Time for a post. Over the last 2 months (not including the 2 weeks in Alaska!) I have found some time to work on the buggy.
Mounted the power antenna:
Fabricated the stainless exhaust (sorry, no final pic):
Then disassembled the truck, removed undercoating...
...degreased all of the components for chassis assembly, did a preliminary blast of the frame, then notched the frame for the rear axle with schedule 80 4" pipe:
The rear end housing was "dunked" at American Metal Cleaning and I fabbed the fuel and brake lines.
Next I'll disassemble, do a final quick-blast of the frame, rear end housing, leafs, etc. for the last time, primer, do the body work on the frame, paint and assemble.