• Welcome to For Trucks Only !

    We are a community of American Brand Pickup Truck and SUV owners. Join now! Its Free!

Another "what to do" thread

Yep! I had a 69 D-200 Camper Special that I put a clutch in, on my back, in my driveway. It was nice that the trans. tunnel would un-bolt & gave me plenty of access from the top, but it was not easy from underneath. Crossmember removal, rusted fasteners (truck over 50, me, well over 50, living in the rust belt) the N.P. 245 trans weighed A LOT, but I got it done & worked great. I should have kept that one, it was in pretty nice shape too. I think you could probably do a pretty nice job doing your own paint work, just practice first. Do you still have a paint gun & related items? I haven't painted anything in years either, but I plan on doing my own on the 1986 when I'm ready. It's not going to be a show truck but I'm sure I can do a pretty good paint job to match the cab close enough. Heres a couple pics of the 69 I had a couple years ago. 318 4speed, M/S, Power drum brakes. Even with manual steering & those fatter than stock tires, (It had rims from a Ford F-250 on it) it wasn't bad steering at very low speeds at all. This is right where I installed the clutch too!

DSC00248.JPG


DSC00249.JPG
 
niceolddart said:
Yep! I had a 69 D-200 Camper Special that I put a clutch in, on my back, in my driveway. It was nice that the trans. tunnel would un-bolt & gave me plenty of access from the top, but it was not easy from underneath. Crossmember removal, rusted fasteners (truck over 50, me, well over 50, living in the rust belt) the N.P. 245 trans weighed A LOT, but I got it done & worked great. I should have kept that one, it was in pretty nice shape too. I think you could probably do a pretty nice job doing your own paint work, just practice first. Do you still have a paint gun & related items? I haven't painted anything in years either, but I plan on doing my own on the 1986 when I'm ready. It's not going to be a show truck but I'm sure I can do a pretty good paint job to match the cab close enough. Heres a couple pics of the 69 I had a couple years ago. 318 4speed, M/S, Power drum brakes. Even with manual steering & those fatter than stock tires, (It had rims from a Ford F-250 on it) it wasn't bad steering at very low speeds at all. This is right where I installed the clutch too!

View attachment 25911

View attachment 25912
Click to expand...
Had a 69 too.....was my first pickup in 73. 318 auto with around 90k miles and in bad need of valve stem seals. IIRC, got it for 200 bucks and had better things to do than install new ones so I fed it 3 cans of STP until it quit creating a cloud of smoke every time it had to stop for a traffic light.
 
I suppose I could, I wish I could find a factory bolt in one from a 72-76 truck
I did cut it plenty wide out of the junkyard donor. The junkyard donor had pretty solid floors and what was left , were springy/ floppy after I cut the tunnel out of it.
I'm gonna lap the old/ new a bit instead of butt welding.
I ordered a set of Cleco's to hold it in place while I weld in the bigger tunnel. Doing so might actually add some strength to the floor pan as I have a set of front (leather) buckets from a Durango and an extra set of ramcharger seat pedestals, I might actually put buckets in this thing. And I have a miller mig of my own that's collected more dust lately than usual besides...
 
Last edited:
I've heard of that. I used to have a nice set of minivan seats the right color, even but I sold them like 10 years ago. I have a set out of a 98 Durango here, the driver side bottom is smooshed and clapped out but the covers are still nice that I may try to adapt to the ramcharger seat bases. I don't have a seat for this truck right now, the bench seat coming out of my 85 is real nice, (originally out of an 87) but it's the wrong color. Maroon with the rest of a tan interior wont look very nice
Worst case I can head back to the junkyard and see what they have that might work. Whether out of some Mopar or not.
I also have a single nice drivers bucket out of an RC in the attic but don't have a mate for it.
I might sell/trade these for something a better match... Not sure if I want buckets or a bench in here. After this weekend I will have a tan/butterscotch RC center console that could go in if I do decide on the buckets.
I have another pair of maroon RC buckets and console for my other (85 1/2 ton) Truck already.
 
