The Bigger Red Pig

[lstzephyr]

Well said terranist. Don't worry I won't spend too much time on it. I just figure I need to do something and I can't spend all my time reading, climbing, riding, and hanging out so why not. I try to remember that it doesn't really matter in the end though, and its good to be reminded sometimes. I have had some things happen lately that I have to keep telling myself is just not important. That is a story I will not go into here however, I'll just say I'm not getting along with bureaucracies right now, school, government or otherwise.

Anyway, I messed with the transfer case a few days ago. The front driveshafts bolts were all hand tight, and about to fall out! So I tightened that up and I found the skid plate was rubbing on the transfer and left a wear mark. It doesn't appear to be leaking there, but if I had left it it would have cut through eventually so its good I checked. I will replace the output seal and beat the skid into submission. The mark is middle left of the pic.

For the group participation part of today, is there supposed to be a bracket on the transfer case? Seems like I'm missing something from the lower black bracket to the side of the np205.

An awesome photoshop I made up.

Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about. Black arrow on transfer, and grey arrow on chassis. It just seems strange that it is all just hanging there.

I rattlecanned the bumper black as well, because I felt like it, and I was tired of looking at the rusty bumper.

Before

After

One thing I was thinking about was doing a shackle flip on the rear and switching to 56" chevy springs from the junkyard and taking the rear springs and adding them to the front with a longer shackle. The measurement is 24" on the front of the spring on both and the back of the back spring is only 2" longer. I would remove half the pack. So it should work right?

Thoughts? I probably should just buy skyjackers.

Oh and just because I enjoy comments on random ideas, and you guys seem to be interested in my ramblings. I started applying for jobs for the summer/spring. My classes are almost to a point that my degree program may stall while I wait to enter the program I want. So I'm looking into jobs with a twist. I applied to a job in Tibet, one in Alaska, one in Utah, a cruise ship out of washington, I'm almost certified as a scuba instructor(this summer I will probably have my cert, and looking into that), and I'm looking into stuff in Antartica. I've thought about trying to get a medic job on a oil rig or something as well. I tried to do ESL stuff before but that stalled, and I'm not sure that is my thing. I normally do mechanical/customer service jobs and I've found that the older I get the more I like people. I am in nursing school, and have a few medical certs, probably will be a CNA at least by the summer. If you have some idea for a interesting job post it up, I can go anywhere, anytime, and do almost anything, and I'm getting antsy to go somewhere again. It occured to me that I talk alot about my time in Colorado, so maybe its time to do something new, and take a break from school.

 

[Bogie]

Nope not missing anything on the T/C those holes are from when they were divorce mounted. A for spring swaps and brackets, I'll get some links but check out Jungle's parts for hardware.

 

[Metcalf]

70s ford trucks with the opposite drop 205 ( that is a slightly different shape ), use those bosses on non-divorce mounted applications for a torque bracket to the frame. I have contemplated building one for my Dodge. I don't think it would hurt anything. Room is tight with the exhaust on that side of the Dodge though.

You need to build a bumper for that thing!

 

[Metcalf]

Also, just save the pennies and get a set of Alcans. I think you will love them the most! They really are not THAT much more expensive, its also a good excuse for a road trip!

 

[lstzephyr]

I would build a bumper if I had a welder. I have time, even a little money right now. I just don't have the tools. Oh well.

Alcans, skyjackers, stock springs, who knows. It will just happen whenever it happens.

I really really want something like this. I was dicking around on the internet and found both of them. Maybe I need a ramcharger with my engine or a m1009 and a fwc. I would trade my truck for either of them right now if I had the chance. I would paint them red, or blue and thats about it.

Once again though, another thing I can't afford. But hey, I still have a bike and a tent so I'm not complaining.

Merry Christmas all, I'm off to go put a driveshaft in, or maybe I will just sit on the porch and have a beer.

 

[huntinguy]

I would also recomend the alcans. I have a set on the front of my truck and they're great.

 

[lstzephyr]

Alright alright ya'll convinced me no goofy crap, just get new springs, copy....haha, I'll order some alcans(probably unless the local place has skyjackers for a decent price) next week sometime.

So...Where were we? I had a major oil leak from the transfer case, it dumped what I guessed was about half a gallon over a couple of nights. I guess something got in and cut the seal. So I borrowed some tools and tore it apart to fix that. New seals, fresh fluid, checked all the bolts, found some loose stuff and fixed that.

About half way through the job I went to Colorado for some snowboarding(by plane).

