15 the passenger fender tonight then the front end assembly can start tomorrow, i also got my fluid film today, the upper core support brace will get partially POR'd tonight then the rest tomorrow because i can only do one side at a time.

This weekend the front will look like a truck and the rear gwts disassembled basically lol.

 

Been working my butt off since my Fiance's car now needs brand new tires, struts, shocks and wheel bearings before we head to Johnstown PA Friday. Also i wont get this up coming weekend to work on the truck so every night i will be making some sort of progress unless its 38 degree's like last night lol.

Here are this weekends pics!
Got my Fluid film in and sprayed the front end, i got a case of 12 and 2 cans complately covered the front of the truck.



Just some progress pics of reassembly






Still need to paint my passenger fender lol


Pic of the 2 year old aftermarket bumper from the inside


What are you guys' thoughts on the bull bar? keep it or lose it? I am putting a 20" led light bar in the bumper opening soon as well so the license plate will be getting moved somewhere else.

 

I'd ditch the bull bar

 

I personally dont like the bull bars, they just lower your ground clearance and turn you into a plow.

As far as the bumper, is it showing through the front? If its not I would grind it down and por that too, I know its not a great quality, but if you've got left over stuff might as well save where you can, it'll at least tide you over until you decide if you want an after market bumper.

What did you spray with the fluid film? Everything on the underside? Anything you masked off? I'm planning on ordering a 2 gallon spray kit of eBay and costing the underside if my truck before we get any snow.

 

The rust started to pop through only 6 months after getting the bumper (first winter) and i cleaned it up from the front so im letting it do its thing i will jstu keep cleaning it until i decide.

I sprayed all the POR'd spots and the frame infront of the cab as well as the inside of the boxed frame section and the inside of the fenders and radiator supports so literally every square inch is covered from the front of the cab to the bumper...minus the exterior paint of course lol.

Also I'm pretty sure i already brought this up but what is everyone's thoughts on the 4r100 vs teh ZF6 behind the cummins? only reason i ask is because my auto shfiter is nearly hitting the dash and i may make a custom center console for the auto shifter but I could avoid all that and live with no steering column shroud or the old 04 one for a while until i start my swap then i simply cut a hole in the floor for the shifter and call it done.

 

Good to know I'll be hosing everything down on the truck in the next few weeks.

Your trans will need to come out regardless. If you can, I'd switch to the 5r110w if you want to stay auto for ease of availability, you'll need a controller anyway. It really comes down to do you want to row your own gears or let the truck do it.

 

True, either way my current trans will not stay in the truck. If i stay auto i would go Allison or 5r110 depending on whats available the 5r will be a cheaper swap though.

For the manual any manual i don't need to get a controller just need to trick the truck to always think it's in park to it will turn over when trying to start. I like driving my 95 it's just very tight and a PITA to drive sometimes since I'm 6'5" in a single cab truck where my knee turns the high beams on every time i clutch to shift lol.

I hate having to decide now because i need to base my dash crap off of it lol.

 

Looks good! That is a ridiculous amount of rust on that bumper...

That's a lot of items for the fiance's car and a lot of cash too! Best of luck completing all of that quickly... And I hate doing the work knowing there is a deadline like needing it done by this Friday.

On the bright side, you get to visit beautiful Pennsylvania.... lol

 

lol yeah true, I'm not going if we don't get the tires done before then they are literally like straight up Nascar tires right now. If she is still persistent then we will take the Expy because I am not driving that thing that far with known bad parts and tires lol.

 

There is a little bit of a fuel economy difference between and Expedition and a Focus lol. I am thinking double the gas? lol

I wouldn't want to get stranded either. Bald tires plus the potential for snow all along the way. If its worth anything, I bought tires from discounttiredirect.com. They have the lowest prices of anywhere I can find except for Tire Rack's clearance tires.

 

Actually with her and my driving habits she gets like 28 mpg i get like 19-20 on long drives lol.

Yeah if we can't gwt them for a deal at the local tire ahop I'm going to go there i almost got my trucks tires there but the local place offered me a deal on them.

 

So last night i made some more progress and got my passenger side spring removed but the drivers side still has 1 nut on the ubolt that will not budge i have been soaking it in PB blaster for 2 days now.





I will be removing the rear shackle tonight and loose mounting the new one and marking the two new holes that need to be drilled out for the 5th and 6th bolts on the new shackle flip hanger.

Does anyone know where i can get new shackles for the rear with new bolts? my old ones are really rusty but still fine only i cant get the bolts to budge and if its cheap enough then i will just get new ones.

 

For that stuck bolt on the other side, heat it up. If you have a little propane plumbers torch, try heating the nut up to expand it on the bolt.

If that doesn't work, put the tip of the torch on the bolt head and just heat the bolt. Get it as hot as you can and then immediately dump cold water on it. Oxy-acetlyene or oxy-propane work well here because you can get the bolt cherry red and then douse it in cold water. The idea here is to expand the bolt inside the spring bushing and the nut. The rapid contraction from the cold water will help break the bolt loose.

For the installation, I recommend my old friend anti-sieze

For bolts, you should be able to get them at any hardware store. You need to use a minimum for Grade 5 if you use American bolts or grade 8.8 if you use metric. I'd would recommend spending a few extra $$$ and going with grade 8 of grade 10.9 in metric. For suspension, I like strength.

Here is a bolt cross reference chart for reference on strengths: http://www.thermosealinc.com/THERMO_..._Cross_Ref.pdf


Depending on the time you want to take, you can make greasable grade 8 bolts. I did greasables on my ranger so I never had to deal with bolts siezing to the bushings. I have photos if you need them and I can get you all the info.

Rockauto had shackles for $26.79 a piece with bolts. Might want to check Dorman's website to confirm everything they come with. Don't forget to use a coupon code!
More Information for DORMAN 722018

 

Thanks man! Ill give the plumbers torch a go on the stuck nut, i already got some 3/4" ubolts from PMF with all my other goodies that came from them lol. Dont worry i am going to antiseize the **** out of these new ones lol

Hey what do you guys think about Fusion bumpers?
(love this one)

 

I like the first and third. The first one, I'd like to see the brush guard from a few other angles. The I like the clean appearance of the third.

I prefer round LED lights instead of the squares. I don't like the sharp edges of the square LED cutouts to the nice round contours of the truck. I like the center mount light bar though. I like the clevis mounts. I'd go 2" receiver instead of winch mount. I'd put in lights like this:


I paint them with Pyroclastic Monstaliner. I think the color would go well with your truck:


I like Fusion's rears too!