"Big Darla" Build Thread

[Kage]

X2 on swaping out that carpet. Just find some rubber somewhere to stick down there and call it good (Hunks of old hoses, belts, etc).

Keep it up!

 

[XionicWaste]

Lol Im still confused why the carpet should go. will it disintegrate after time or weat through fast? I do have some old hoses here that can go in there bit before I pull the tank again I want to be on the same page as you guys.

 

[86 slo-vo]

Lol Im still confused why the carpet should go. will it disintegrate after time or weat through fast? I do have some old hoses here that can go in there bit before I pull the tank again I want to be on the same page as you guys.

the carpet will hold water and rot out the steel around it.

truck looks good.

 

[Viva*the*Ranger]

Damn, it's been a long time since I checked in on this thread. Looking killer man! Bed bob looks great, I dig the shock mounting idea too! You're giving me ideas....

Keep it up bud!

 

[Kage]

the carpet will hold water and rot out the steel around it...

While it probably won't happen too fast due to his location, It will rot out.

Plus, it'll start to stink. And who wants that?

 

[Josh40601]

exactly what Kage and Slovo said. Like i was telling you, the guy that owned my 68 before laid carpet in the front of the bed up against the cab and he lived in Texas. When i pulled the carpet up, it had molded on the bottom from the rain, car washes, ect. Not to mention the bed was rotted all to hell.

 

[XionicWaste]

Okay so again my thread is extremely overdue but I am now ready to give you all the fix you so desperately need! lol just kidding.

I took all your advice and changed out the carpet for foam and rubber:

Here are some updated pictures of how she looks:

My tube bender die finally came. I got the 7.5 radius size but I wish I had gotten the 6. Oh well more dies in my future I guess.

So the first thing I made with the new bender was some bar doors. I used 1 3/4 muffler tubing for the project. I cut some 3/16" plate and drilled some holes so it would match up with the stock hinges. I used a washer and large bolt for the latching system. Heres the pics:

Im out of time right now so tonight I will post about my transmission swap.

 

[Kage]

...Here are some updated pictures of how she looks:

I dig that look man!

 

[WNY964x4]

pretty sick lookin truck , i usually dont like bobbed trucks but this one looks pretty decent

 

[XionicWaste]

Thanks Kage! I like it too.

Now for the transmission swap information...

Whilst driving to Wisconsin last spring from Colorado my transmission started to make a funny noise. Almost like a grinding noise but not really. I left this be the last project of the summer. I dropped the transmission and cracked it open to find mushroomed gears ( the 5th and reverse gears)

I also found the upper syncro gear was worn pretty badly. I guess a plow truck is hard on the transmission. The output shaft was really sloppy too (worn bearings Im sure)

Well instead of ordering the parts I needed I decided to find one on craigslist. Turns out the guy I got it from is a rangerstation member! His name is 97fordrunner. Hes got a pretty nice build going. The only thing that was bad about the tranny was a bit of water in the case and not too much tranny fluid so she rusted on the collars a bit.

Everything else was good in the tranny. Heres a pic of the gears under the 5th/reverse section)

I grabbed some sandpaper and took the rust right off... Now its all good:

I replaced the clutch and slave cylinder and then threw the transmission back in the truck. When I pulled the tranny it I cut the hydrolic clutch line because that thing would NOT budge. Well I ordered a new line but I ordered the wrong one Well I had to leave for Colorado in 5 days and I hardly drove the truck all year and just threw in a new to me tranny. SO I drove to the pick and pull and got one for 7 bucks. I wish I knew about the pick and pull earlier! That place was a gold mine.
I got the new line on the truck and tried to bleed the clutch but it was such a pain. I had my dad help me and we kinda got the clutch to disengage. I had to turn the truck off to put it in first but the other gears worked pretty well. My dad said it should work its self out and he actually was right. I did some off roading and tipping the truck from side to side released the bubble that was in the line!

Long story but all was good with the truck and all I needed to do was load the trailer. Heres how I loaded my motorcycles:

After a 21 hour drive I was back in beautiful Steamboat Springs. Nothing went wrong with the truck and the tranny worked awesome.

This pic and the one above was taken on August 9th and there was still a good amount of snow on Buffalo Pass. (10k feet)

I have been in Steamboat for a few weeks now but I have just recently started working on the truck. I am back in college now so things till now have been pretty hectic.

My first project was to shorten and fix my fuel filler neck:

(its wet because of water not gas)

After a quick bath I decided to change my belt which had a split strand:

Later that day my buddy's came over and we were talking about my build over the summer and the topic of color change came up. My one friend talked me into painting the truck again. I listened and found a paint I liked. Its actually a outdoor furniture paint by krylon, its called moss. We decided to pain my tailgate for a test run:

Well I liked the color so I decided to paint the hood too:

We ran out of time so the hood needs one more good coat to be the right color ( its a bit lighter then it should be)

The next day (Yesterday) I decided to paint the fenders:

Then today I decided to paint the grill: (I really like the look of no grill for some reason.)

All finished up front:

Here you can really see the difference between the hood and rest.

To me the front end looks like its missing something, like a front bumper... I think that I will build one really soon. Some thoughts for me are a white star on the roof and some military lettering on the fenders. Im going to finish the truck soon and it should look good with black accents on the soon to be built sliders, front bumper, and lettering. What do you guys think? Honesty doesnt bother me it just gives me better ideas.
Thats all for now, on Saturday my friends and I are going to run Holy Cross. Any one in the area or interested? http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=11

 

[XionicWaste]

pretty sick lookin truck , i usually dont like bobbed trucks but this one looks pretty decent

Thanks! I think the bobbed trucks give a unique look that, for me at least, turns heads.

 

[XionicWaste]

What do you think of this bumper idea?

 

[Kage]

What do you think of this bumper idea?

I like it, simple and clean. But its your truck so do what makes you happy

 

[Bennybooster]

I like it, I would just point the stinger a little more horizontal than in the pic

 

[XionicWaste]

Okay for todays work I started off by bending my transfer case skid plate which was wearing the case a bit.

I also turned the skid plate around so the wider part was under the transfer case.

Kage I read some more of your build last night and I saw you did a tummy tuck on your rig. How did you get the case up higher? did you do a body lift and an engine mount/tranny/transfer case lift?

The next project I did was fill in the gap from the body and the fiberglass fenders. I went to ACE and got 2 pieces of floor board rubber thingys for 8 bucks. I then used some self tapping screws to secure it there.

A bit of paint and shes done:

I also spread the leaf spring clamps apart a bit. (I also got that idea off Kages build)

Tomorrow I think Im going to work on a front bumper design and possibly more paint.