Welcome! It looks like you have your work cut out for you! Do yourself a favor, and get this thing indoors. I think that you will have an easier time figuring out what you would like to do with it, if it is not in a pile of weeds. I have two GMC pickups. One is original, and one is a hot rod. The hot rod is the one I drive everyday. If you are going to fix this thing and drive it everyday, I would advise not going original with it. My ol' yeller can do 85 on the highway with no problem (I am not even going to tell you what I have taken ol' yeller up to, as I know I would get a scoldin' by half the good folks on this forum) I like the old rusty look! There is a guy that lives down the street from me that has an old chevy. The body looks aged, but is in great shape. There is a tree stump stuck between the bumper, and the grill (he had to cut the tree down that had grown through it, as it sat for many years on a farm) The truck has nice hubcaps, and the engine is all chromed out! This truck may look like a junker to some, but it has balls. Sit and look at this truck for a good hour or so every day. Let the truck give you the inpiration as to what to do with it. Here is what inspired me to do what I am going to do to my other gmc (not ol' yeller) The truck was painted orange right after it was purchased as one of many company truck for Johnson builder in Salina KS. My grandfather owned this truck. This is the only vehicle that he ever drove. He just kept in running, and he drove it untill he was diagnosed with huntington's desise, and he could no longer drive. He gave me this truck about a year or so before he passed. It has always been orange, and my intention has always been to repaint it orange. When I was moving this truck from KS to my home in lincoln, I noticed that a lot of the paint was wearing off. (This truck sat for about 10 years out in the elements) underneith the orange, was a nice aqua blue. Admitadly, the little patches of blue complimented the orange quite nicely! I have decided that I will paint the truck a pearl orange. The bumper a grill will be pearl white. I will then do some fancy metalic turquoise pinstriping. I decided on pinstriping for two reasons-I am good at doing pinstripe by hand, and my grandfather always encoureged me to pursue my career as an artist. Right now I am in the process of making a computer generated image of what the paint job will look like, and I will start doing the body work in the winter. Your truck has a peice of your family history. Please do not go slap a candy apple red Macco paint job on it!
Not To Worry ! I won't be far away and I'll try to sneak my laptop into the trunk justincase... Where we're going is close to some secret desert abandoned junkyards , if I have any energy left , I'll prolly do my excersize there , walking & digging in the sand for this 'n that.... -Nate
I agree with Jess! It will be alot easier to fiddle with once you get it away from the weeds. A word of friendly advise! Be very aware of your surrounding when you start playing with it. All those nooks and crannies have probably been the home of several nasty little verments over the years and they, like us, become very protective of their property. If a hose under the hood starts to move on its own, it probably wouldn't be wise to grab it Finally got my connection back at the house today, so I got to enjoy the pics! Looks like a fun project. I noticed that a bunch of us were suggesting to you what you might do to it. Always remember that you're the one paying the bills, so do what YOU want to do with it. If it were mine, I'd get the brakes up the snuff, change the fluids, and following the very good procedures that Nate has been so kind to post on here, fire that baby up and have fun with it.
Interesting truck, has the fresh air heater, what looks like a PTO knob and cable, and maybe a trailer brake lever. The one that's really a head scratcher is why the quarter sized holes in the exhaust manifold runners. Some rust in right kick panel, and probably other side also but floor looks pretty solid. It can be saved from what the pictures show and a great opportunity to get to know a new group of helpful people. Good luck
Howdy BT not to be out done here, welcome another Texan to the AD truck world. My truck came out of a field in Lynn County not too far from you by Texas standards. 2 months of intentions eventually turned into 2.5 years of real effort to get on the road again. It can be done, and I am proof that anyone can do it, not just those mechanical wizards sharing their magic in this forum. Send your wife's tomcat into the small nooks and cranies under the truck, you might be surprized what the cat comes back with, and better the cat than you. My truck was in a cotton field for at least 10 years before I retrieved it. It was full of red dirt, in the cab corners, doors, etc. Now just pull up a seat and join us. and keep your camera handy. Jim
Here's to ya, Jim! Let the records show that I will be another (fill-in-the-blank) that will have his AD running as fine as frog hair. So, BT~ I'm missing the interior shots, but I'll find them. You DO have a 3/4 though. I'm sorry. You won't be toolin' down the highway in this unless you do (A) What Nate said about the pumpkin. or (B) Put a different rear end in it all together. Now, you might find an 8 lug, low 3s/high2s that'll fit, OR... _OR_ *OR* you could swap the front axle for a half ton and get a six lug or five lug rear to go with whatever lug setup you decided to go with when you changed your front drums to disk. (skip the booster part- overkill) Fact is, you've got an AD. We're happy for you! Let us confuse you just as much as we possible can before we give you the exact advice you're looking for! I have no idea how many times I have been on this site, (without looking) but I too, have a 3/4. Check my m-a-n-y, m-a-n-y posts. I've hunted for the best way to make a DD out of mine- (ya like that , Nate?) (Nate's our local Acronym Guru, as well as our resident expert!) I've finally come up with a solid plan. Stock engine, stock tranny, 1/2 ton front axle,(6 lug) new rear end, (prolly 70 Chevy truck (6 lug), low 3s) 12 volt system with wipers. Shoulder belts on both sides. Good, tall tires (in the back) This way, I can drive my 228 until it can't (or I can't) go anymore. Once that happens, then I'll either rebuild my block, or drop in a computer! The thing YOU need to do is get the weeds (and we all know ...the mouse nest(s) inside the seat) taken care of, then on that moonlit night, as you go to the door to look at her "one more time", go ahead~ Go on out to her, she's your truck, right? Reach for that handle with trembling hand. Open that door. Quietly slip behind the wheel and pull the door too- but NO CLICK! Put both hands on the wheel, your right foot on the pedal, notice that slight, far-off "mouse fart" smell~ and look out at your view. Think of the people who designed these things. Think of the people who drove these things, (even the 3/4s- how the hell did they ever SELL these things?!) (Hi honey! Why are you mad? I hurried home! Well it won't go faster than 45 miles an hour!) (Obviously the person who said, hell yeah! 5.55 rear end sounds good to me!... must have lived alone. On a farm... ...with a truck load of stumps....) I digress. (really? we're shocked!) Anyway- as you look out over that hood, and down across that fender, think about what you want. What DO you want out of that old truck? Then on that magical night, when it all comes together~ pinky-swear that you'll do whatever it takes to have that thing running down the road with you behind the wheel. Let's see.... at an hourly wage of $25.00 an hour, this things logged me off while typing, that must mean I've given you my $32.59 worth! By the way~ that's my modest carpentry price per hour (for whatchew get) NOT my teaching $ per hour...
