I don't have many photos for this update, but I have been working on the truck pretty much non-stop lately. We have been mostly doing body work. I have applied body filler to the areas where I have welded in new panels. This is both cab corners, doors, door hinge pockets, and the back of the cab. Being that this truck has a dump system, it seemed like anything that didn't fit in the back was loaded on the roof. I used pull hooks and hammer to pull the numerous dents from the roof panel. The roof had a lot more damage then I had expected. I am probably old school, but I like using pull hooks. You can get things really straight with them. I welded up the many pull hook holes and with the surface prepped for a skim coat of filler, I applied a nice medium thin coat over the back and sides of the roof. After blocking the roof out, I proceeded to fall off the truck breaking my fall on angel iron brackets welded on the frame..... That was Sunday and I am still significantly slower and hurting than normal.
I now have almost all of the cab ready for primer. I did remove the rear window and found some rust inside the cab by the dome light. I will have to get to that soon.
We ran into a snag on the steering. After replacing the king pins, we discovered that the steering gear has a stiff spot. The more I read about these gears, I can't imagine that is not something on the worm or sector shaft. Today we made a trip back to the salvage yard to oil up the exhaust manifold bolts, and if possible, check the steering gear. We were able to listen all but one of the manifold bolts, and gave it a soaking of Kroil. We will be back on Saturday to pull that. We also scrounged several Jack's and managed to be able to lift the front end off the ground. Thankfully, this gear is glass smooth lock to lock. I plan to remove this in Satyrday as well. All in all, it was fun. I love walking through salvage yards. We also did get a good look at a 1920's FWD plow truck. Very cool!
I am anxious to get in to primer and blocking. I am also trying to olan how I want to paint it and in what order. Kevin has decided on Empire blue, (a dark, almost Navy blue), an available color for 1956, with a white rod. Still are seriously considering purchasing a visor.also.
