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mattb73lt

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Posts posted by mattb73lt

  1. That looks like a decent base to hand off to someone. Nothing hiding there to discover later. You'll need to spray it with something to keep the surface rust off it before he starts. I can only zoom in on a little of that gutter above the driver's door, but it doesn't look too bad and might be reworked. If the other side isn't too bad you could use it to form some short sections of round stock to fit and then use them as dollies on the other side. Weld some flat stock to them to create a handle and then use a body hammer to reform them. But, if you're sending it out, a good body man should be able to work on them. If you think they're too deformed/damaged, then some donors would be in order like you said. Soda blasting would really get that clean, in and out. The plus side of soda is that the residue it leaves on the bare metal will preserve it short term before body work starts.

  2. Here is another pair of tools I used to work my gutters. Two small slip joint pliers. Because of their twist I could reach inside the gutter lip and work small sections back into shape, then I used my little dolly and smallest body hammer to finish off the gutter. That small hammer is probably my most used one out of my set. Light taps, backed up with a dolly can do a lot of straightening.

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  3. Ask around to locate a good spring shop. A good shop can do a lot to get them back in shape. From the pictures you posted it looks like only a couple of leaves are broken. You can have a shop just replace what's broken, if the rest are OK. I have two rear springs sitting on my barn floor you could have, but I'm farther away from you than Yarnall. .I've seen several trucks with air ride setups under the rears at shows. I think they're OK and if you run empty will probably give you a much better ride. Especially if your truck is a short wheelbase. Lot's of bucking when going over bumps. 

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  4. 4 hours ago, 1961H67 said:

    I’m glad you answered his question, I remembered you having to repair yours. 

    I had to fabricate new ones as the originals and a pair I salvaged were only good for patterns. They’re fragile once you cut them off due to corrosion and loss of material from the spot weld cutter. If you can fix them in place or just repair small segments, that’s a little easier.

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  5. I had to on my L cab, but that needed a lot of work. On my B42, I just worked them in place. I made a few dollies out of round bar stock and flat stock. The round stock fit inside the lip and the flat stock was used as a handle, welded together. If there’s no rot or other damage, I would try to work them in place. If there’s signs of rot, I would look at removal to get in there and stop it. Clean up both sides of the gutter as best you can to expose the seams and spot welds to come up with a plan to cut them apart. A wire wheel on a 4” angle grinder and a good quality spot weld cutter are your friends there to open it up.

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  6. First, take care of yourself and heal up! Glad you're home.

    So when you drop the bolts down from inside the cab they don't pass through the lower portion to the exterior and protrude? The interior spacing looks standard and unless someone replaced the lower mount or it's damaged, the bolts should pass straight though. All three holes should line right up, interior to exterior and then the bolts should continue through the frame mount.

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  7. If you're talking about the rubber discs, I believe they are the same. The only difference in the mounts were between the cab and radiator. The cab ones had solid almost solid backs with a little ridge around the base. While the radiator ones had cupped backsides, making for a softer mount. The ones I've bought were all the same, now.

    As for the structural parts, they should at least line up. Mack advertised their "Diamond" pattern cab support, having four points of contact with the frame. Two in the center of the cab back. Then one under each corner of the forward cab points. Finally, another pair under the radiator. 

    The only differences I've seen between the B81 and B61 cabs, was where they dropped the floor a few inches under the driver's feet. Pictures would help to see what your issue is?

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  8. If you notice the spacing between the brake and accelerator, you can see it would be easy to work both pedals with your right foot by rolling it while pushing in the brake and rolling it to the right.

    That pedal spacing is not stock but of my own design. I use the same technique in both my trucks. I know of the technique you speak of, but never had a need to do it in a truck. I mostly use the heel to toe method for down shifts, while braking and using the Jake.

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  9. Age mostly. As plastic ages it becomes brittle and actually shrinks. Then add the UV's, solar heating, hot and cold cycles and someone wrenching on it all day, cracks will form. If you watch some, you'll see gaps opening up where it's cracked. Plastic is a petroleum product and "off gasses" as it dries and cures. Hence the PVC smog that forms on the inside of you cars windows and the New Car smell it has when new. Then it smells like sweaty man ass, fuel, oils and exhaust after a while.

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  10. Fiberglass is pretty easy to work with and as JoeH just said, adding strength and reinforcements to the underside can bring back integrity to the overall structure.

    However, you need to really evaluate the overall condition and the efforts to bring it back as you dig into it. The man hours you expend may be better spent elsewhere, at some point. I had several items on my restoration that I worked on and then found better replacements as I progressed. The fuel tanks were one item. The cab was the other huge one. But, not finding any reasonable replacements, I was forced to proceed on fixing it. Several friends thought it was beyond hope. Just a little food for thought.

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  11. You've got your work cut out for you with that hood. I agree with Mean Green with removing the bondo and any other foreign materiel that's been used to repair it in the past. Some of those cracks look pretty significant and my concern there would be loss of strength and rigidity, causing it to flex and deform. I would do the bigger repairs right on the truck like it is to keep it's shape. Then tackle one repair at a time, with the larger ones first to build some strength back into it. It's been a while since I did fiberglass repairs but it's not too hard to do. Do you know anyone who repairs boats or has experience with fiberglass? It couldn't hurt to bend someone's ear to gain some knowledge or some good techniques about how to get it done.

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