GMC / Chevy Grandpas Truck

[Team1k]

Fixed the upper ball joint this morning. Luckily it had been replaced before so there were bolts instead of rivets, but I did have my grinder just in case. Put it all together, hopped in the truck, dropped it in reverse, and the car drives forward? Put it in park and it goes backwards. Odd. Well I tracked down where the linkage goes and from what I can tell I think the firewall got shifted a little and it threw off the column shifter linkage. Made some adjustments and its all back to normal now. Drove down to the junkyard for a new driver side mirror that I put on to keep it legal. The good news is it tracks straight and I got it up to 65 with no issues. Probably get an alignment on it anyway though. Next project will be figuring out how to get the door to open. Currently im trying to take off the inside door panel but im not sure that's going to be feasible since parts of the panel are inaccessible.
The problem joint


Repaired and looking much better now


At least tire wise....

 

[Team1k]

Also found this little gem under the hood. Took me a few minutes to figure out how it all works.






It has a 25ish foot cable on a reel that comes out and a switch on the box to power it. Pretty neat little item.

 

[jeeper]

I have a 78 ford original to my grandpa, just waiting for a rebuild. I am right there with you on keeping it around. I would go for the rebuild into a functioning truck. That way it can be passed down to your kids, ans there kids.. if it becomes a crawler it will die a slow painful crawler death.

What year is it? if it's 84 or older, stick a vintage plate on it, and it'll cost next to nothing,

 

[hoosier]

You are not going to be able to get the door open from the inside (unless it is just a broken handle). I can help.you if you need it let me know.

 

[jeeper]

Just for the sake of argument.. Wouldn't the insurance of the stolen vehicle be liable to pay for the truck? We insure vehicles, not just drivers. If someone wrecks my car, my insurance pays. Does having it be 'stolen' change that?

 

[Team1k]

What year is it? if it's 84 or older, stick a vintage plate on it, and it'll cost next to nothing,

I wish. Its an 88 so still a few more years to go

You are not going to be able to get the door open from the inside (unless it is just a broken handle). I can help.you if you need it let me know.

Both handles appear to still be pulling on something in the latch mechanism. I can hear it moving right where it latches so im not sure if its just not moving enough, or its tweaked in a way that even when unlatched it still cant open. Im sure ill find out soon enough.

Just for the sake of argument.. Wouldn't the insurance of the stolen vehicle be liable to pay for the truck? We insure vehicles, not just drivers. If someone wrecks my car, my insurance pays. Does having it be 'stolen' change that?

I believe its because the stolen car was sitting unregistered and uninsured at someone's house so theres no insurance on that end either. If I recall correctly the police said it was sitting in a field on someone's property, which is not uncommon in Lindon.

 

[rockdog]

Funny, I just noticed this truck is just up the street from my house. I drive by it everyday on my way to work. Watched you do stuff to your jeep when you were in high school.

 

[Team1k]

Not much of an update but I feel pretty accomplished. Over the weekend I ran up to get pre-tech'd for OSRC and thought I may as well check out the junkyards in the area. Found one that had what was supposed to be a complete door, that turned out to be just a shell. Since the system said it was complete the manager threw in the regulator for it as well all for $100 which seemed reasonable. But more importantly I got the door open!! Now I just need to switch over the existing internal panel and I should be set door wise. Looked at the A pillar and it actually appears to be undamaged. The picture makes it look cockeyed but I double checked the other side and it seems the same. Fingers crossed. Hopefully I get more time to work on this soon.

 

[Kiel]

nice, hopefully it straightens it out

 

[Team1k]

Got the old door removed(royal pain since its power windows and locks), and the new shell put in place with my wifes assistance last night.


Closed it and.....bummer theres still a massive gap. So I went to bed.



This morning I determined the front fender needed to be removed to straighten it and make the door repair easier. Didn't realize I was in for a 16 bolt and hood removal procedure to accomplish that.



Then I busted out the tree saver, attached it to the hinge, and put the jeep winch to work



Results of first pull looked pretty promising.



Lined up again for the second pull. Getting better....

 

[Team1k]

I had to get going to work and only had time for one last pull. the problem I was running into was either the truck would slide, or the jeep would slide from the force of the pulls. I chocked the wheels with everything I had, and even chained the other side of the truck to a heavy press I had to keep it from sliding, then gave it one last go.

Success!




Im super pleased with the results. Now im trying to decide if ill stick with my original plan of just hammering out the existing fender, or getting one from a junkyard. Hammering the existing one out is cheapest, but I really don't want to have to take it back off later. Decisions decisions...

 

[Kevin B.]

Awesome body work!

 

[Bart]

Nice work on the pull. so cool

 

[STAG]

Those little lights under the hood are awesome. My '93 chev 1500 had one too.

 

[Team1k]

It doesn't look like much but these photos sum up two days worth of work. I managed to track down some gold left and right fenders with the inner liners. Its a darker gold so not a direct match but its straight and cheap so ill take it. The process of installing it was pretty intensive as I had to modify/repair further damage I wasn't expecting to deal with. By the end of day one I managed to get the new fender installed.


Day 2 was spent swapping over the door internals and putting the mirror on.


Im so close to being done but in the swap process some of the pinouts on the power lock switch came out. I didn't have time to mess with it much but basically right now my power windows work on both doors, but the power lock switch on the drivers door does nothing and the passenger door can unlock the car but not lock it. I tried figuring it out with the Haynes manual but that was a no go. Tomorrow ill probably just start switching up pins and hope I get it right

So close to being done though and it turned out pretty good.

 

[LT.]

Team1k -

I know how hard it is to lose family and lose relics of those who we lost. I came across a set of axles from a 1986 ford f 350. I have them and would be willing to sell them to you if you were to want them for this truck. Shoot me a PM if you are interested. .I make the trip to utah often.

LT.

 

[thenag]

My suggestion to everything is "put a 60 and a 14 bolt under it and cut the fenders"



Nathan

 

[Team1k]

Im a little behind on this update but I grabbed some new power lock switches at the junkyard, unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. My parents then told me its had that issue since they got it so I suspect a broken wire somewhere. Got the door buttoned up, and replaced some interior lights so it was more convenient to drive at night.

What do you do with a truck you just rebuilt? I did what grandpa would do and immediately put it back to work removing large rocks from grandmas flower bed.


At this point there are some odds n ends ill be picking up at the junkyard next time im there, but the bulk of the repair is done and its fun to drive around in grandpas truck again.

 

[LT.]

Excellent job! Your grandfather would be proud.

LT.

 

[Bart]

Very cool story. Love the sentiment and utility of the truck.