84 Crewcab...AKA..Patches

still not a fan of all that plastic on the bumpers...i muchly prefer them all chrome

where did you get the poly mounts at anyway...and better yet was it a "full" set?
 
OH the poly bushing for the cab mounts. They were from Energy Suspension.... # 5.4101G or 54101G. They list them for D100-D300 2wd and 4wd Body mounts. They come with big washers, and the 4 rad support mounts as well...is you use all 4, or only 2 like mine does. ;)
 
was thinking for an RC....i just gotta compare them to a truck set again cause i know the forward cab and rad ones are the same..and the rear bed are the same..the other 4 i think may all be different
 
So today I decided to clean the back side of the front bumper...why?...cause I didn't like all that rust. And sometimes I can't help myself...[dummy]

Before...



After...



I will give the back side a coat of flat black paint...will help keep the rust monster at bay for a while. ;)
 
I then concentrated on getting the removable tranny tunnel cut for the shifter...and then clean up the opening, and open it up enough for the transfer case shifter.

Had to measure and re-measure to make sure I got my shifter hole in the right spot.



Mark out the areas I was going to cut...



Then it was cover the tranny and start cutting.

 
Now that I had lots of room it was time to install the Advanced Adapter transfer case shifter bracket...and hardware.

You have to use the longer bolts supplied to mount to the tranny...



Bracket installed....



Then tried to install the shifter....NOPE aint going to fit!! Isn't this just my luck... :(





Turns out that the gated transfer case shifter off a Cummins/A518 auto combo is about one inch too wide....or wider then the Getrag combo. So it was sitting tight against the outside edge of the TC shifter hole. And under the truck the length of the shaft had it sitting tight against the floor board.

Here's the stock set-up. You can see the inside gated shift area...this is where I need the shifter to be. So now I have to remove 1" from everything so it will all work.

 
So I dismantled everything and was trying to figure out what I could do. I needed an inch out of the main plastic body....I was going to cut at it with my cut off wheel, but then I thought..."Hey a hot thin blade would melt through the plastic like a hot knife through butter!"

So I decided to heat up and exacto knife blade and slowly work my way around the block. I had first scribed a line all the way around so I knew where to melt. ;)

All done....



Then I mocked it up so I could see where I needed to hack out the one inch out of the main shaft.



Once cut I used a couple rare earth magnets to hold it mostly square so I could tack it.



All welded up...then used a flapper disc to clean it up.

 
I then had to figure out a way to hold the main body in place. The original piece had little plastic pins that went through the bracket and held it square, and in place. But since I cut it down I no longer had these pins. I decided that there was enough material on the back side that I could drill it with a very small bit, and then use a couple small screws to hold it in place.



It's not like this pad is under load. Just don't want it to flip out of alignment.

Then it was re-assembly time!!



Now that looks a lot better!!
 
Now to install it in the truck and see how it looks....



Sure looks like it's in a better spot...





Much happier with that!!
 
Then it was onto the rod from the shifter to the TC. This did not go easily either. I messed around with it in all types of orientation and with the bushings it came with.

Turned out I needed to modify two of the bushings. It came with three, but only needed two.

Here's what they looked like....



Here is where I used them. The center one I used on the pin that goes through the main shifter hole. It takes up the slop, but when I installed it as I received it, it did not allow the shaft to go through far enough to get the cotter pin through.



And the one of the far right I had to shorten. The adjustable clasp had too mush slop for my liking. So I used the shorten bushing as a spacer on the top.



So where does the main shifter arm need to sit? does it sit all the way forward, or back, or half way in between? I don't have a pic of the shifter before I removed it, and can't recall where it needs to be set-up.
 
the best way i found for doing my tc linkages in the past was drop it all the way to the extreeme of 1 direction..adjust the linkage loosely to match...shit thru the range and test it...if all is well you can leave it..but what i generaly did next was drop it in the center position and re-adjust it and then re-recheck the fact it still shifts and indents where it should....it all seems like an extra step but ive always have bad luck starting in the middle with it binding or bottoming out on one end or the other
 
oh..the standard hurst shifter arms with 2 bolt..will bolt right onto a stock dodge truck tcase shifter..the up and back on them is PERFECT for getting it up where you can reach it in a hurry instead of putting your face into the dash reaching for the stubby stocker
 
Got a few things done today. Installed the skid plate. Had to drill 2 more holes up into the frame....but at least they were not inside the frame. ;) :)



The painted the inside of the front bumper, and wire wheeled clean all the bumper brackets and nuts and bolts.



I was going to install the front shocks...but got to looking at the lower mounts for the shocks. I decided that they were too ugly and rusty....so I removed them, wire wheeled them clean, and painted them up.



Will install them, and the new shock tomorrow.
 
I then decided I would start welding up the holes in the inner fenders. Had a few extra ones added over the years. ;)





Hope to install the support/stiffening brackets I removed from the original 93 fender tomorrow as well.
 
Nice, steady progress... looking good!

I wish I could work on my engine, but it's been way too cold. It was -55°F with the wind the other morning when I let the dog out (-28° static). The garage eats fuel at an insane rate in weather like that; it's not even worth spending money on fuel for the little time I get.
 
Dr.Jass said:
Nice, steady progress... looking good!

I wish I could work on my engine, but it's been way too cold. It was -55°F with the wind the other morning when I let the dog out (-28° static). The garage eats fuel at an insane rate in weather like that; it's not even worth spending money on fuel for the little time I get.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words Doc!! Yeah I've been pretty fortunate to have fairly decent weather. Lots of wind and rain...but at least it's been staying in the 4*C and warmer zone. ;)
 
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