well the frame is at the blaster, and were headed north on Sunday to bring home another parts truck...parts for both this truck and my son's RC.... a beat up, rotten 92 RC..... hopefully I can make some $$ back and get my parts basically for free.... don't know what all is left of this truck quite yet.
 
well it's "ON" (as the kids say "like Donkey Kong" haha) I just got a call from the sandblaster, my frame is blasted and primed, it looks GOOD!!! No surprises of swiss cheese-ness after blasting. Only spot is the support gusset that goes 45* to the fuel tank cross member.... and I knew about that before I took it... hoo boy.. more grinding rivet heads like I did to pull the cab mounts so I could fab new ones... Ill have to either cut one out at the yard or pull this one and weld it up from behind. not a big deal and coulda been alot worse. the guy was surprised it looked so good, for a 42 tear old truck frame.... New rear leafs ordered today also. should be here Friday/ and the parts truck stayed sinking into the ground where I found it. Not enough left that I need, for his price.
 
well, a setback.
I got the frame all blasted and primed, looks fantastic. Lots of new parts arriving, making the wife not too happy with me.
Got the cab out of the barn that we've had it in for the last 12-15 years, and home into my garage last weekend.... Now for the setback... I see that at one time the whole cab back wall has been cut out and replaced. I don't know if this truck was used on a box truck, ambulance, camper or other application that needed an open cab back, or if it suffered some trauma at some point. I'm suspecting the first scenario. the back wall has been sectioned in from another cab, all pop riveted and bondo'd over. As soon as the neighbor farmer to where i had it stored came over with his Bobcat with forks and got it out into the daylight, I saw the butt end of a gazillion pop rivets on the inside back wall of the cab. Weirdly, this cab is solid as new in all the areas that these cabs were known for rotting out.
I was hoping only to have to cut out the skinny 2wd/auto trans tunnel and weld in the wide 4wd and/or 4 speed tunnel I cut out from a truck at the local junkyard. SURPRISE!!!!

The way they (whoever did the repair job) overlapped it, there will be plenty to weld to, to do it the right way. The new panel is set in, and rests against the inside surface of the original cab. and fortunately they used plain old Bondo to cover the rivet heads/ not panel bond. (I was asked that question on FABO and Moparts) as if they'd have used "panel bond" it is said I would ruin the cab before i got that crap off of there. I can fix it but its alot of time I wasnt expecting to have to spend on it.... Gotta wait for my 0.023" drive spool and my 0.023" contact tips to get here so I can switch my MIG machine over from 0.035.

We had a surprise birthday party for both my wife and my daughter in law today, the guy that my kid got the cab from was there and I asked him W T F.... I know he didn't get the truck new, and that it was his "first vehicle" while he was in high school. It got broadsided while parked at a HS football game while he owned it/ and the insurance totaled it at that point/ but that wreck damage was well behind the cab. I remember what that truck had looked like while he had it/ and it had a plain standard Dodge truck bed on it.... I don't know any history on it before about 2010..... I've had this cab in another buddy's barn, up on pallets for at least 10 years.... I remember unloading it to that spot, but have never noticed this. There were 2 spare doors piled in the cab most of those years// and the barn has no lights/electricity.... the past owner of the truck this cab came from, and my kid, are "best buddies".... my kid originally bought the cab from his buddy after the wreck and was originally gonna put it onto his truck, but then sold his truck before the cab swap could happen. So we have had it there, collecting dust, ever since.
Whoever did this job looks to have welded it in from where the cab wall strengthening ribs ended upwards to the window opening...and that welding looked pretty nice. The plan is to grind off the rest of the bondo and drill out the spot welds one at a time and plug weld those holes shut.... and then skip weld the edges of the replacement bed wall in, around its edges... it'll be stronger than any of these cabs were when new and will be hidden from the bed on the back side and the interior trim on the inside. At least the roof over the windshield is in great shape as are the cab corners, the supports that the cab mounts bolt to, and the rocker panels are in fantastic shape. I just wont have it in for paint as quick as I had hoped.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top