Well WTF, do I post my 3500HD project here or not

Ya ya, only some of them are just a little bit bald. Got a set of killer ones that are going on - Goodyear GSS-647's, 245/70/19.5, load range G. Gonna paint the wheels first though!

Richard

A bunch of little updates that I've been saving up: Got my Recon clear cab lights (with amber LED's) installed, looking great!



Installed some Iron Horse step pads, nothing special but they make it a little less rough on the seat and steering wheel while getting in. Had to rig the brackets because they just didn't seem very strong. Had another bud at the wrecker shop weld on the final bumper bracket (HD inside brackets are welded to the frame) so I could mount the bumper, so everything is together on the front. Truck is now inspected and registered, so it's even more legal than my daily driver.



And just a couple pics for fun...





Richard

Right on, Man. Lookin sweet.

Time to start putting the A/C together. Pulled a fully working system from a '98 parts truck. Lesson one, don't assume a working system needs no attention! Evaporator is almost completely clogged with crud.



Soaked the evaporator core in a cleanser and rinsed it thoroughly, should work MUCH better now.



Wiped out all the insides of the ductwork box and cleaned the blower motor, too. Retrieved from the ductwork box along with the leaves and debris: a Bic pen's guts, 4 pennies, a wood screw, several .22 casings, and a straw wrapper.

Ductwork box bolted onto the firewall, harness and controls installed. Put it through the paces to be sure all the actuator motors did what they were supposed to do, and fan blows on all speeds.



Everything is working great; now just need to pick up a new accumulator, O-rings, and orifice tube so I can move on to assembling the system under the hood.

Richard

Man this is a involved project.

Awesome.

Right? And it doesn't even have a bed, wrecker unit, or dashboard yet...

Richard

Tim making some great progress on buffing the paint. Back of cab, driver's door, and driver's fender looking really nice. Unfortunately the paint is too thin on the flares so the fenders are gonna have to come off so the flares can be removed and repainted separately. The painters barely dusted the top edge of them, no material at all. On the upside, you can practically see the truck two bays over in the reflection!





Richard

Looking sweet man. That is going to be a nice ride. I need one of those for towing.

low - they can't be beat for towing...unless you wanna get a Kodiak or something.

As mentioned last update, a case of one step forward, two steps backwards. Removed hood and fenders so I could remove the fender flares for repainting. I needed to pull the grille anyway to install the condenser, but the rest was an unnecessary PITA thanks to the poor paint job.


I tried taking a couple pics of a fender where Tim hadn't had a chance to sand/buff since the flare was covering that part; you can really see how bad the paint was before he worked on it. Upper part of the fender (above the line with the holes) is buffed but not finished; lower part is original paint job.




Richard