Did they get the fenders moved out of the shop? Don't know why anyone would want to park a 57 Chevy indoors anyway!

 

Haven't touched 'em yet...I don't really know why he wants them moved out anyway. He just gets a wild hair every now and again.

I guess I should talk nicer about him. The way things are looking at work right now, he may very well become my next employer...

 

Think of it as something valuable. This is an advantage. Brakes, U-joints, and suspension stuff are vital.

 

You guys are havin' too much fun. Trucks lookin' great.

Sorry I haven't been around to help, but life's taken some turns up here in these hills. Without going in to the gory details, my Mom-in-law(not you typical MIL, she's a keeper) has cancer and is going down hill fast, and my Pops(FIL) is invalid. We've been busy with them, MGs job, and the 6 grandkids and their parents(two sets) that moved back out here from Missouri a few months ago.
If/when things settle a bit, I hope to be able to hook up with ya'll for some of the fun. I check in from time to time, but really haven't felt much like talking.

 

It's okay to take little palmar nibbles, but probably not a good idea to outright bite that hand that may well be feeding us junk yard dogs.

Of course, Dan, with your ability to strum and howl, I think you could do rather well just relying on your musical abilities, and then wouldn't need a boss.

Keep posting up on progress guys. Hopefully I'll be able to get away and get in on some of this wrenching and beer sipping before its all done.

 

Our hearts, prayers, and/or thoughts are with you Sonoragoose. Hope all gets better soon for your family.

 

I'll keep you in the loop.

Unsure of my schedule over the next few weeks though, I was just contacted about a Job oppurtunity myself. I need to meet with the local company on Friday, if the interviews go well, I might have to fly to Minnesota to thier Corporate office to see if I pass the mustard with the head honcho's.

 

You're welcome to come on down the hill to Oakdale and help yank a rearend out with me...I promise you that after fighting the wasp's and blackwidows for a an hour or two, you'll have nothing else on your mind

 

I just stopped by the shop to visit the project truck on my way home from work today and found the shop owner's son working on his '85 F250, the one that I built for him last year:



It's also 460/C6 powered and is running 38" Super Swampers with 6" of lift. He ran it in the first annual Lake County mud bogs this past weekend, and now holds the title of 2007 Lake County Mud Bog Champion, having virtually wiped all comers off the track. It was a two-day event, single elimination meaning lose once and go home. So he didn't go up against every truck there, only the winners of the other eliminations. His only serious competition that had him nervous was a built-to-the-hilt bumpside Hiboy with a stroked 650hp 460 and 12 inches of lift. (Not a local boy...) He didn't have to go up against the guy because he was DQ'd when he lost control during a run and got too much air coming out of the mud pit and landed on the front of his competitor's truck, totaling it...


It was his first mud bog, as either a spectator or competitor and he learned a lot, and had some useful tips on things we might watch out for in building our truck. This was an open compitition, divided into 3 classes: 4, 6 and 8 cylinders. Everything else was wide open. Leroy would'a cleaned up...

So you see, I can build a winning mud bog truck!

I'll post pics when I get them, he's trying to get pics and video.

 

Good Golly!

Hey, I think it was in this thread about a tilt front end.

ON the 385 forum a guy built a pulling truck...think it was a '72, with a flip front end...sure looks like working on the engine would be a brreeze...he didn't have fenderwells though...I'd think we'd want them with the mud...but making the front flip, then just having a few bolts to hold the fenderwells on somethnig, might be a plan?

 

It could save us a lot of work if we just lied, talked him into playing, and said this was the truck you guys built.

 

I can match the rust spots!

Here's a link to the post with the truck and the tilt frontend.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...ree-years.html

 

We did talk about the the tilt frontend before. When you come up I'll take you up the street and show you the tilt front Detroit powered bumpside they're working on...

As for the rust spots, that's what he was working on today. He felt that since the truck did so well, it was time to start on the paint job and he was prepping the roof, working his way from the top down. He has in mind painting it bright orange with green flames...

 

Update: (Okay, belated update...)

AJ (Mecinoid) Came up Saturday and we spent a little time perusing the local wrecking yard for some 460 engine perches, but all the trucks I found them on before have been crushed. I'll have to hit the other yard later this week, but since we're now starting work at 6:00 AM I'm off by 2:30, which leaves me more time for some afternoon junkyard scrounging.

I'm also looking for some caster-correcting wedges for the front springs, which should help get the pinion agle back into line. I fear those will need to be aftermarket but I'm hoping to get lucky...

We removed the steering knuckle from the pass. side so I can take it to the machine shop and get it surfaced and drilled/tapped in preparation for the crossover steering arm that I need to fabricate. If I rough it out and get some dimensions, the machinist can CNC it in short order. It should come out looking something like the pic below.


We also determined that the upper ball joint on that side is bad. I'd like to replace both uppers as well as the axle shaft U-joints, since they're a PITA to get to we might as well do them now. I checked with NAPA and they have them all in stock, about 20 bucks each per ball joint and 20 bucks each per u-joint so 80 bucks in all, plus seals.

AJ opened up the front diff. and it looks great, gears look nice and happy so it'll just get a bath and a new gasket. I think we should run it open for now and decide later if we want to lock it. (The winning truck here ran an unlocked front axle, against his buddy and some others who were running locked fronts.)

While at the wrecking yard we did run across a pair of fine spline rear axles. I asked the yard manager today how much they wanted for them and he told me $65 each. I think the owner will do us better than that, but the rear end Mike has is free so we can do a little more work to adapt it and save some money.

I'm planning to take the front end stuff into the machine shop tomorrow after work, we'll see how it goes from there.

 

Hey Dan,

Pic is a "red X" for me.

Don't spend 130 on axles, no more work to install my rear, since we'll have to set pinion angle anyways, let's just weld perches on what I have and call it a day?