Father Son truck rebuild!
I hope nobody minds a non A body build thread here. I know there are a few.
I have owned this 89 Dodge truck since about 1993. It was my daily driver until about 2000 when I got a work van provided to me by the company I worked for at the time. That was the point when I lifted the truck 4", added headers, dual exhaust and 35” tires making it a weekend toy. After driving it like that for a couple years I swapped the stock ½ ton axles for 8 lug Dana 60s because I wanted 4.10 gears and the axles were free. I also put on a 3" body lift and 38" tires later.
The truck has sat from about 2010 till this fall when I brought it home with the intention of selling it. My son Hayden caught wind that it was for sale and asked me if we could rebuild it in time for him to get his license. Well I was ecstatic at this news! A father son project was always a dream of mine but I knew it had to be his idea. Also I really did not want to sell it and was looking for an excuse to keep it.
So now it’s tucked neatly in the garage where I rebuilt my Duster. It has prompted me to change my other garage into a clean workspace instead of a junk collection space which is a welcome addition for us. My Duster lives there now. We have started disassembly but space constraints are slowing progress a bit.
I got new windows and front fenders for a sweet price so that helps with a lot of the rust issues. The box is really rough but I have a spare if I can’t save this one. The plan is to tear it down to the frame. I’ll blast and paint the frame and rebuild it from suspension on up. It will get the 360 that is currently in my Duster (I'm building a new one for it) with a rebuilt 727 trans and I’ll need to go through the NP241 transfer case too. The Dana 60 diffs are good but I need to put a sure grip in the back. Those 205/55-16s are hardly off road rubber but hey! it fits in the garage now!
It’s an aggressive schedule since we have only about 15 months to finish it. Wish us luck!
Cley
I hope nobody minds a non A body build thread here. I know there are a few.
I have owned this 89 Dodge truck since about 1993. It was my daily driver until about 2000 when I got a work van provided to me by the company I worked for at the time. That was the point when I lifted the truck 4", added headers, dual exhaust and 35” tires making it a weekend toy. After driving it like that for a couple years I swapped the stock ½ ton axles for 8 lug Dana 60s because I wanted 4.10 gears and the axles were free. I also put on a 3" body lift and 38" tires later.
The truck has sat from about 2010 till this fall when I brought it home with the intention of selling it. My son Hayden caught wind that it was for sale and asked me if we could rebuild it in time for him to get his license. Well I was ecstatic at this news! A father son project was always a dream of mine but I knew it had to be his idea. Also I really did not want to sell it and was looking for an excuse to keep it.
So now it’s tucked neatly in the garage where I rebuilt my Duster. It has prompted me to change my other garage into a clean workspace instead of a junk collection space which is a welcome addition for us. My Duster lives there now. We have started disassembly but space constraints are slowing progress a bit.
I got new windows and front fenders for a sweet price so that helps with a lot of the rust issues. The box is really rough but I have a spare if I can’t save this one. The plan is to tear it down to the frame. I’ll blast and paint the frame and rebuild it from suspension on up. It will get the 360 that is currently in my Duster (I'm building a new one for it) with a rebuilt 727 trans and I’ll need to go through the NP241 transfer case too. The Dana 60 diffs are good but I need to put a sure grip in the back. Those 205/55-16s are hardly off road rubber but hey! it fits in the garage now!
It’s an aggressive schedule since we have only about 15 months to finish it. Wish us luck!
Cley
