I fully agree on that idea of progress. As little as it may seem it gets it closer to be finished. I'll leave you to the household duties and venture to the shop to order pushrods.

 

So I had a setback in regards to the drop spindles I ordered from CPP. They use the same casting for all of their C10 spindles and then drill the tapers according to the particular model and it appears although I ordered the correct 63-70 model what I received was for the 73-87 C10. Well after waiting on hold for 35 minutes with CPP only to be hung up on twice while waiting in the queue I finally managed to get someone on the phone! He is requesting from his supervisor that they exchange them for me. He said I will likely have to pay shipping both ways but I think that would be mostly fair given that I placed the order on March 1 and I am just now 9 months later finding the issue. Hopefully his boss will approve it and I can move on from this debacle!

In more exciting news I was able to swap the non drop spindles that I have on with without issue and do a loose fit of all the steering components and it appears everything works so thats a win for me. I have managed to misplace the pitman arm nut on the steering box side but I know it's around somewhere so I'm not going to waste to much time digging for it yet.





Here you can see the lower ball joint issue. And this is only spinning the nut on by hand without any tools.



I rolled it outside on its own wheels for the first time in over 10 years which for me was a big accomplishment. I also found that the jeep roller wheels that I picked up for free won't fit due to the hub bore up front so I resorted to using the new wheels that I have for it. I had the wife toss the jeep wheels on Facespace this morning for free since I got them free and someone is picking those up tonight to get them outta my way.



Also if you have a keen eye you will notice that I am missing the concave washers on the upper control arm on one side that I have also misplaced so I used a couple extra shims for now until those turn up just to keep me moving forward.



Since I had it outside I figured it would be a good time to power wash it and get as much crap off before I go to town with a wire wheels to help eliminate some mess.



After that I just turned it around to put the front in under the cab so I can work on the rear and start getting the air tank and compressors mounted.

 

Very nice progress so far!!

 

Thanks! I'm just trying to keep the forward momentum momentuming forward lol!

Just got the call that CPP is going to swap my spindles for me if I pay shipping both ways. I suppose that is fair and I can say I am happy with that resolution.

 

I think its fair lol, better then getting stuck with them and having to order a new set!

 

Nice to get things going.

Do you take all parts off the frame again to paint it?

 

Thanks guys! After giving out some thought I think I'll come out ahead by selling these spindles and buying some new ones with the shipping costs both ways not to mention I still don't have confidence in CPPs turn around time since I was told I would have an RMA in my email within 15 minutes of our phone call yesterday and I still don't have that. Shipping from VA to CA and then CA back to VA will be expensive so if I just sell these for a few dollars less than what I paid for them I'm only losing shipping costs once to ship them to the new owner and then shipping on the new ones is free.

Error yes I'll pull everything from the frame once I'm done with all the mockup and clean and paint the bare frame at that point.

 

Cool. Rust proof afterwards.

Just pulled my Alfa Romeo body from the body rotator. Have to re-paint the places where the supports were bolted on. A bit of airbrushing in the next days. Should really post into that build as well.

 

I found some time to get the air tank and compressors mounted where I wanted them. I was even able to find a home for my VX4 manifold on the same crossmember I built for the tank so that was a win. The pics are from the mockup stage as I had to get some more hardware and then haven't had time to go back and finish bolting things together.















It's tucked up nice and high and should be completely hidden by the bumper.







I will have to do a little trimming of the rear cross sill to clearance for the tank and I may have to do a 1.5-2" bed raise (not sure on that part yet) but I really wanted to put the tank here so I will do what I have to do to make it work! The tank isn't the issue causing the possible bed raise though its the VX4 and the way I mounted it so I may look at reconfiguring that since I am sure that will be far less work than a bed raise lol. I'll wait till I have some time to get the crossmember bolted in and the fuel tank bolted back in then clearance the cross sill since I know for sure I have to do that regardless before I make a decision on the VX4 mount issue.

 

I had some help in the garage as well which slowed progress to zero but was completely worth it when I walked in the door yesterday to my 8 year old son saying "Daddy! are you ready to go work on the truck now?" His birthday is coming up in a few weeks so I am going to get him his own welding helmet and gloves along with some proper shop attire!