Progress Update

We did survive the April 27, 2011 outbreak of killer tornados, little or no damage in Huntsville, but we were out of power for four days and with parts of the county out for seven days. I was able to work quite a bit on the truck, but got behind on my updates.

Orders

Custom Wheels in California shipped the chrome rims and they should arrive at the house on Monday or Tuesday. Signature is required. The last order I got that required a signature took three tries to deliver and eventually we had to go to FedEx to pick up the package before it was returned to the sender.

The running boards made it last week and don’t they look grand.  Sturdy, light fiberglass looks great and won’t rust. I also bought the running boards bolt set as well as the gaskets and cab retainer. Well guess what, the bolt set is for the original steel running boards and won’t work for the fiberglass version. Off to Fastenal, I am going to set up a house account. This is starting to put a damper on ordering the parts early, almost half the time I do, it turns out wrong.

Got a call from Posie’s two weeks ago, the front springs were finished and they wanted to know if they should ship them now or wait for the full order and ship it all at once. Heck yeah! Ship those babies. Now I can really make some progress. The springs came midweek and I quickly filled up the living room with leaf springs and spring parts. Sometime before I came home the next day a Leprechaun transported all of the parts to the Man Garage. I was really disappointed since I was going to drink beer and look at them that night.

The new leaf springs mostly fit; this is car terminology for “they did not fit”.  When something mostly fits, that means you can take out all your cherished Big Boy Tools and really get to work. With the one-two combination of the grinder and Huge Ass hammer, the springs “now fit”. I put them on the frame with the front axle – looking good.

I did get a boo-boo while installing the springs. Turns out a small piece of sheet metal sliced my finger. I stopped crying once I got my Hello Kitty band aide to stem the out rush of blood.

Well stay tuned, lots more to come.