Re: The Brown Turd
 

First round of cutting and buffing with Ira's help. Yes, it was cold playing in the water wet sanding at 20 degrees.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

It's looking very nice! You should be proud!

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Who said you can’t polish a turd? Looks great.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Nice truck it's looking great, no turds no mo!

Re: The Brown Turd
 

After many hours of cutting and buffing, the Turd was becoming more and more polished. You can now see your reflection almost clearly. Much better compared to the heavy orange peel it had from paint.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Looks awesome, nice work!

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Nothing like a polished turd looks great.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

All of you work is paying off. Truck looks real good.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Here is the pictures with the 2" lift on the front with ORD's grease-able bushings . It raised the truck a total of 4 1/2" in the front. I believe it was due to the fact that the rubber bump stocks were almost resting on the axle. Lets just say the old springs were well used. I used the 3" spring on the back to try and keep the truck level but, the rear only came up about 2" from where it was, even with the factory block back in place. I think all i need is a little taller block which is ok since I need to reset the pinion angle to get rid of the small drive line vibration i have developed.

All I need is to find some gas tank doors for the bed. They are the aluminum Travel Tanks doors but i cant reuse the old ones i pulled off since they were all bent up. Anyone know if there is a replacement source. Seems like quite a few people are able to get them.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Theses pictures are from about a year ago, so I have finished getting all the trim on and a few other things. I also figured out that my truck was starting to run pretty inefficient. I was tracking my fuel mileage and it went from 9-10 to 7 mpg. It turned out to be a bad brake booster and was pulling vacuum off of 2 cylinders. I think that maybe why I've had a hard time getting it to pass smog.

Before I left home for the summer I managed to get 12 mpg! Not to bad for the tired worn out power plant in the old Brown Turd.

When I get back home in a few weeks I plan to tackle a transfer case rebuild when I am redoing the pinon angle and related work. It has had a tendency to not want to shift in or out of gear. I want to take a look and I will be able to seal up one more leak for a while.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Your truck is looking really nice! I found this place that sells the gas doors.

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Doors/Ul...Fd66wAod6sQOoA

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Thanks Ill check it out.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Its been a while so here is the what I've been working on lately.

Winter 18-19:
I pulled out the transmission and attempted a rebuild in my dad's garage. It went fairly well other than being super cold but, that is what insulated catharrt bibs were invented for.
I cleaned and painted the housing. All of the clutched inside the tranny were toast and it was only a matter of time before there was nothing left. Not to mention, I had found out that a few large chunks of metal casting had come off of the shift rod where it contacts the pawl, near the spring end, and had been floating around the tranny for some time.
I pulled a bunch of funky work done on the valve body and reset everything back to stock configuration minus a shift kit. I ended up needing to buy a new drum/input shaft since a chunk of that metal got stuck behind a thrust washer and chewed a bunch of the bearing surface off the drum.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

End of summer 18:

NP 205 rebuild. It was such grease ball that I had no idea what an NP 205 looked like until after 2 days of soaking and wire brushing in a tub with a few gallons of degreaser and water. New paint, bearings, seals, ect. and a clear coat to hopefully prevent rust and make cleaning easier in the future.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Spring 19: I had been chasing down a vibration that was getting pretty bay while driving. Had the rear drive line checked due a small dent in the middle. Guys at the shop said it still looked good and I had it balanced. I also had to get the front drive shaft stub replaced since it was also shot. Still had a vibration. All the wheels had recently been balanced rear bearings replaced a few years back so I was stumped.

Fall 19: I ended up putting the truck on jack stands to look at the front end. That was the one spot on the truck I had never touched other than the lift springs. I found s that the pass wheel hub nut had backed of and the hub had enough play to rub the back of the on the knuckle studs. This created a seal failure and all the wheel grease had obvious been compromised by water and metal shavings. As I pulled the front drums off they were in bad shape so I decided I would rebuild front end. I ended up buying an axle out of a early mid 70's chevy that had disc breaks. You see where I'm going with this.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Winter 19: I wanted to use the original axle but it had drums what were pretty beat inside and also the small shafts and joints. I tore it apart cleaned and painted. The ball joints were absolutely shot. That and the pass wheel bearing was probably my where my vibration was coming from. It was driving me so crazy that I logged vibration frequencies with my phone and had determined that the frequency matched that of a revolution of the axle shaft. I just assumed rear end and had not considered the front. At the time, it had made sense because that is where the vibration "sounded" like it was coming from. oops.

The axle I picked up ended up having the shafts chewed up near the inner seals and would in no way be able to create seal ever again. I had to but new axle shafts and the drive line shop put in some new u joints. After many more cold nights in an uninstalled loafing shed, in the dark, with a headlamp, I finally got an acceptable contact pattern. I used doner axle knuckles, backing plates, and spindles on the drum axle housing since it was in a little better shape.

Spring Break 20: After a few months I finally just put it all back together and got off the stands. I made new 3/16" hard brake line and new 1/4" line up to passenger frame, installed new master, prop valve, braided steel lines to wheels, rotors, studs, calipers. No leaks so far! New steering box since I had lots of play in the steering wheel earlier even after new tie rods and drag links 2 years ago.

This was easily my most costly project yet. At least its all important stuff.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

A few pics

Re: The Brown Turd
 

before and after

Re: The Brown Turd
 

I think its safe to say you can change the name of your thread now, even if you had a couple paint issues you have something to be proud of.. :)

Re: The Brown Turd
 

These updates have taken your pick em up to the next level. Very clean and thorough build.

Great look on those springs/wheels/tires too

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Yeah, some would say I'm type A. That is probably why it takes me so long to do one job, everything has to be perfect.:lol. It will be worth it once I get it re-registered and on the road again. I'm feeling a road/fishing trip, way out in the sticks, coming up in the future. I can actually afford to fill the Turd up at the moment.

Re: The Brown Turd
 

Thanks, I am proud of all the work I've been fortunate enough to achieve. I never had giving up on it come across my mind, even if I should have. Guess, I'm a little too stubborn.

It seems something else always needs fixed (just like anything else I own). Finally starting to get ahead of the curve. I guess I could rename it the money pit Turd or Golden Turd:waah:.