And Then There Were Two

It has been a bit since my last update. Truthfully, it's really been just sitting in the ol' garage. We had some guests coming to the house, so I was kept busy getting ready. And by 'busy' I mean my 4-6hrs per week that I actually do work on the truck, instead I spent 2hrs procrastinating and 3-5hrs actually working on the house. If I spent half as much time actually working as I do thinking about working - I'd been done with this thing already. 

Ok, back to the work that I did, well my father-in-law and I did on the truck.

What's he going to do with that cherry picker? 

I'd thought and thought about how I was going to pull the body from the frame. Most guys do some sort of cinder block/ 2x4/ 4x4 post conglomeration where they jack up the body and slide the boards underneath then roll the chassis away. I'm not going to work on the body with it off the frame, but I have no interest in keeping my thousand pound body on a series of 2x4s and 4x4s on top of cinder blocks - sorry. I went one better - how about $7.99 rolling carts from Harbor Freight. More cheap tools, I know. My father-in-law rigged up some cribbing for the carts. I want to be able to move my body around my garage, if need be. Lesson learned on the cribbing - buy the boards you think you'll need then buy a few more, just in case. I had some extra 2x4s laying around that we were able to use, but there for a minute I thought I was going back to Home Depot to get some more and I hate having to leave a project mid sweat.

The rolling carts were rated by Chinese best and brightest at 1,000lbs a piece, so I thought with 4 of them with cribbing screwed to each cart we'd be in business - and we were. Once we got the body off the frame.

Rented leveler secured to the floor board via seat belt mounts 

So I rented the cherry picker from the same rental joint. I was hopping for more than 1,200lbs, but it was the best they had so I went with it. Thanks to some guys on the forums I learned that, likely, if I secured the hoist to the seat belt mounts I'd be able to lift it off the frame. Needless to say, so why say it, but here it goes, lifting an object without first finding the center of gravity is a long road to hoe. Not only was the pick point closer toward the front of the cab, but the back of the cab was way heavier, so pulling the cab was under less than favorable conditions.

We were able to get the cab off the chassis rather easily. We were able to get the height we needed from the cherry picker, so that was easy and good. The imbalance of the pick, though, made the job rather stressful. I thought we were going to lose it once and at that point in time I was pretty alright with the thought. The trouble was lifting the cab, which extends roughly 9inches lower than the frame, high enough to clear the rear tires and the fuel tank is attached to the body so it had to clear too.

We approached the pick from the passenger side, so it cleared the frame first, but it took some fiddling to make it. We had to lift and lift, but it kept just pulling the front higher and higher. The back was off the frame, but sagging down. Damn you gravity! We were able to seesaw the front driver side with the back passenger side to get it to clear. Thankfully, my rear driver side quarter panel was already a bit pushed in from the previous owner, so I wasn't too concerned when was had to skid it across the spare tire support bracket. Oh boy, it got hairy for a bit when the passenger side was cleared from the frame, while the driver side was hung up - it was the fuel tank. The point that was hung up in addition to the pick point caused the passenger side to dive toward the ground. Oh No! Desperate seesawing took place, but we kept it off the concrete. Until we had the carts positioned.

All four rolling carts, with cribbing in secured, in place. I wasn't too worried about keeping it level, but there are two carts in the back too. 

We were able to find better pick points once we got it down on the carts. Lesson learned - um, figure out the best pick points before pulling it - com'on Joe think. 

And then there were two!

After we got the body off, which took a bit longer than what I planned, but not bad. The seesawing was effective, but not the way I want to put it back on - I'll deal with it when I'm done with the frame and suspension. 

Now that we have the body off the frame, we had to pull the bellhousing off the block. My shop - Proffitt's Cruisers(!) is going to use the bellhousing with my H55 (5-speed) swap, but they need my bellhousing and flywheel and transfer case. The transfer case is for them - it has value for them, but the H55 will have the transfer case with it. 

The bellhousing took a lot longer than what I figured, but I had help for which I was/am so thankful. After we got all the work done it was time to clean up. I was ready to die afterwards. I know, I know, but I'll be the first to admit I was worked under the table. Working with my father-in-law made me think about working with my Dad. My father-in-law worked me under the table and so would've my Dad. It made me miss him. I was thinking of you Dad, promise, more often than not. 

Ok, that over and a bit teary, good news continues. 

I bought a motor and it's at Proffitt's waiting for MY truck. I bit of research with the State of Colorado, I learned that if I want to put in a diesel in my truck it has to be at least my year or newer and it can't be out of a heavy duty chassis - so no 3/4 ton or 1 ton or bread van w/ a 4bt Cummins. Guys can get away with it in other states, but not in Colorado. A light duty truck with a passenger car diesel, though, is alright! I bought a motor from a 1984 Mercedes Benz 300d - an OM617 turbo diesel Mercedes! 

It's a bit low on torque, but if the diesels that were available in Land Cruisers in 1984, such as mine, in Canada and Australia were 3B and 2H diesels - both of those diesel were lower in horsepower and torque and had a lower usable rpm range than the OM617. It won't be a monster, but it's perfect for the character of my build and I am extremely super excited to have it in my engine bay. 

Angie and I took some degreaser and scrubbie to the frame, so it's ready for getting the surface rust off.