The Kraken

[ChuckDriver]

Perfect!!

[Sin7]

diggin the Kraken

[Yezzi]

Love it

[Lolyin58]

Truck looks killler Del. Its making want to get on my 58 Short Fleet now. Maybe I should just load it in my trailer and bring it to you to finish!!!

[67cheby]

Looks great, great to finally meet you at SEMA !

[79mellow]

Originally Posted by Delmo

Love this one.

I'm diggin the ls. me and my dad just got in a wreck in our truck now we are rebuilding the original 350. cant wait to see this truck

[darkhorse970]

Originally Posted by Delmo

Thanks Dan, ya that's real Leather. Cam went and picked them himself, I think the colors are perfect. He had it out for a shake down and now it's back for some final tweaks. I'll get some good shots of it when it's all done. This thing drives soooo good.

I love this view! I'm looking for my next project now...

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Delmo

Love the rack on her in this shot!

[Daze57]

a very very nice truck

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Truck turned out great.....

[daveshilling]

RELEASE The KRAKEN!!!!

I'm the lucky new owner of this sexy lady... Still working diligently on Lucky the Trucky, but how do you pass this up??

I'll be getting her cleaned up and post some updates here and there. Excited to make some tweaks and get her daily-driver ready!

[Kevin_C]

congratulations. The truck has some attitude.

[Rickysnickers]

So when did you acquire the truck? I just cruised through the build thread. Quite nice

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by Kevin_C

congratulations. The truck has some attitude.

Thanks! Patina Black just can't be beat... it looks so good. And will probably need A/C cause it gets hot out here as it is

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

So when did you acquire the truck? I just cruised through the build thread. Quite nice

I've barely had her a few days, and so far she just needs some stuff like tired ball joints, new R&P, and tires replaced and she'll be ready to hit the streets as a fair-weather daily.

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by daveshilling

I've barely had her a few days, and so far she just needs some stuff like tired ball joints, new R&P, and tires replaced and she'll be ready to hit the streets as a fair-weather daily.

Nice

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by daveshilling

RELEASE The KRAKEN!!!!

I'm the lucky new owner of this sexy lady... Still working diligently on Lucky the Trucky, but how do you pass this up??

I'll be getting her cleaned up and post some updates here and there. Excited to make some tweaks and get her daily-driver ready!

You bought this from my friend JP in PA. I was trying to help him sell the RS chassis he has a result of selling you the truck. I like this one. Great patina.

Marc

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

You bought this from my friend JP in PA. I was trying to help him sell the RS chassis he has a result of selling you the truck. I like this one. Great patina.

Marc

It's a very good looking ride, that's for sure! It will be fun cleaning it up and enjoying the cruises.

[NorCalGal]

Congratulations on your new purchase….. super cool truck!

[59chev]

Congratulations! That truck was a major inspiration for my build!

[daveshilling]

Congratulations on your new purchase….. super cool truck!

Congratulations! That truck was a major inspiration for my build!

Thanks, yall!

[daveshilling]

Although this is a functional truck already, it has been thoroughly enjoyed for a decade and needs some attention.

I've been working on some little jobs, and some bigger jobs.

The hood latch/radiator cover thing (what is this panel called?) had both corners broken off and I couldn't understand why... but I replaced those. Holes drilled and a little black paint and they're serviceable again.

Then I figured out why they broke...

[daveshilling]

...the entire radiator support was only connected to the inner fenders by these two corner bolts. No hardware at the top (usually has two bolts there) and no hardware at the bottom!!

I have no clue why this was done, but I reconnected the front end so it was actually one piece again with some high grade bolts.

Unsurprisingly, this had a positive impact on my ability to adjust and correct the door-to-fender gaps, which were very close and rubbing when the doors opened and closed.

[daveshilling]

I also found a MAJOR problem up front.. the Front Crossmember was cracked on both sides around the drivers lower A arm mount... i ground that out, welded it closed, said a prayer, and moved forward.

I didn't add any bracing/gussets as I had a time-sensitive deadline to return the truck to a drivable state, but I may do so in the future.

[dsraven]

for the body issues also check the cab and rad support mounts for worn out, broken, missing or cracked out mounts. the cab sits on rubber at the rear but is metal on metal at the front mount. the rad support also sits on rubber. this creates a seesaw effect so having good integrity on the rubber mount material and also the steel around those mounts is more critical. my 57 and 58 both had badly rusted rear cab mounts and also really bad rubber mounts. to get the doors adjusted properly and have them last it is crucial to start off with solid doors. these doors have a habit of being rusted at the spot welds where the lower door hinge bolts on (and also the upper hinge pockets, webs that hold the inner and outer panels together etc) so what i usually do is grtab the open door and try to twist it. it will soon be apparent if the door is solid or if it allows a twisting action. next upis to have good tight hinges. i highly recommend to rebuild the stock hinges if you are using the original doors as they may have been bent to fit at the factory. i have several doors for the task force trucks, all original, and they all fit differently on the same set of hinges on the same cab. after you get that stuff figured out remove the front fenders and adjust the doors to fit the cab. then install the fenders and adjust them to fit the cab and doors. shm the front cab mount and the rad support mount as needed to get the gaps straight and even. then install the hood and adjust that remembering that the cab can be pivotted on the driver's front cab mount in order to get the hood gap at the firewall to be the same.
here is a lnk to a guy who has a youtube and explains body gaps and fitting the parts together
https://youtu.be/RgUwd9PdWiA
for the crossmember, holy cow! please post up some pics with a better reference of the material thickness and size of the cross member. was the control arm possibly bottoming out causing the stress cracks? is the material under-spec's for the related stress?