Thanks. More to come.


Tearing into a few other things this weekend to include the upgraded alternator, and sunroof delete. Got a nice new plastic headliner from LMC truck that I painted red last night to match the interior. The non-op 70s sunroof will soon be history. Using aluminum to cover the hole.


My bumpers are about a week away as well. Front and rear good stuff from Protofab.

 

Cup holders, 5 grab handles, and a new headliner minus the vintage 70s non operable crap sunroof.


Oh, and the 1 wire alternator upgrade is done and working (yay!) Easy way to double electrical output for less than the cost of a new decent battery.

 

Nice. I like those grab handles I need one on the passanger side on the dash like you have.

 

Started on the bedliner side paint job last night. Ran out of daylight so pics will have to wait....

 

Body masked off for bedliner. Will post more when that job is deemed complete by me...







Look what showed up yesterday!









It hasn't been all work. Here it is on the trail a couple weeks ago.

 

Looking good, nice bumpers from who?

 

Protofab built the bumpers. They're the ones you see on the JBG site, but I went to Protofab directly since they're pretty close to me here in AZ.

 

Got some color on the bumpers this week...they're pretty much ready to go on. Just need to get an extra set of hands or two to help.


Also replacing the speedo and cable. Speedo is a brand new NOS one! Also installing a new ammeter guage that's been reconfigured to register voltage instead of amps, so it's actually useful. 12.5 volts is calibrated right in the middle.


When we took the truck out a few weeks ago for its maiden trail ride, I let my GF drive. She got a little loose on a corner on a dirt road and has never driven a truck with a mechanical locker before. She put us in the ditch, and bottomed the front suspension hard enough to bend the spring seats, so am replacing those along with one shock that was blown. (Grr - those were new parts!)


So my weekend plans are set. I also hope to get that ARB wiring harness run to the bed to plug in my fridge for expedition runs, and I'll be wiring up an aux 12v weatherproof jack to the bed as well...will likely mount to one of the toolboxes.


About the only thing left after all this on my original list is to replace the shift fork pads. Am a little intimidated by that job given that I've been told reinstalling those can be tricky....and I don't look forward to ripping the carpet out, etc. to get to the access panel.


Definitely getting there though.

 

Oh, and I also have two battery trays there. The one on the left is from a local yard and is for the driver side - can't believe I found a rust free one.


I also bought one from a board member so will use the better of the two, but both should be good parts. Anyone interested in one? Want to get my money back out of the one I bought here.


Dual batteries are going in.

 

Well, this past weekend kinda sucked for working on the truck.


New rim I got from Discount and had my new tire mounted to....idiots ordered the wrong lug pattern. That rim was backordered for a month.


Spring seats I bought were also the wrong ones. They changed them to a different bolt pattern mid year in 1977. I have a February truck. I guessed wrong. Ordered new ones.


Dual battery kit I bought from summit was missing parts in it - specifically the wiring harness and the isolator switch. There's one of those kits left in the US...it's getting shipped to me this week. They told me to get the parts I needed out of it and send the rest of it back.


My bumper hardware and rear bumper mounting brackets were also supposed to be shipped out of Mayer, AZ on Weds. Those also never showed up, so I have these really nice bumpers I can't mount.


I did get some work done though. Replaced the speedo and cable, and installed my new voltage meter. Also got the license plate relocated and illuminated, and did tiedown loops on all the toolbox lids.


Pics of the guage work in following post.

 

This forum is wonky for posting pics...doesn't let you separate them it would seem to post in between.


Anyways, first shot is with the guage pod removed.
Second shot shows the new speedo cable bolted into the 205 Tcase
Then you see me taking apart the pod and removing old gauges.
The new speedo went in, as did the reworked voltage meter I got from Classic Cougar. It's calibrated to read voltage instead of amps and 12.5 volts is dead center on the guage. 14.5 moves the needle over to the C side. It was an easy install. I made a couple connecting wires for it and insulated it from the circuit sheet with nylon washers. Then I ran a ground to the dash and the hot tied into the radio power wire. Works like a charm, as does that NOS speedo.


Last shot is the guage pod all reassembled.


More to come as I make more progress.

 

shipping notifications received on my correct lower spring pads and retainers, my replacement dual battery kit, and my bumper brackets. Truck is gonna look good after this coming weekend! More pics to come.

 

nice! I'd be interested in that tray if you still have it

 

pm sent.

I drove the truck a lot this weekend. Dual battery kit isnt charging the second battery sufficiently...losing too much voltage through the isolator and the xables, so need to think about that some more. Even worse, the new speedo worked great for 120 miles and now the needle is stuck and working its way all the way around. Like before the odo works fine. Im effing DONE...3 soeedometers, one brand new that this GD thing has eaten. Used a brand new cable this time too. It makes zero sense.

otherwise the truck looks good and drives good. Gonna take a little time away from it now since its been consuming my weekends

 

Any updates?