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Very nice work you have done. Truck has came a long ways.
Thanks man!
Originally Posted by BBslider001
Dang that sucks that the PO took off the cab lights. It's not the first time I have heard of it happening. These trucks look great with those old school lights. Paint turned out great!
I'm actually not a huge fan of the cab lights, UNLESS, you have the large visor over the windshield, I have always loved those, but they unfortunately wouldn't look right on my truck. Atleast I think so.
Dang that sucks that the PO took off the cab lights. It's not the first time I have heard of it happening. These trucks look great with those old school lights. Paint turned out great!
I did finally put my 10.5 in the back of Shamu. Took about 5 hrs with a buddy and 2 separate trips to Ford and O'reilly's. Trip to ford was for some TA-31 RTV, as I pulled mine out of the toolbox and found a half a tube completely hardened... Then the trip to O'reilly's because I needed to rent a brake line flaring tool, Ford and their infinite wisdom put 2 different sized brake lines on the axle (right where they screw into the T block, the passenger side is a larger fitting than the driver!), so I just cut the end, pulled off the old fitting and slid on a new one so that both sides were the same, and re-flared it. Normally this wouldn't happen, but I have a custom brake line from the frame with -3 AN fittings and an aftermarket T-block. Most guys will re-use their t-block.
Got the axle installed, along with my new airbag mounts (easier to R&R now, much simpler, and stronger). Now I'm running 3.73 gears in the rear, with an open diff (compared to my factory 4.10 and TracLok), so someday I want to step up to 4.30s and a TruTrac, which will match my front axle. I also just welded on the stock shock mounts, so I need to touch those up with some of the Stainless Steel paint. An yes, you can weld right over this paint, it seems to be a little tough to get it started at first, but then welds very smooth on top of that, doesn't seem to contaminate at all. I also need to zip tie the VSS wiring and the vent hose a little better, but we were in a hurry late last night. Another plus is the axle is 3" wider overall, so it matches the front axle. Looks much better with a little more width.
RPMs went from 1800 at 65mph to about 1680, so I'm curious to see any MPG differences. No difference in power, and my buddy thinks it pulls harder now! Gonna have to get used to shifting into 4th at 43mph compared to the 37mph it used to be, but thats no big deal. Braking power seems to be improved with a little better pedal feel, so long *****ty drums.
PICS!
As for the new airbag mounts, I waterjetted a 5/8" thick baseplate for the ubolts to go through, then laser cut a 1/4" thick plate that formed into a C Shape with a 5/8" thick rib down the center. Then the u-bolt runs through the base of both plates and tightens down, keeping both in place. Torqued to 140ft/lbs, and no deformation of the material. Saves about 5lbs per side compared to the last version.
And last weekend I had a local friend buy my front axle out of my truck. We setup a deal that when I did my 05+ axle swap, I'd give him my front axle/springs. So he paid me for the axle already, I ordered an 08 axle and its getting shipped to me, now I'm doing all my research and preparing for that. Then all last week, I pulled the flatbed off my truck, finished it up (finish welding, sanding/prepping etc), and took it to powdercoat on Thursday. It should be ready on the 10th or so. Can't wait for that.
In the midst of preparing the bed, I also was very unhappy how my headache rack came out. In the choice of trying to save weight, I ended up making the headache rack too thin (.065"), and made it hard to weld/sand, so I ended up cutting it off completely and re-making it out of 12ga (.105"), then TIG welded all the seams. Came out way nicer and I'm much happier with it. I also took my traction bars and mounts to get powdercoated, as they we're getting pretty rusty... I also opted to not powdercoat my gas tank, as its Aluminum,and I didn't want to have to drain, remove, and clean it.
And as of now, I no longer have ANY RAW METAL PARTS ON MY TRUCK! First time in 5 years...
Every time I see that exhaust tip, it's just badass. Prolly a dumb question, but are all of the holes and cutouts for weight reduction? They look cool, but I figured they served a higher purpose.
Every time I see that exhaust tip, it's just badass. Prolly a dumb question, but are all of the holes and cutouts for weight reduction? They look cool, but I figured they served a higher purpose.
Haha, yes speed holes. A few of them are to allow access to certain areas, but the majority of them are for weight savings. This bed, fully dressed, weighs around 800lbs! My last bed weighed around 1300lbs, and the stock bed weighed around 300lbs.
Your fab skills are pretty dang awesome man and it is a great thing to have a significant other that supports what you do!!!
Keep up the great work man!
Yeah during the time I was working on the bed, it was all after work, so I ended up not seeing her or my 2 little ones for almost 3 days in a row. She was not happy about that... especially with our youngest being very difficult lately...
Originally Posted by z31freakify
Always waiting for you to post up in your thread, as always amazing work LT Dan.
I appreciate the compliments guys. I'll post more pics when I get my bed back and when I get the new axle!
Got the axle finally, out of an 08' with 230k miles. Came with the sway bar, steering, panhard, and radius arms, for $390 shipped. Score.
Gonna put 13'+ brakes on it, heim steering and either build some true 4-link bars for it, or some semi-longish arms.
I also finally fixed the rest of the back of the cab. Pulled the dents probably 95% of the way, then laid on a nice helping of body filler, sanded, body filler, sanded, body filler, sanded... etc etc etc... finally tonight I got it to where I was okay with it, and shot it with some primer. Hopefully tomorrow I get to shoot some paint. I'm no body guy, nor am I good at painting, but the guys that are helping me are pretty knowledgeable, so we'll see. Hopefully one day I can take it to a real body
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