My neglected 72

[higgys72]

My dad picked this truck up for me when I was 13. I drove it through my junior year of high school until I blew a head gasket and the engine we replaced it with. 2 years later I joined the navy and the truck sat at my parents house while I squirreled away some money to build an engine and transmission for it. I got it back on the road again and used it as my daily driver until I was deployed. While my dad was driving the truck from San Diego to Northern California the freshly built 700r4 gave out. The “great shop” that built the transmission rebuilt it under warranty and I paid to have them rebuild the transfer case at the same time. They kept the truck for 6 months, didn’t touch the transfer case, and “blew up” the rear end on a test drive. I got the truck towed back to me in San Diego and built a rear end while I was waiting on the truck and installed it when the truck got to my house. Excited to be reunited with my truck after a long deployment I was disappointed to find out the transmission was left untouched for 6 months and was completely inoperable. After this the truck has sat and kinda been picked apart for other projects and left neglected until I game up with a decision on what to do with it. As the years have gone by my hobbies have changed but my passion for exploring the mountains and difficult trails has only grown. Many won’t like the direction I’m taking a classic and say I’m ruining it, but at the end of the day it’s my truck, it’s been part of my life for almost 19 years now and will be with me until I die. At that point it will be my kids problem to deal with me ruining it. Last February I sold my duramax and started funding a big budget build on this old truck. Last month I finally got the last of the parts I have been waiting to come in on back order.
Here’s the build plan.
Dana 60 front arb locker Yukon chromo axles and super joints. Yukon hubs.
14 full float arb locker
40x13.5r17 nitro trail grapplers on method beadlocks
14 in travel king coilovers with ORD 4 link
14 in travel king smooth body with custom 63 in leafs (may link later)
West Texas steering box and redneck ram hydraulic assist
ORD cross over steering.
Ruff stuff 7/8 heim high steer
Built 350 with Holley sniper efi
Nv4500 with np203/205 doubler
Tom woods drive shafts
Internal roll cage with prp suspension seats.
Vintage air
Dakota digital cruise control
Raptor lined paint
Custom built bumpers