Project Big Red

catbird7

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Hard to reach places, I use one of these which screws right onto the bottle.
 

david85

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I use these to fill tcases, trans and diffs.

https://contentinfo.autozonepro.com/znetcs/product-info/en/US/hop/10106B12/image/3/

Just cut the tube to the length you need. Can usually just squeeze the bottle to get the most of it in. Can get them lots of places. I think I bought the last one at Wally World.

Yup. I usually just attach a length of hose to one of those bottles. Works well for manual transmissions, diffs, and T-cases. Had one of those piston style fillers but it was old and leaked so bad that I never tried one since LOL.
 

laserjock

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Well, Easter bunny was good to me and Big Red this year. We got some goodies.

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New fold up tonneau.

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New speedo gears. You can see the old ones were wiped out.

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For those that have never done this, not a huge deal. Here you can see the gear after the rear clip is removed, gear is slid forward ball removed. I ended up just pulling the carrier bearing and that let the center joint compress enough to get the slip yoke off.

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Cleaned up the housing for a good dose of ultra black.

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Installed a new seal while I was at it. The old one was trying to drip.

Cont.
 

laserjock

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And all done.

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Just so you get an idea of how the drive gear and driven gear ride.

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Hopefully that solves the problem. I’m sure it will at least temporarily. I think the drive gear was worn worse than I thought originally.

That was my afternoon. One thing down. Bunch more to go.
 

riotwarrior

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Yes it is a source for undue noise and vibration if too much slop exists and allows the splined yoke to wobble some distorting the splines.
 

laserjock

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Slip yoke seems to fit nice and tight but I’ll check it a little closer next time I’m under there.
 

laserjock

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So... I did a thing today.

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Got to use my trailer.

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Actually bolted it to the table. The outer boards were set at frame rail width.

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Brought it home and ran it down the ramps like a champ. I won’t say it was cheap but it is certainly going to save me a ton of work and I think the final product will be better. It’s got a couple dings in it but the worst one is here.
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I’ve already pushed it out a good bit from inside the tail light hole. May finally go pick up a stud gun. I’ve been looking for an excuse to get one. The inside of the bed is really good. Maybe as good as my truck. The paint is all skinned off the tops of the rails but it’s straight. Seams underneath are very clean. It still has the heat shields under it.

Plan is to get it stood up on end and pressure wash the crap out of it. Degrease and pressure wash again. Scuff as best I can underneath. Epoxy primer. Then inner frame coating everywhere I can’t get to with the primer.

Flip it over and strip epoxy primer, primer and paint for the rest. Along the way, fit the new tail gate. I think I’m going to bed line the inside too. Not sure in what order yet on that. Probably outside first.

In other news, radio and mounts came. Need to figure out speaker boxes. I may actually have a set of 6x9’s around here somewhere. Hopefully I’ll make some progress soon.
 

david85

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Nice score! I was never able to find a 80-86 bed in that condition.:Thumbs Up

How do the wheel arches look? Pinch weld still clean?
 

laserjock

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Nice score! I was never able to find a 80-86 bed in that condition.:Thumbs Up

How do the wheel arches look? Pinch weld still clean?
The pinch welds I can see look good. I’m going to try to get it vertical so if it warms up tomorrow I can get started with the pressure washer.
 

laserjock

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Picked it up from East Coast Powerstroke parts. They travel to Arizona primarily and bring back clean sheet metal. The do primarily newer stuff but they usually have a couple OBS beds in stock and they are only a little ways up the road from me.

https://www.facebook.com/EastCoastPowerstrokeParts/

Not what I would call the cheapest option but I think I went through the math here. If not, here it is.

Option 1: fix the fenders I have.
Pros- cheapest option
Cons- likely worst end result.

Option 2: full bedside replacement.

Pros- cheaper than full replacement
Cons- 1000$ for the metal to my door. It’s a lot of work (I’ve done a couple) there is a high probability of fitment issues; it’s real hard to treat all the welds because of where they are so it’s a waiting game for rust again.

Option 3: full replacement.
Pros- much less labor; once cleaned up, probably the best possible outcome; overall fastest.

Cons- highest upfront cost. $1800-$2k generally but they grade on condition so sometimes there are cheaper options it seems.

I actually looked at going out west to get one myself. They can be had for a few hundred if you shop around. By the time you buy fuel, food, and sleep somewhere guess where you end up dollar wise?? Yup. As much as I hated to pay the price, he’s spot on. The only reason they are making any money is by doing it in bulk. They move 17 at a time. Anyway, seem like good people if you need parts.
 
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