Awsome way to describe the experiance Zig as that is just about dead on. Anytime I get a project I kind of do that exact thing as if becoming one with the project lol. My main concern right now is getting it out of the weeds and basically hit it with a few bug bombs and such to make it safer to be in or around. We have been known to have snakes out here and I have had my fair share of encounters with black widows . Plans for the truck I am not even 50% certain on as I have just been uncertain of what I want to do with it but it will hit me on night at 3 in the morning or something and then I won't be able to sleep lol. This truck doesn't have to be something fast or able to pull huge trailers and such as I have my other truck that I am working on for that. It's a 66 Ford F-100 with a 351 Windors in it soon to be backed by a C4 or C6 tranny. Pics are in the process of painting and just about done now. Not a chevy but a few pics of it: So I am trying to take in consideration that I may not need the 3/4 ton for the hod rod type thing but then again they are awsome looking trucks. As you guys can tell I am very up in the air but first things first...gotta get it safe to work on. Mike
Sounds good and that's a clean old F... Ffffff.... I can't say it Just funnin' ya Black widows are nothing , just pop 'em with your thumb , that's what I do and it's common to find literally dozens of them in one place here . Bees & Hornets , them I'm seriously askeert of but generally if you slap 'em and then wipe your hand sideways , they'll crush and roll off with no bite and be dead by the time you brush 'em off but you gotta be fast , as soon as you feel it light on you .
Black Widows and Snakes??? Dudes, Those things are the stuff of legends up in my area. On Long Island, we don't worry about such things. Got no nasty bugs (never even SEEN a black widow) nor snakes that can hurt you on the island. I consider myself lucky. When I was a boy and restoring my first car, I read a story about some guy in Australia restoring an Oldsmobile. They have these really nasty spiders down there that are named after one of the cities. Can't remember the name, but one bite back then and you were pretty much done for (before anti-venom came out for the little nasty). He told of these bad boys dropping down onto him as he worked under the car and skittering out from under it faster than Petty in his hey day. Still and all, I HATE laying under the truck and having even a garden variety creepy-crawly running up my arm or dropping onto my nose as I have both hands into something that I can't let go of immediately. Yuuuuucccckkk!!! Soooo, whenever the bugs get out of hand in the garage I set off a bug bomb at night and shut all the doors. Open the doors wide to air it out for a few hours the next day and no more problems for at least several weeks and sometimes as long as a month. Not sure how they work on snakes though We do have wasps and hornets, however and the Raid wasp and hornet killer is just UNBELIEVABLE it works so good. It is a nervous system toxin and works by destroying the neuro transmitting chemicals that the bugs nervous system needs to function. Our systems use the SAME chemicals (acetylcholine), so keep that stuff out of your eyes and OFF your hands and DON'T breathe it in at all. The damage to your system may be subtle and undetectable, but it is damage nonetheless. Years ago the Raid product actually worked better than it does now. Back then you could spray it in the air at an approaching hornet and if even ONE drop got him he would drop dead immediately mid flight and hit the ground. Since then I have a sneaky suspicion that there were some law suits from damaged humans and they made the stuff a lot weaker but still VERY potent so be careful. (Sorry...it's just the doctor in me digressing and running away with it). Same thing goes for all the great chemicals we use on our trucks to clean off gaskets and engines and brakes, etc. as well as spraying paint. Most off of them contain very nasty volatile organic compounds such as heptanes and benzenes. All VERY carcinogenic. Remember, humans are organic compounds, so organic solvents disolve US too. Remember how we used to be up to our elbows in that stuff when we were so much younger and ignorant? Don't do it anymore, our systems have had enough and the effect is cumulative over our lifetime. Whenever I use that stuff around my kids, they (and I) wear heavy rubber gloves (playtex) and even their favorite haz-mat suits. You have all seen pics in the gallery of them dressed like that. Better safe then sorry. Don't need any of you guys and gals mutating on me and growing a third eye or worse. Andy
Snakes don't bother me much if I see them first. Some of the old folks who live in the mountains around here still let black snakes live in the house. We never did but some do cause they eat all the mice or rats and they keep the copperheads out. I don't like stepping on one or reaching for a stick and have it move but other than that they are OK. Never paid any attention to spiders. We have black widows and brown recluses. Either one is bad but the brown recluse makes your skin rot. I reckon I can live with the varmints and vermin just to live in these mountains. By the way, BT, I am just now getting my sight back. You should warn a feller before showing a pic of a F#%D. Gater
i'm chiming in a little late, but welcome!! i like the looks of your truck. the fact that it's not pristine means the possibilities are endless! lubbock's not far from me. i know all about the snakes and spiders, and don't forget the scorpions!! jon
