My 1969/71 highboy build.

[hfdco4]

They are bigger but carry less. The newer springs have a heavier rating with less leaves.

[69Highboy]

I finally got pics of the chassis and swapped out my hubs. After spending 8 hours in a truck spending an hour swapping hubs was a welcome relief. While I was swapping them, I noticed the axle shaft the hub lock onto had about 1/2 an inch of I<---->I (back and forth) play. Is that normal, or is the front end about to explode? I'd rather know now and not when it fails and I'm doing 55.

[69Highboy]

Well, I brought my new bed home this morning and have the chassis it was on lined up to be sold tomorrow afternoon. After spending all afternoon unbolting the bed and cutting the bolts that spun out my dad, my brother, and I got the skiploader and some chains and pulled the bed off and set it to a side for now. I'm focusing on rebuilding the brakes and to that end I got $352.60 worth of brake parts today so I can install them in the next week or so. Depending on how much project time I can work in next week I might get my brakes redone so I won't have to deal with a new frozen brake every time I move it.

[popeyes71]

Cool, your making some good progress!

[69Highboy]

Well, the leftover 2x4 chassis has been sold and was delivered to the buyer last night. I started on the rear brakes last night but a frozen passenger side delayed me long enough I'll have to finish it this afternoon after college. I just learned my "free" summer won't be as free as I thought so this will take even longer . Between my summer job, a full online college semester, and dealing with the yearly firewood task my project will take the back burner .

[69Highboy]

After a 3rd trip to the auto parts store as inner wheel seals were forgotten by the parts guy I got the one side finished up and I may start on the other side today if all goes well. I hope now that I have all the parts this side won't take 3 days like the other one did. The fronts should go quicker as they were gutted 3 months ago.

[hfdco4]

Any updates?

[69Highboy]

Rear brakes are redone and the chassis is awaiting the removal of the engine before I wire-wheel it and put a coating on it. In about a week, I will have 3 weeks off from college so I can really focus on just the truck. Hopefully, by the end of August the cab will be sent off to paint along with the doors. We'll see how that goes.

[69Highboy]

Well, the engine-pulling has been delayed by a lot of stuff, but the cab bondoing has happened! I've also got the cab and doors prepped for when my neighbor welds up all the trim holes and the mirror holes I won't be using. Now I just need to coat the frame, paint the cab, and everything will be able to come together at last. I also had to fight a threaded insert that didn't want to be drilled out. The vise grips kept on slipping, but I got it out. The door wowie is a compound pain, as I beat it out and rejoined the seams, but I need to literally bend the door across its width to fix the darn thing. Either that, or fix the LH red door's window slot and build a green/white mix half door setup. What do y'all think? Fix red or try to fix greenie? I've included a pic of the red door damage to help. By the by, any idea what the big hole was for? No mirror bolt is that big, and the passenger side doesn't have a matching hole, so I'm stumped.

[hfdco4]

That hole does look factory. I think it was for a remote controlled mirror especially if it came off a two wheel drive truck originally. Nice work by the way!

[69Highboy]

Well, the green door was bent in ways I can't fix, so I'm saving the red door. To that end, I've cut off the damaged area from the red door, cut a patch piece from a rusted out donor white door, and I'm now fitting the patch. It's more work, but now I don't have to swap over the vin tag. If I can get all the tedious stuff done over this weekend, I can work sanding into my fall college schedule. I'm learning it is a pain in the butt to change cab colors as the exterior crevices and the interior have to be sanded down so you won't see green anywhere. On the bright side, this should be the only time I have to do this, I hope.

[69Highboy]

After cutting myself and the two doors up, I found I could fix the green door, so I'll be going that route. Sadly, I now realize I wasted 3 days on the red door I could have been doing other stuff. Oh well, live and learn.

[hfdco4]

That was practice, not wasted time at all!

[69Highboy]

Yesterday night the frame received it's first coat of por-15! I was up till 2 a.m. coating the frame and futilely trying to clean the por-15 that got on me, but it was (not really) worth it! My face and hands are still splattered with black which led to a very hostile greeting when I woke up this morning, so if any of you know a good way to get that stuff off without a scouring pad I'd love to hear it. I'll try to get a pic of the chassis sometime later today, but chances are I'll forget until my hands covered in por-15 from the second coat.

[69Highboy]