Saturday the 4th Dec

I did a little more sanding and grinding on the bed and it is now standing up on its end in the garage. As for the days tasks, I think they may have changed as soon as I woke up this morning. I so wanted to just cut the back of the cab off and figure out how much metal I was going to need to fill in the gaps. However, it turned out that my day would entail removing the seat and gas tank from the cab. I was then able to pull up the thin glued down carpet and get a look at the floor pan. Not real happy, but I will not have to buy the replacement pans.... I'm thinking. Rocker panels are in good shape but will need some attention as well. I pulled the rubber seal off the bottom and up the sides of both doors to get a look at the rust there as well, repairable I'm sure.
Well that wasn't enough, had to do more to disassemble: The fenders, doors and disconnecting anything else connected to the fire wall seemed to go pretty smoothly. The steering wheel gave me a little issue due to having to find a 12 point 7/16 socket, had one but it took forever finding it. Now getting it out without taking off the steering wheel was a little frustrating and was ready to get the hammer. As you will be able to see from the pictures, it is no longer there. The cab bolts were easier than I thought they would be.
If I was not in the back yard in the grass and had a shop to work out of I would not be complaining. But the weather every time I had the chance to work on it has been good or tolerable. The last thing I did was push up on the cab and felt it lift off. I did it on both sides and moved it back a little. It is ready to mark the cab and figure out where is the best place to mark and cut the cab.
This will be the challenging part to fabricate all the needed parts, braces, and plates with what I have available. I don't have the bottles for the oxygen or acetylene and know I will have to get O rings for the cutting torch, so that will take money and will make due with what I have right now.
I have to get the bed loaded in the truck and put in the back yard and get the cab in the garage before I trade in the truck next week. I also need to get a hitch for Lisa's Nissan so I can haul a trailer to get these pieces around to have things done, mostly the use of a Mig Welder, the metal is to thin for the welders I have.

Sunday Sanding and Bed Welding

Made the trip to Lowes yesterday and found out that the welder I bought should be run off a 50 amp breaker verses a 30 amp (Dryer) but could use it at low voltage with little to now issues. So I got the dryer plug and welder receptor, put it together this morning and hooked it up. I had all of the bed parts just outside the back garage door so I brought them to set up.
This was the fun part! When I measured and cut the bed, well it was not as straight as a ruler but, close to being square... ha ha Using the welder to spot or tack weld with the thin metal was wearing thin on my mind due to blowouts. I get the head board tacked on to both fenders and pull out the 110 welder I had in the attic thinking it would be an even lower amp for this metal, Nope! However, it was using less electricity and Lisa needed the dryer for washing clothes.
I had some more measuring and cutting to even up the edges so they would match up closer. I removed the tail gate due to weight and used WD40 on the wheel well nuts to remove them later to take more weight off. Found a huge wire wheel cup and started removing over 40 years of layers. Noticed a couple braces that need to be tack welded and when grinding with the wheel I seen a rust spot that will need cut out and replaced.
Have a friend that is going to assist in December with welding up the bed with a Mig welder. This will help considerably with the blow outs and create a smooth weld. These will be ground down so that only a small amount of filler has to be used. Until then, more grinding and sanding will be done to the bed parts as well as cut away parts that will be used to extend the cab.
I will start looking for paint and body shops around here that can do a great job of doing the small details of finish work and smoothing out the things I didn't do and then give the whole truck the paint job from top to bottom that will be eye popping. What color or colors are they, Not sold on one or two yet. I will also have to find an upholstery shop to do the seats, headers, and whatever.
Getting a little ahead of myself, This was enough for one day!

After Thanksgiving

Had a frost and freeze over night, should have taken the parts I cut from the bed in from outside so they would be dry to work on in the garage. Have to prep a space and get the new Ark welder set up for plugging in, that’s another project. I know I will do something this weekend and mark a few tasks off my list to make me feel like I am getting something done. However, I am also working on research, papers and assignments for school as well so I must prioritize. Not to mention I cannot forget to stop, live, and love life with my wife.
Until then.......

Cutting the bed and removing rust

 Well the obvious question you would have, why am I cutting the bed into pieces? Well my idea is to convert the long bed into a short bed in order to extend the cab.

 Here comes the Boss, I have to look busy! I don't think she likes what I am doing to her truck.

 Removing the rust and it would be nice to have some young person doing this for me while I supervise. Any suggestions on brand names for under coating?

Inside length of the bed will be six feet and a total of eight feet with the tail gait down. I am not a rich man so I will be watching every dollar going out and trying to reuse pieces cut out of the bed to extend the cab due to it already having the same shape. The top half of the cab, the underneath flooring and brace supporting system will all have to be fabricated with what I have available. I have looked on line and have found nothing to reference for what I am about to do. I do not have a blue print to follow, even if I did I do not think I would want someone elses idea on Jack. The cab will be cut at the back edge (1 to 1 1/2 ") and at an angel to the top cap, across cab and back down. The back support brace under the cab will be the dividing cutting line so it can be used for the new plate and bracing to attach to.

Is this going to happen before Christmas.... Ha Ha Maybe next Christmas

My Wife did ensure I got early gifts in the way of tools to start the project, I Love my wife! 

Oh, My Son sent me a msg on Facebook saying he got excited for a moment when he thought I was building a low rider. Sorry, I need the nice ride without feeling each pebble on the road.