Budget Shortbed: welding, grinding, rust oh my

[tim_mc]

Wow...lotsa work! Seats look great. Busch...Brewed Under Six Clydesdale Horses?. My uncle is the only one that drinks it...others drink Bud Light. At least he can keep track of his beverages in my dad's shop fridge. Not knocking it...anything cold after an afternoon of welding and griding is welcomed!

[Onry69CST]

Haha thanks - Yup, Busch for me, but I wont turn much down if somone is offering also. When I'm working I generally don't crack one untill I'm cleaning up or almost done, which can be pretty late these days.

[Onry69CST]

Better shot of the seats

[KevinK7]

Excellent work on the seat brackets, nicely done
Truck is coming along great

[clay68c10]

The truck is looking great. Those dodge seats are cool. They look a little taller than the GM version.

[Onry69CST]

Thanks, I fit the seats as high as possible while level with the rear window channel. I'm 5'8" and like to sit higher. The smaller steering wheel helped for plenty of leg room. I also made the mounts so they bolt in on the vertical flange, and I or anyone can re drill a new set of mount holes if needed.

The seat position process was hard for my ocd mind to decide on.

[Onry69CST]

Well it's been a minute. Lot's of small setbacks, including an oil leak, intake leak, bent driveshaft, plugged fuel line, and other small things. Also had to weld a new park notch on steering column

The body is all on and i just have another day or twos worth of work before I take it down the road if my leaks are fixed. The front bumper that came on it is a 71/72, but I think it looks fine. Maybe I'll put some small hidden LED spot/flood combo light bars where the unused bumper lights are to help see at night.

[toolboxchev]

Same thought on the bumpers, it would be a nice custom original touch.

[Onry69CST]

Truck is on the ground and ready for a test run when I get a chance. Probably Friday

[Onry69CST]

Funny thing, the drivers door striker is misaligned pretty bad since I dropped it on the wheels. I guess the frame flexed a little bit pushing the door mounts down just a hair. I had the frame sitting on stands right in front of the body mounts before. I'm going to try lifting the door up at the door side of the hinge bolts. Not ideal but taking the front end on and off is extremely tedious as everyone knows.

[BigBird05]

As I am about to get into the same job of rust repair, I found your write ups and detailed steps very insightful. The photos were terrific. I will be rereading these posts over and over as I go along. Great work and thanks for helping all of us beginners.

[Onry69CST]

Thanks, getting started is the hard part, the rest is just a puzzle. In hindsight with both doors I should have reclocked them after all door guts were added, and sitting on the tires. The additional weight of the door components cause the doors to sag just a little bit more than without them.

[Onry69CST]

The truck is on light duty again, this project is about wrapped up. The rear end is junk though, but it will have to do until I find a local 5 lug. Also have to knock the shine off the doors.

Thanks to everyone who helped and encouraged.

[HO455]

Great work!

[KevinK7]

Again, awsome work and congrats for getting it back on its wheels

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice job.....

[Onry69CST]

Thanks guys!

[Rustbuster]

Nice job on your truck. What Dodge vehicle did your buddy seats come from? Are they as hard to find as the Chevy buddy seats?

[Onry69CST]

Originally Posted by Rustbuster

Nice job on your truck. What Dodge vehicle did your buddy seats come from? Are they as hard to find as the Chevy buddy seats?

Thanks, I believe they were from a 70's power wagon. I'm not sure how rare they are. They certainly cost much much less than a c10 factory buddy seat setup. Although I had about 10 hrs in fab work, creating new mounts and sectioning the seat frame.