chassis almost there!

It warmed up enough to finish sanding the body filler and get a few coats of polyester primer on top of the frame. You can really see the how ruff it was before I started.  Now I will do a little finish sanding and if the weather holds up I will paint the chassis red. I plan to get the rear end over to my house and clean it up for paint. I was going to have it sand blasted but with all the rain and cold weather it will be hard to keep it from rusting before I can get paint on it. I might wait till spring to finish the rear end. But I get impatient and want to keep things moving. So in the next few weeks I will decide what to do. So soon I will have to start sorting all my chassis and brake parts to get prepped to paint. I also found a set of 1933 license plates at a flea market in Illinois called the pink elephant.

creating dust!

 I have been working on getting the chassis all strait and smooth for paint. I have been using filler on top of the Epoxy to level out all the pits in the top of the frame and a few dings. I know this is a little more work but I think it will pay off in the long run in looks and keeping it from gathering water on the top of the frame. My kids came out to help me sand on the frame too. Soon I will take the front wheels and hubs down to Hoods Machine to have them turned for new bearings. I don't want to do this but the original bearing size is hard to find or gone. So the easiest way to solve the problem is widen the hub by .075 to fit a slightly bigger race. With that done the bearings will be on the shelf at most parts stores.

So I have got my frame back from Owens sand blasting in Lebanon Mo. Every thing look great. So I got it home put it in the shop and what does it do, start raining! I rearranged the shop and put up plastic spay booth. So after a few days of rain it cleared up enough to get epoxy on the frame. Now I am going to put a skim coat of body filler on the frame and slick it up a bit. I also got started on my blasting cabinet. I cut a 55gal drum long ways in half. And I am working on how to finish it out.

Frame Work

 I bought rivets to reinstall the front leaf spring hangers. And made a rivet hammer. After the brackets were reinstalled, I took the frame to the sand blasters. I will have it back next week and will start painting it next week. I am going build a paint booth for the frame in my dad's shop. I took the front end completely apart took the spindles off, and the brakes apart. We had a little trouble taking the rear u-bolts off the New Mexico truck. No! they were not rusted the had been put on tight!!. So with the help of my Dad and 6ft cheater bar we managed to remove them with out braking any thing. I also found a place to buy cut to fit rubber to replace my motor and transmission mounts. The mounts are really simple all 1/4inch sheet rubber. So here soon looks like I will be painting the frame and getting it ready to put the motor back in. I got an 55gal drum to build my self a sand blasting cabinet. So I will also post how I build my blast cabinet too. I am going to sand blast all the small stuff my self and save a little money and give me a lot to do this winter. I have plenty of things to keep me busy for a while. Just not as much fun as I had rebuilding the engine and trans. I am also in the process of looking for a company to rebuild the brake cables. I have been told about a place in Massachusetts which is fine, but I was going to try and find something more local.

Framed!

Out with the old in with the older. My father and me moved the Texas frame out of the shop and on to the trailer to take to the sand blaster. Okay why take the Texas frame to the sand blaster? Well after a whole lot of debating, milling over and a sleepless night or two. The original frame for Granddaddy's truck had the last two feet cut off to fit the well drill on, and because of the cutting of the frame it weakened it enough to crack the supports and the frame in places. The second problem is the cab lists the chassis as 160 inches but Granddaddy's is the shorter 136 inch chassis. The Texas frame will put it back to the original 160 inch chassis, witch will make the build plate match the truck. I was really worried about the cost of fixing it correctly, and making it structurally sound as opposed to using the alternate frame. I put Granddaddy's truck in to the garage to take off every thing I need to fix the Texas frame, brackets for the finders, and other brake parts. So now I have to order new rivets for the brackets I have taken off, and make a rivet hammer to put them back on. I have found most of the bearings for the rear end so hopefully it will not take me too long to put it back together. I am going to send the rear end and front axle to be sand blasted too. I would have sandblasted these on my own, but my father offered to help, and did not want the mess in the yard.  We have a local blaster that is well experienced and is priced well. I hope to get this all done in time to get it painted while it is still warm.

Well transmission is done. I primed it on a Tuesday night and painted it on Thursday and added a little stainless to dress it up a little. I also took the differential apart and got all of the bearings lined out, so next week I will start rebuilding it. Then the only thing left is the front hubs and brakes. And I have a running and rolling chassis. Ohhh yeah!!! Can't wait to get the chassis done so I can put the motor back in!!

Chassis coming along

I finished cleaning off the frame, and started cutting off broken brackets and hangers. I pulled Granddaddy's truck under the covered side of the garage to start cleaning off the frame on it. I pulled off the front bumper brackets/leaf spring hanger and came up with one good one and one half good one. I the half good one is all there but has a broken tabs for the front bumper. So I took them to Hoods machine in Bolivar Mo. to see if they could weld it back together for me. I talked to Hoods and we are going to try to come up some 3/8s rivets to replace the old ones. I have several holes that were drilled in the old frame to weld up before sand blasting. I have one step hanger I have to swap from one truck to the other, then I can start putting the frame together. I started taking apart the rear diff and found out the rear bearings are easy to get. So soon I will have the transmission and the rear end all rebuilt and ready to go much quicker than thought. (hopefully) I had to get a new socket for the rear end its only a 3 1/4in  nut. While taking the wheels off I got a small surprise, a hand full of dead scorpions.