66 4x4 my sons new project

[Raider Rudy]

Picked it up on Thursday!

[66Gilbert]

Very cool!! What are the plans keep it stock or custom?

[Raider Rudy]

Originally Posted by 66Gilbert

Very cool!! What are the plans keep it stock or custom?

He wants to keep it original, but when we crawled under it we found out the transfer case was missing! It had an old Rockwell. The rear end is blown out too, so we have our work cut out for us!

[66Gilbert]

Glad to see that this old 4x4 did not make it to a salvage yard.

[argonaut]

Its got a fair bit of rust in the cab and some pretty wavy body panels. So I'll be keeping my eyes open for a donor long bed with some good steel, preferably 60-62.





The previous owner drilled about fifty thousand holes in the dash, mounted switches and gauges and an auxillary fuse panel... so I spent part of today ripping all that out and restoring the wiring to factory.



For now we'll focus on getting the powertrain and drivetrain sorted out. And hopefully in the next two weeks there will be a big block in here.

[wilkinst]

Beautiful truck! Looks about like what I started with. Keep us posted with your plans and more pictures!

[scottsdaleowner75]

Cool build. Good to see another 4x4'er near me. (San Bernardino)

[argonaut]

UPDATE

Today I scored a deal on some parts froma guy parting out a 73 1/2 ton Blazer.



Picked up front Dana44 axle complete hub to hub, along with the linkage, power steering gearbox and sway bar. I'll need to do some research on the best way to mount the steering gearbox as well as the sway bar. On the 73 the sway bar mounted to the front crossmember, which is quite different than the 66's front crossmember.

Grabbed the power brake booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve and mounting brackets. So this should set us up well with the disk brake Dana44 up front and help stop this big truck.

Finally loaded up the complete rear axle and both front and rear driveshafts. As I discovered a week ago the rear differential in the 66 had grenaded at some point in the past so I'll just swap out the whole rear axle. I'll need to check the pinion angle with respect to the leaf perches and compare to stock.

[Raider Rudy]

Before I let my son have the truck I was going to cut it down to a short bed.
I wonder if he is going to keep it a long bed

[argonaut]

..but there is so much room in that loooong bed

One thing I noticed today is that the driver's side shock mounts behind the axle on the 73 12 bolt, as opposed to both shocks on the 66 which mount forward. I'm thinking of relocating the upper shock mount bracket in the frame to the rear of the axle on the driver's side.

[scottsdaleowner75]

Yes you will have to drill a hole and instal the shock bolt and stud. No big deal. I vote shortbed all the way!!

[Raider Rudy]

Originally Posted by scottsdaleowner75

Yes you will have to drill a hole and instal the shock bolt and stud. No big deal. I vote shortbed all the way!!

Short Bed Yesssss!

[argonaut]

Originally Posted by scottsdaleowner75

Yes you will have to drill a hole and instal the shock bolt and stud. No big deal. I vote shortbed all the way!!

It looks like there is a standoff bracket that is riveted inside the frame C-channel. I'll have to remove it and relocate it further back on the frame.

[scottsdaleowner75]

Or you could just inboard the shocks with a new mount like the 1 ton K30's and CUCV's.

[west9378]

I like the idea of a long bed for now later you may decide to shorten the bed.
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[onebadbowtie]

long bed 4x4's look tougher!!!

[argonaut]

Photos?

[Altec]

If it is going to be used as a truck, then keep it long.

[msgross]

Captain Fab (on the board) makes a bracket for the newer steering box to mount to the flat frames. Use a piece of C Channel for the front crossmember extension, to mount the sway bar.

[argonaut]

I was looking at Catain Fab's post on the steering gearbox adapter. Do the 2wd and 4wd gearboxes mount in the same way/loctation/pattern? I have a CPP kit that I will be putting onto my 64 C10 in the next few weeks... but I'm not the biggest fan of CPP at the moment.

[msgross]

yes, they mount the same but the arm moves in different directions...

[LeftCoast32]

Very nice start to a build for your son! Keep us posted on the progress. Keep it a Long Bed, it will look great with a set of 33"-35" tires on it. Here is mine on stock suspension and 35" tires. I will have these wheels and a bunch of parts left over from my build. I am down in Carlsbad about 1.5 hours drive from you.

[Raider Rudy]

Originally Posted by LeftCoast32

Very nice start to a build for your son! Keep us posted on the progress. Keep it a Long Bed, it will look great with a set of 33"-35" tires on it. Here is mine on stock suspension and 35" tires. I will have these wheels and a bunch of parts left over from my build. I am down in Carlsbad about 1.5 hours drive from you.

Nice long bed! I noticed it the other day. I had big plans for the truck but my son said it was the truck of his dreams

[argonaut]

I believe my dad has secured the '72 donor truck with the 402 big block that is destined for transplant into the '66. That means we have all the major parts necessary to turn Big Ugly into a runner!

[argonaut]

Lefty, Let us know when you start pulling parts off of yours, there may be some we're interested in!