Hey guys well its been quite a few years since I purchased my truck (2008) and started on the restoration (2009). Like most of you guys, live got in the way and with 4 kids the project was shelfed. Fast forward to today and I have a goal for this project and hope I can get it done. The goal is to get the truck done to participate in the MVPA National Parks convoy in Aug 22. My truck is totally disassembled and the majority of the parts have been repainted and sitting on the shelf. The engine and drive train will be the biggest parts left to get done. The cab and doors still need some work but not that bad. The suspension will need to be redone and again not that bad. I have restarted this project with the most tedious task which is the cleaning all the hardware. There have been a lot of changes going on in and around my shop. It is now fully insulated and heated so now work can be done year round and to free up shop space I have two shipping containers coming next month for storage.
This pile you see is 95% of the truck in its current state
This is what the truck looked before I started
Towing it to the shop so the boy on the tractor can tear it apart.
Standard tear down of truck
Pieces parts primed and ready for paint. You'll notice my shop is insulated but no walls, ceiling or heater.
Shop done
Heater installed
Frame has been Por15 and the top coat is John Deere blitz black paint. I scuffed the Por15 and top coated it. I did a tape test and nothing peeled up. I'm going to keep the frame black.
Well now you are caught up to where this project currently sits.
Last edited by m-11 on Sun May 07, 2023 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Starting the tedious process of cleaning the hardware. I'm using this plastic container with fixed dividers. I'm using evaporust for the solution instead of acid. it seems to work well with removing rust and since there is no acid in the solution, I don't need to neutralize it. The only issue so far it that it won't remove paint. I will probably end up walnut blasting or tumbling the hardware to remove the paint.
Do you know anyone who is an ammo reloaded who has a stainless steel pin rotating cleaner? It would clean them up to bare metal in a couple of hours. I ran my fasteners thru my own media vibrator with small ceramic chips I got from Harbor Freight. Did a pretty good job. But the SS pins would have been better. I on't have a Wet drum system. Hal
NAM VET wrote:Do you know anyone who is an ammo reloaded who has a stainless steel pin rotating cleaner? It would clean them up to bare metal in a couple of hours. I ran my fasteners thru my own media vibrator with small ceramic chips I got from Harbor Freight. Did a pretty good job. But the SS pins would have been better. I don't have a Wet drum system. Hal
I tried the HF setup with the ceramic media but I wasn't satisfied with the way they turned out for the amount of time it had to run. So far my current experiment works good but it doesn't soften the paint unlike the acid. I'm sure I might try a combination of dipping and that using the media vibrator. I wonder if the SS pins would work in the HF setup.
Then SS pins are for the wet rotatory tumblers. My shooting buddies claim they clean every little nick and primer pocket on spent brass. I ended up replacing most of my very small fasteners, as they tended to be too badly rusted to be reused. The Fastenal store is your friend. NV
NAM VET wrote:Then SS pins are for the wet rotatory tumblers. My shooting buddies claim they clean every little nick and primer pocket on spent brass. I ended up replacing most of my very small fasteners, as they tended to be too badly rusted to be reused. The Fastenal store is your friend. NV
So I soaked the hardware for a few days and than used the HF tumbler with the ceramic media and ran it for about 3 hours. Hardware came clean but still had traces of paint. I think my process will be paint stripper, evapo rust and finally the tumbler. The items that were already sandblasted prior to this process, will get zinc plated. yep a lot of work but it will be worth it.
I thought I'd share a before and after of items soaking in the evapo rust solution. Some items had trace amounts of corrosion and other had a good amount.
Nice work, and love your shop. I took nearly a year, almost full time, to restore my own truck in my driveway. Took over much of my garage for storage of my removed parts an bench work. I was lucky, my truck had been used daily on a farm in Nebraska, an stored under cover, so had only light surface rust, an other than an engine and ultimately a NP200 that needs a rebuild. The former owner for the prior 20 years had been an army wheel mechanic, so my truck was in good shape. There is no way I could have attempted a restoration of a neglected truck.
I kept all of my removed fasteners, and cleaned their threads and such, and reused the Dodge marked bolts where they show, and was able to source new square washers from Snake River. But where they are not visible, I used new grade 8 bolts and washers and nuts because their threads were better than the old ones I removed. I retapped virtually every welded nut too. I was lucky, not a single fastener snapped off when removing them. I have all my removed fasteners carefully put away.
I am in the process of replacing the rubber gasket on my truck's flip-up ventilation hatch, and to pull out the old gasket, which only lasted about three years, I had to remove the whole contraption. Which was difficult to unbolt from under the dash, lying on my back. If the four bolts had been rusty, I just don't think I could have gotten them out. So yesterday I de-rusted the gasket channels, and it is interesting to look down from above at the rear of the gage panel at all that wiring, so I am going to get a new Spyder harness, and see if any wiring there needs to be re-done, so much easier from above. Keeping these vintage trucks up and tuning and spiffy is a never ending job.
When I got my truck the previous owner had a bag of connectors for Douglas and Packard connectors, and several long rolls of new military wire, and I sourced from Ebay the correct crimper for the military connectors, so re-making wiring is not a problem for me.
I know what you mean about considering using OEM fasteners, found both small and large original square toothed washers on the four bolts holding the vent to its under flash supports. The bolts were original and untrusted, but I cleaned them and will repaint them; even though no one will ever actually see them ever again. But I will know that they are like new again.
Well I'm still here and have cleaned 95% of the hardware. Decided that since I used Evapo rust on the hardware there is no need to go through the trouble of plating them. Of course with a full time job and working on other folks vehicles on my off time, the truck is on a slow track. However, I have been buying a lot of parts since I found my original list of needs from 10 years ago . Don't know if I'll make my deadline this year but its good to have a goal.
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. Don't know if I'll make my deadline this year but its good to have a goal.