'80 stepside swb retromod project

[ofnaman]

Couple more.

[ofnaman]

Starting to doubt going with 3.42 gears. Thinking 3.73's. Any thoughts on the subject? 6.0L and 6l90e trans is going in it for sure.

[ofnaman]

Well, another day down. Finally got the chassis completely tore down. Got to the only part of this build I did not want to do, but 2 guys, 2 angle grinders with wire wheels, and 4 1/2 hours later it was ready for paint. What a chore that was, but it came out looking great. We started painting, I'm not exactly sure how far my friend got on painting it, I started painting, but my back started killing me and I had to bow out (I broke it years ago and from time to time it really bothers me). He also picked up a pretty good sized order from summit the other day so I'm excited to start putting the parts together.

[ofnaman]

More pics

[ofnaman]

And more, some are of the po's nightmare welding job that we repaired.

[ofnaman]

Some of our repair, posted the repair pics last week, here is more.

[ofnaman]

Last ones this week

[ofnaman]

We decided on 3.73 gears and and auburn posi unit.

[Blackpony]

I have 3.73 with an auburn in mine and love the setup. I went with moser axles with c clips and have no problems. Good luck looks like it is going to be a nice build!!

[881ton]

Looking good nice work!

[ofnaman]

Anyone know off hand what year xj (I think it was an XJ) shaft to use for the steering on this truck? I thought I had the thread for that saved, but I can't find it.

[ofnaman]

Frame is painted!

[ofnaman]

One more

[ofnaman]

Got a little more done today. Biggest breakthrough is parts are finally going back on. Got the springs dissasembled, removed the add a leaf, cleaned up and painted. Also removed the stock spring insulators and installed new polyurathane bushings. Installed the drop shackles and hangers, assembled the freshly painted leafs and installed them. Then reinstalled the rear axle so we could rebuild and regear/posi it.

[ofnaman]

Out with the old open 2.76 gears and in with the new posi 3.73 gears.

[ofnaman]

Still have to paint most of the rear axle housing, but it's in. That's pretty much it for today. We also removed the factory straps from the fuel tank mounts, they were pretty crappy, and new straps are actually pretty cheap. Got the tank mounts painted as well.

[Sodell]

Looks like you guys have a great plan going, wish I could afford an LS swap. Welds not too bad.

[ofnaman]

Originally Posted by Sodell

Looks like you guys have a great plan going, wish I could afford an LS swap. Welds not too bad.

I wish I could afford a project..... This truck actually belongs to my friend. He's been wanting to build one for a while. He's supplying the parts and helping with the build, but he's kind of let me take the reigns as far as how to build it. I'm happy to be a part of it. We've both already learned a lot, and it's been fun so far. I will say this site has been a big help, I probably have spent 150 hours looking on here in the past few months.

[ofnaman]

Got some more done yesterday. Fininshed up the rear end rebuild, cleaned up the rear end and painted it. Installed the new gas tank straps, and installed the tank. Then we tore down the front suspension. Got the front crossmember cleaned up, painted and reinstalled.

[ofnaman]

more

[ofnaman]

The front end was completely together prior to teardown. Was very "fun" getting it apart with it off of the frame. I meant to take the springs out when the engine was still in, but I forgot. Then I was going to take them out when it was tied down to the trailer, but I forgot again. We ended up getting them compressed and taken out safely, but it took some time figuring out how to do that.

[moregrip]

looking good brother!

[ofnaman]

Little more done today. Got the a arms rebuilt with new ball joints and bushings, and got the drop spindles and coils put back in. Also got the new engine mounts put on the towers and got the engine painted and set in. Did a lot of painting and getting things together for the rest of the build as well.

[ofnaman]

Couple more

[ofnaman]

Gonna pull the balancer to paint it.