Big Blue's refresh

[Oliver Closehauf]

I'm going to use this thread to document by truck's refresh. What was supposed to just be a replacement bed has turned into a full refresh. New fuel system, new coolers and lines, new Bosch hydroboost and new steering gear and pump. water pump, Idler, etc. I'm trying to stick to as close to stock as possible. For example, it took me 6 months to get a new Denso Starter. My CP3 and injectors are Stock Bosch units. Ok, I did get a Banks intake, because why not.
Anyway, a couple rotten fuel lines, turned into a tired 20 year old starter, leaking injectors, rotten rockers and eff that noise, I'm not letting this nickel and dime me to death. I'm doing it all in one go. After dealing with the fuel lines last year, I realized that it's getting to the broken part that takes all of the time and effort. So the 20 year old stuff I know is waiting to f**k me is getting replaced. Basically, I'm going to start at the front bumper and work my way in to the firewall and transmission and remove on my way in, and replace on my way out.
I've been setting this up for years. I think I posted bringing the "new" bed home a few years ago. I finally pulled the old bed off today, in the feels like 105 degree heat. I'll post the pictures after I get them off my phone. The frame needs attention for sure. It's solid still thankfully, but rust has been attacking it and it's intervention time.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

So here is the replacement bed with the bedsides removed and the bed primered and ready for Raptor liner paint. It's been so hot and muggy here I keep putting it off. I wanted to get the liner painted on before moving to the next phase, but my OCD be damned I couldn't let another week slip by. This was a white bed, I've got the tail end in the body color. Just waiting for cooler weather now. You can see Big Blue's grill behind the tarp up by the gate.

 

[Islander39er]

Nice going!

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Here is a shot of my rolling gantry in place. As you can see, I live in the land of the infidel, AKA the ghetto, AKA Cincinnati.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Here is the bed all rigged up for removal. I used straps at all wheels to keep the legs from spreading.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

My driveway back to the garage is only one lane (and a walkway) wide, so I had to move the replacement bed up behind the house to make room to pull the truck forward. Driveway Tetris.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

I just used ratchet straps to lift the bed off the fame high enough to drive out from under it.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

What you can't see is the yellow jacket nest in the front driver's corner of the bed. Amazingly I did not get stung.

Also, when I put the new bed on, I will be getting some more 2x4s to go across the top of the gantry so the ratchet straps can go straight up and down. They are at an angle and that made things more difficult, but still a one man job.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

And here are a few shots of rust. These are before I started working on anything. That gooseneck hitch is a cancerous tumor and I'm afraid of what I will find under those mounting brackets. I did buy a welder for Christmas, so if I need to patch, I patch. The wet spots are water. It rained last night and the tarp filled up in pockets.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

I did work on trying to get that hitch off this morning. Not much to show. I spent at least 2 hours breaking off bolts, cutting through bolts, cutting through steel, used a sawsall with Milwaukee Torch blades, a Dremel with a cutoff wheel and it is still on there. If only frames and body panels were as strong as those nuts and bolts, cars and trucks would last forever. I'll take a picture of the pile of scrap I turn that hitch into once it's in a pile on the ground.

I went to harbor freight and got some sale items, one of those welding pick hammers for knocking of the big chunks of rust, a needle scaler, a blow gun set that came with extension nozzles that I can get way up inside the frame rails, and a sand blaster.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Hitch is off. I chipped as much of the big rust off as I could and then hit the big patches with some phosphoric acid rust converter just as a stop gap until I can get everything scraped, scrubbed and blasted. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so won't get much of anything done. probably spend that time organizing the garage that has gotten way out of hand.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

It looks like I'll be welding in some fishplates on the outsides of the frame there above the axel. Passenger side could probably get away without it, but the driver's side is pretty bad. I was looking inside the frame with my borescope and it didn't look too bad, but I plan to run a steel chimney brush to knock off any scale inside there once I cut out the thin stuff and create an access, then after the frame is all back together, the inside from front to back will get fluid filmed. I keep having to remind myself, this doesn't have to last forever, just until I'm dead.

I tested the needler out today for a few minutes. Definitely a Saturday during the day kind of job just because of the noise I'll be making. Although I do have a neighbor 2 doors down that likes to blast their bass canon party speaker all the way up, I can make use of that window if they do it any time soon.