so... selling the truck, lots of interest and offers but none where they need to be. I think its the wheels, they are 25% of the cost of the project and as easy as it was for me to buy them its hard for other people to see the value. luckily, the shop truck vibe works well, and I think I can still realize my selling price by splitting the wheels and the truck up.
I searched high and low for some 15x7 steel wheels that take dog dish caps and have 5 on 4 3/4 bolt pattern, thats a hard thing to find since they only came on some middle years of b body GM. I found a ton of 15x5 and 15x6 from the 60s and 70s, but the 15x7 are hard to find. I went to a salvage and had them pull what they said were 7s from a caprice, and they ended up being 6s. found what had to be the last set in salvage today!
gonna put in the 4x4 axle with rear disc and locker
and run my buick caps
I will fix the pinion angle while I am changing the axle so it can roll super uber low, its ok at drive height but changes at full drop.
gonna shorten the driveshaft an inch too.
I have had a lot of offers around what I will expect after removing the wheels, so should go quick. My wifes dad died last week and he was a retired ASE master tech, spent 31 years at the same dealership, I am thinking of putting the dealer name and number on the bedsides. shop truck!