I don't have the equipment to blast the frame, unfortunately. I'm going to try to find someone locally who would be interested in bringing his (her) equipment to my location to do it, as it would save me a TON of time and labor with a wire brush. But if I can't find someone, I'll be doing it with a variety of wire brushes as best I can. (It was supposed to be just a quick brake job.)
I'm not too worried about removing the spare tire support -- it's so thin I could bend it by hand, so I don't think it's doing much in the way of structural rigidity. Hopefully I'll have the tank before I need to paint the frame, but we're almost at September and I'm in Minnesota, so my days are numbered for being able to get this back together before winter. My goal right now is getting the back half rebuilt and back together before October.
I'm pretty set on getting the gas tank out of the cab. As much as it may be better protected in there, I'm not at all comfortable with the idea of nothing but fabric and springs between myself (and my kids) and a bomb. I'd rather take my chances with it outside the cab.
