mattb73lt

It’ll be a single drive/axle. I gave it a fairly big stretch to accommodate a 24’ Jerr Dan roll back bed that I picked up. I don’t haul anything too heavy, mostly antique cars and trucks. Wheelbase for it is around 249”. The frame does seem long in the photos, but will shorten up as it’s reassembled. It’ll be 4’ longer than the truck it’s resting on, that has a 20’ deck.

Moving day. Brought the frame up in front of the barn, from it's hiding place alongside it. A little bit of effort to get it there after pulling it up, turning it 180 degrees then positioning it between the bays so I still have access. All those freshly painted parts will be reunited with the frame soon!!

That’s really starting to look good! I like the colors.

Thanks, I’ll buy the beer. At some point I’m going to have to call in some markers as the parts get bigger and require at least two people.

The amount of completed and new parts is really starting to accumulate. These shelves are getting full of parts that are ready to assemble. Assembly should go pretty quickly, all the hardware is ready for it. Still have more bodywork and paint to do for the hood and fenders, but just happy to be gaining some momentum!

That might be an easier way to run the pipe back and clear a lot of obstructions. Several military trucks run the exhaust out like that, but then up through the fender in front of the cab. You could pass down over the frame rail, then 90 degrees straight back then up to your stack?

Lots of red today. Shot most of the frame pieces on their mating surfaces and areas that are hard to get when assembled. Couldn’t get all the pieces as I only had so much space to lay them out and they were getting pretty crowded. So, a partial load tomorrow to finish up. That’s a lot of parts when you break a truck down this far. Frame assembly is not too far off from here.

Really nice work!! It’s really starting to come together.

I did some digging into my archives and found the left over parts when I rebuilt the clutch cross shaft on my B-73. I'm not sure if the shaft is the same diameter but these part numbers should get you in the ball park. First, I think you'll need a new shaft if you're going to use ball bearings on it. The brinnelling will not run smoothly over the new bearings. If you put some oil light bronze bushings in, that may do on that shaft. I found two different size bearings for the application, both from Torrington Bearing Company: B-2012, which is 3/4" wide. B-2016, which is 1" wide. Both are readily available or will cross to other manufacturers. There are also two types of grease seals for the application, one is felt with steel retainer and the other is a neoprene lip seal. I don't have a part number for the felt one but the neoprene one is: Chicago Rawhide P/N 12330. When you press the new bearings in, ensure you line up the grease hole to the fitting. Here are some pics for what I have.

I don’t know about painting the top black, but I’ll trade for the rear you beat me to? LOL. I did solve my rear carrier issue by finding another with a 4.62R. The one I had with a 4.68R, had three corroded teeth I didn’t trust.

That drip was centered directly above the glovebox door and there was no hiding it. On a good note, after all that work, the paint came out even better than the first time.

The retro came out pretty good.

I don’t know. It was easy enough to do, the only thing that might be harder to get to is the nut for the radiator support rod. There’s also a drain plug on the bottom of the heater core that couldn’t be accessed. The floorboards and carpet are easily removed now. I had to remove the ashtray, but no one’s going to smoke in it anyway!!

These are made of cardboard, I don't know if they would do them in other materials. You could contact them to see?

Fixed my posting issues without deleting most of my pictures by becoming a VIP member. (Thanks, Barry!!). Finished up a lot of detail work on the cab and it's now ready for the long awaited trip to get the headliner and back wall installed. I'm just waiting for the upholsterer to call back that he's ready. The whole cab is ready for mounting and hookup. Lots of hours spent getting all of those tedious things wrapped up. I was going to leave the factory heater out to have more passenger foot room, it was mounted so close to the floor you can't get your feet under it and getting at the floorboards was extremely difficult. I couldn't find a reasonable replacement to do it's job. After fixing it all up, I reinstalled it and found that I could move it upwards 4". So, I made up some extra 10" brackets and the issue was solved. I also had to fab up some retainers for the door windlace, down by the footwells. A little bit of thinking, some 1/2' half round brass stock and some time on the Bridgeport created news ones. These are now held in by stainless screws, not the original spring clips. Another issue solved. I also found a Facebook page that a lot of my club members are on and people that know me or the truck are on, that's for LT,LTL,LTH & B-73/75/77's, so I've been posting there as well to keep them updated on the restoration. So, the hardest part so far and hopefully the worst, is about to be be hind me!! Doing some Spring maintenance to the rest of the fleet for the summer, but about to turn this page and start in on the long waiting frame assembly. Really pleased with the quality, fitment and look of this cab and can't wait to see it run and to drive it. Thank you to everyone their for support, encouragement and comments so far on this project, it is very much appreciated!!!

No A/C, yet. Planning for a back wall unit later on, when it's assembled. Maybe a Red Dot unit or something similar. I think what you're seeing is the defroster hoses. I pre-ran those as they're hard to do later.

The dash finally went in today. Wasn't too bad, hardest part was threading the harness through the firewall. Another item off the long list of To-do's.

Sometimes you have to go backward to go forward. When I painted the dash, a drip landed on it from my gun cup. Thought I'd let it harden and wet sand it out. Well it sanded out, but it still left a mark in the metallic paint. Made a spot repair and thought I could blend that with some wet sanding. That didn't do it either. Sooo, disassemble the whole thing (It was ready to bolt in, dammit!!), wet sand and repaint the whole thing. A huge pain, but it's done and looks a lot better. It would have driven me nuts to leave it, the rest of it was looking so good. Never been a fan of metallic paints.

REM Automotive is now making glovebox liners if you are in need of one. I sent mine to them and they were able to use it as a pattern. The fit is VERY good and I only needed to add a few missing holes and the mounting hardware to put it in. REM Automotive, Annville, PA 717-838-4242 P/N MIS-GBX-150

Yes, all new glass and slightly tinted. There was no using what came with it due to scoring, age, overspray, cracks.... It looks great with fresh glass.

Door and grab handles installed, the vent windows and the stainless hardware are really making this look great. Still amazed to be at this point!!

Driver’s door done. Just the dash to go. Did I actually get this done??

It is, which I’m very happy about!! Still a lot to do, but I think that it will go reasonably quick too as a lot has been done already and it will be a lot of paint and assembly.

Hurtling towards completion!! Passenger door is done, all stainless hardware really makes the panel pop. A temporary carpet to protect the floor. All the glass is in. Driver’s door to finish and still haven’t received the glove box liner, so the dash is still out. I should have this done by my deadline. It’s really looking good and boy is it getting heavy with almost everything back in it.

In talking to the old timers it was. I want to get the sound right, too. I’m back and forth on a straight pipe or a muffler, too. Maybe just a resonator. I also don’t want to go deaf on long trips. Another thought was an under frame muffler. I’m installing a stack support to the frame, to remove the stack off the corner of the cab. I didn’t want it resonating the cab, creating other noise. The whole cab has Lizard Skin sound and heat coating applied to it. I’ll supplement that with patches of Dynamat. I want the sound, but I also want it to be comfortable.