Author: bill

Well, the end of a fun and educational chapter has now come to a close. The green truck was towed off into the rainclouds yesterday, after I picked some final parts off Friday night. I’d been trying to get the passenger wheel well off since last weekend, and of course it proved to be more difficult than I figured it would. The spot welds came out easily but the lower edge was part of a sandwich between the inner fender skirt and the lower lip of the rear floor, so I wound up trimming about 2″ from the bottom of the well and carving a big hole into the front of the C-pillar to release the whole thing. I have no idea if I’ll ever need it for anything, but it’s a very complex compound curve that I’d never be able to replicate in a million years, so I’m keeping it.

Then I put two good tires on the back of the truck, put the one good tire back on the front, and threw the other two junk tires in the front floorboards with the spare bench setback that was taking up space in the garage. I threw a bunch of other junk inside, vacuumed out the interior, and tied everything down with some old rope.

That evening, a guy reached out on the Binder Planet to ask if I was keeping the square seat bases on the floor, and I told him they were going with the truck the following morning. After thinking it over, I figured I might be able to beat the rain if I got an early start the next morning (the pickup was scheduled between 1-3PM) so I took the dog with me to Harbor Freight and picked up another spot weld cutter, ate some breakfast, and got to work. It was drizzling but the roof of the truck made for a nice cover, so I set up camp inside and started on the passenger side. I got both mounts out in about an hour, then tied everything back down.

When the truck arrived, it was a newer Chevy pickup with a trick wheel lift boom. The driver backed up to the truck and had the front wheels off the ground before he even got out of the cab—the whole thing was done with a remote control and a monitor on the dashboard. That must be how repossessions are done these days. There was a little bit of confusion about the lack of a VIN, but I consulted my records and wrote it down on a Post-It for them. He gave me a $100 bill, I signed the paper, and they were on their way. I really felt a pang of guilt about cutting up and selling the green truck, but I only have so much room and spare time—and it was more of a project, in the long run, than the red truck. So it’s out of the driveway, leaving behind an oil slick and a pile of rust that I have to go sweep up when the rain stops.

So I did order a bunch of gaskets from IHPA with my counter credit last week: a rear quarter window gasket, and the pillar and outer door gaskets. With these in hand, I should be able to both reinstall the rear window, which will get rid of a 1″ gap at the bottom where water has been trickling in and down the inner fender, and around all four doors. The door gaskets on the red truck are all in rough shape and I really want to seal the outer edges to keep as much water out as possible. I’ll have to peel all the old stuff off, clean the gunk off down to the paint, and reinstall. For two of the doors I have to actually adjust the hinges before I can do anything else—the driver’s door in particular needs some serious attention. One of the gaskets is on backorder, so they’re going to wait until it’s in stock before they ship the whole thing out.

The other gasket I ordered was for a different IH product completely: I found a cheap source for the e-shaped gasket on the beer fridge, which has been leaking for a while now. I measured the amount and ordered two extra feet in case of stupidity, and that should be enough to get things started. That one has already shipped, so I should be able to make a project of that this week.

Here’s a recap of the last two weeks:

Saturday was forecast for sunny 70˚ weather, so I swapped my travel day to see the FiL and hauled my tools out to the driveway. The goal here was to strip the truck down to get it ready for removal on Monday, so I broke the entire front clip down and stacked the parts neatly in the garage (the driver’s fender is actually on the Red truck right now). Then I hit all of the bolts on the doors, starting with the driver’s front. The top hinge didn’t want to separate from the backing plate, which was too large to remove through the access port, so I busted out the angle grinder and cut the hole larger. I’d sprayed the bolts on the rear doors with penetrant weeks ago, and Friday night I went to Harbor Freight for a hammer with a short handle so that I could pound the pin out of the retaining arms on each side. Those doors came off easily, but I had to cut into the A pillar on the passenger side front door for the same reason as the driver’s.

With those items off and safely stored, I pulled the Scout alongside and hefted the liftgate from the back of the green truck to the Scout; that thing is heavy. But with the back of the truck clear, I swept it out and had Jen come out to help me carefully remove the rear windows. This process was easy because I’d done it once in Ohio: she sat inside the truck pushing outward while I cut the seals around the outside. When they were gone, a few gentle taps behind the rear passenger door released the window, and it fell inwards into her lap. I then brought it to the crate I’d built a few weeks ago and laid it on some moving blankets. The other side came out just as easy, and with that, the crown jewels were safely stored away.

I considered cutting out the sections I’d need for the rear fender arches and calling it done, but something in the back of my head told me to drill out some spot welds to see if I could pull the whole rear quarter panel off. So I did.

Two hours later, I’m about 95% of the way there; I’ve got a few hidden welds to hunt down and I think the whole thing should come off in one piece. Then I’m going to do the same with the passenger side. Where these two sections will go is unknown (probably up in the garage attic) but when that’s done I think my time with this truck will be too.

This is an update of the second half of last week—roughly Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, where I’m continuing to fight the steering box and column until I got it off, and stripping other parts off the engine and interior.