It's been tough times lately

Fear not, progress on the truck has not ground to a halt.

My house got whacked by a tornado and sustained a lot of damage. Today, I got the pleasure of talking with a nice lady from the home insurance company. She assured me that, while it caused her much heartache, the matter is simply not of concern to the insurance company. Apparently, there is a clause written into the policy that states that damage from acts of God are not covered while no one is inside of the house. I should have been suspicious when she asked me right off if I was at the home when the damage occurred. Me not at home equals zero payout on the damage.

Back to the old truck, I have been working a fair bit on it here and there. The reason I am posting today is that I reached the milestone of having the truck completed underneath. The front suspension has been covered ad nauseum. Now, the rear suspension is complete too.

I converted the rear axle assembly to a five lug bolt pattern. the reason is that the front disc brakes are five lug pattern and I obviously want the front and rear wheel bolt patterns to match. That way, I only have to carry one spare tire, not two.

Of course, I went ahead and rebuilt all of the moving parts and pieces that could possibly be worn. I used all new bushings, springs, shocks and the like. Note, that in the course of doing all of this work, I have installed parts to lower the truck closer to the ground. That's the kind of redneck I am, I like my trucks lowered. It is lowered 3 inches in the front and 5 inches in the rear. The reason for the difference is that originally, these pickups sat 2 inches higher in the rear than they did in the front. By doing it this way, the final product should have a more level look when viewed from the side rather than the butt-up look it originally had.

The picture makes it seem that the rear of the truck sits lower, and in fact, right now it does. Keep in mind though, that the weight of the engine, transmission, front fenders, hood, grille, et all will cause the front of the truck to settle significantly, leaving me with the level look I desire.

Next up is engine and transmission refurbish and detail. This is a tedious process, but one of my better areas, so the results should be remarkable to say the least.