My wifes new truck.
 

Hello all, I'm new here and just wanted to share mine and my wife's first truck build. It's a 72 short bed step side we got as a rolling chassis. We hope to have it running and finished by the middle of next year at the latest. My avatar is the stage we're at right now and this is 1 month after buying it. I'll include pictures in the next post. Have a good day.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Congratulations and welcome aboard. Yes we love pictures. Lotta great information here. And a lot of great people. Good luck with the new project.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Welcome from East TN!! BTW, stepsides ROCK!!! :metal:

What's the overall plan for the build? Stock? Restomod? Pro-Touring?

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

It's going to be a daily driver with around 4-5 track days a year. I got my engine/trans today. It's a 2008 l92/6l80e combo out of an Escalade. I've got a yard/shop full of stuff to start on it but no help from the weather gods. It is sitting outside on a concrete pad and when I finally get the rolling chassis back together it can go inside the shop and get the engine/trans and then I can install it without the cab in place so I can get all the stuff in the right places with little to no hassle. Here are some more pictures of it since I got it.

T.J. Johnson

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Nice project. Keep pics coming with progress. Matt is correct Steppers rule!!

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Welcome! Looks like a solid foundation for your build. Any history on truck?

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because the weather sucks and I've not been able to accomplish anything. I have enclosed some more pictures and hopefully by this weekend will have most of the suspension pieces on weather permitting. The rear end is a 12 bolt that I'm putting a yukon limited slip and 3:73 gears in again hopefully this weekend.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Nice to see progress!

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Worked on the truck today since the weather was decent. I first had to go pick up my newly modified tranny. It cost me 250$ to have it done and the tranny shop owner told me he didn't see anything wrong when he had it apart so that made me feel great. I got home and used some oven cleaner on it and the rear-end so I could primer it. I also got the bearings and races removed so I can just slap it together tomorrow "after setting all the proper things of course" and then be able to put the trailing arms and rear-end and springs in the truck the next day weather willing. It is supposed to get cold again on Sat/Sun but I don't mind as long as there's no rain. My wife actually helped out for most of the time but boy you should have heard her while she was holding the rear still while I was using the slide hammer. Well I hope everyone is doing well today and had a good new years and christmas. Have a good day.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

I forgot the answer Lanman when he asked a question, I am sorry. Not there is no history that I know of, I just bought it from someone who does old cars as a hobby. He is building a 67 or a 68 stepside that will have an LS3 and 6 speed stick that he purchased in it when he gets done.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

It's been a fruitful couple of days. I got the pinion depth set in the rear end. The rear end will hopefully be together this week. It was a beautiful day today and I took full advantage of it. I got a lot of stuff painted and the A-arms and spindles installed on the front end. It's missing some pieces and the spindle nuts aren't tightened yet but it's together. I'll get some better pictures in the sun so you can see the colors better. The springs are VHT bright red engine enamel, the A-arms are a Krylon black hammered metallic, the spindles are painted Dupli-coloar stainless steel, and the brake dust shields are Dupli-color engine metallic aluminum. I think it looks good and the subtlety is just enough. Well you folks have a good day.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Nice!

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Got some more stuff done the past couple of weeks. 1. Put the rotors and rear end on as well as the wheels. 2. Rolled it into the shop so I could work on it out of the rain finally. 3. Put the engine on the engine stand. 4. Built a jig to lift the cab off of the frame "this is one that I had seen from someone else's post" and it worked great with the engine hoist. I only have a couple of good pictures to post tonight because of my wife's stellar skill with a 12 year old digital camera. She is in training to be a great shop helper. I'm still working on her training but she's coming along nicely. I will have a lot more pictures on Friday. Have a good day.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Well it looks like I can't load any photos due to not paying some token. Will try again in a few days.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Pictures are too big. Need to resize and they will load.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Nice progress. In for more pics.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Warrens69GMC is correct. The pictures you are trying to load are too big. That is what the message you are getting means. You need to make them smaller in size. 1150 pixels in width will work.

LockDoc

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Looking good, this will be a fun truck!

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

That things looking good! :metal:

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Got some stuff done today along with the other day. Pictures galore even one of the elusive helping you with your resto wife.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

I pulled the cab with a neato contraption that I copied from someone on this forum and it worked great. I would like to thank that man for making my life easier. I also made a dolly so I could move my cab around the shop.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Some more pictures.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

I was wondering what I have to do to have this thread put on the correct "builds" section of this website. If an administrator can do it then that would be great but if not then let me know how and I'll do it if I can. Thanks.

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Looking good I'll be watching this one!

Re: My wifes new truck.
 

Got some more stuff done today. My wife put another coat of POR 15 on the frame and I got the disc brakes installed as well as sealing and painting the underside of the cab. Will be running the brake lines tomorrow and building the new rear cross member. Everyone have a good day.