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Its been a little while since I posted so I thought I would give a little update. Im not good with taking pictures as I go along it seems. I really haven't done a whole lot this summer but I got a few things done. I have mostly been enjoying driving it the most!
1.My first project for the summer was getting the Rough Country 2" leveling coils in. The old ones were completely shot and the truck was sagging really bad in the front. Getting the new coils in was easy but the alignment I had some issues with. I ended up getting camber alignment bushings to bring things back in line. The largest bushings were to correct for 2 1/4 degrees on 2WD models which wasn't enough initially, but now the springs have settled a bit and it is back to within spec. I expect it to settle a tiny bit more. 2.Then I got my rear window tinted and wow did that make a difference inside the cab. It was so hot and bright before and now its perfect 3.Finally got my Gatorback mud flaps installed. Ordered a bracket for installing the rear ones and while it wasn't a perfect fit I made it work 4.Then I bought some new tires to put on my refinished rims. I didn't think that the rims would change the truck that much but to me it looks like a brand new truck now. I am very happy with how they came out. I ended up going with 31x10.5x15 tires and they fit very well. I was originally going to go with 32x11.5x15 but got mixed answers on whether they would rub or not. I think they would have fit fine now that I got these on but I am more then happy with the 31s as well. The other issue I ran into with my rims was I had lost some of the inserts that are used to hold the center caps on. Took me forever to find a place that had them in stock. There was nothing here in Canada available. RockAuto had the screws I needed for holding the caps on thankfully. 5.I am currently in the process of changing the rear diff fluid and gasket. In the process I broke a rusted brake line and had to deal with that issue first. I think I should replace the other side while I am at it. Once that is all done I will be painting the rear diff with Por15 to get rid of that rust look
And that is where I am at so far. I will take some more pictures hopefully soon and post them up. If anyone wants to see something specific let me know!
New rims and tires on, but not center caps
Finished product, and my other girl got new sneakers as well
Had some time to do a few things on the old girl lately. Opened up the rear diff to take a look. I don't know if it has ever been changed before as my grandfather was the type to only fix what was broken. I didn't find anything that I thought was unusual. Slapped it back together with some fresh fluid and a new gasket and some Por15 to make it look new again. I plan on cleaning things up even more under there next year. I would like to replace the brake line on the other side first.
This is what it looked like after I already grinded some loose rust off
Por15 applied. The exhaust pipe looks ugly I know. Still deciding what to do for exhaust next year
Decided to do some of the frame as well
- Had a couple decals made in memory of my grandfather. I also had two small ones made that I put on the side of the cowl hood. Apparently I never snapped a picture of it though
The truck is put away for the winter so I haven't made any further progress, but I came across something neat to share. While going through some old photos we found some pretty cool pictures. Sorry for the quality of the pictures as I just took a photo of these photos. The first one is the truck the day it was driven off the lot, brand spankin new. And the second photo is of me and my grandfather when I was just a little guy yet.
A couple things that I am looking into over the winter months:
1. New gauges. I really wanted a set of the Dakota Digital gauges but unfortunately they don't make a set for the bullnose trucks and after talking to them they have no plans on it either. Of course they make for the Chevy 80-87 trucks, but not Ford. They can custom make me a set if I ship mine in but that costs more money of course. Its crazy how easy it is to get parts for those year GM trucks but when it comes to the Fords its almost impossible to find things.
2. New stereo/speaker. I really like the Custom Autosound units because they look factory. Will be nice to be able to listen to FM and connect my phone to it. Just going to replace the in dash speaker for now and possible add a small subwoofer later on.
11-16-2016, 04:47 PM