One of the days I went up on a new lift they had built that went all the way to the top of the mountain. It only had access to double black bowls so it sounded awesome to me! However the first day the visibility sucked. I could tell where the edge was but I really couldn't tell where it went. So that added a bit of extra excitement!

I came back a couple days later though because the snow had been awesome which made it worth it despite the crappy visibility. I hiked around to another peak from the lift and got some pictures of the other mountains nearby.

The winds were crazy, I felt like my board and me were about to get blown off the top of the ridge! It was nuts, I bet the wind was over 40mph. As I walked I didn't so much carry my board as hold on to it as it flapped next to me in the wind.

You can see a bit of the wind in this picture.

I would strap my board on anytime I wanted to stop and take a picture as well, just so it wouldn't wander away. At one point I slipped and slid down a section of about 50-60 feet, almost to the edge of the bowl. I managed to self-arrest but it was a bit of a scary moment(and I felt like I looked retarded!)

Here is a view looking back up at the top of the run. Those specks on the mountain are people.

Despite all the downsides I went down that run probably 5-6 times. It would take about 2 hours round trip, 45 minutes one way with hiking for each run. It was awesome! The powder was deep, soft and it really was a great run. The view was amazing as well. I sat and just looked around for a long time one run. It was breathtaking, and reminded why I love the mountains so much.

A couple other pictures of runs, both double-blacks. I find the more difficult the run, the harder to get to, and the more it demands that I step it up as a rider, the better the pictures look. Those are also the most fun, so it works out perfectly.

It was a fun trip! My original explorations went along the lines of bicycles and then snowboards(and grew into rock-climbing, skateboards, motorcycles, cars, trucks, etc.), so I figured I would add this in here too. I always take runs off in the back of everything, so it feels like exploring. Its nice being able to just grab my "vehicle" and carry it around wherever I wanted.

But as all things are, it had to end so back to the truck, when I got back I still needed to fill the transfer case back up but I couldn't find anyone to help me, so out came the duct tape.

My funnel tool has always gotten some strange looks whenever anyone finds it in my toolbox, but it is really useful for filling anything under a vehicle. It worked really well this time just being taped to the side of the truck. Better than I ever expected. I just dumped a bunch of oil into my funnel and wandered off. I sat and watched it the first time, but it took about 6-7 or more refills to completely fill the transfer and at that point I trusted it not to leak everywhere. I went ahead and added some oil to the transmission at the same time. I added the recommended extra quart to help with the first gear bearing. It shifts better now, and a bit quicker, although still a bit like a dump truck.

I also pulled out the gauges and adding a bit of paint and reflective tape to brighten them up a bit. It makes a big difference! I have an egt gauge, and a boost gauge to add as well. No pics yet though.

I checked the valves again, and I found that the 6th exhaust valve was a bit loose so that got fixed. All others were fine. I doubt it moved, I probably just didn't tighten it properly last time.

While I was in there I found a loose hose to the intercooler. I tightened it up and then took the truck for a test drive. I can't even begin to explain my shock the first time I pressed on the accelerator. The turbo spooled up, and the truck simply took off! I guess I have had a pretty major boost leak ever since I got the truck because it has never driven that well. Its pretty quick now, I guess all those mods I made before to make it quicker worked! Haha, I always wondered why everyone called these 1st gens the hotrods of diesel trucks, now that my truck works correctly I understand completely! This thing is fun!

And to top it all off, I started painting the truck. I went with rustoleum/ace rust-stop(I ran out, ha) Regal Red. They are both the same. I like it so far. Its got 3 coats on the cap/bed and 1 on the cab/front clip. I figure I will go to 5-6 before I start trying to wet sand it. It is pretty heavily orange peeled, but it is already a major improvement. With some sanding and effort it should look good.

The change is biggest from the back.

A friend of mine dropped by and her reaction was "Oh wow! You painted your truck!" Even my sister said that it looked really nice, so I would say that if three women have already commented on how nice it looks then it will be good enough! They have no expierence with auto paint, but that doesn't matter at all. I still think it looks pretty ghetto with the masking, as it looks like I just indiscriminatly painted everything but that will change when the tape is removed. I really like the fact that I can still drive it between coats, and I purposelly masked it so that I can still use it.

It does look a little grungy up close but that should change after getting sanded. This was after only one coat too.

The calico dodge expo group has one less member now, ha! I got tired of the 6 or so shades of red I had so I think repainting all of it will work best. I'm still debating on black below the lower bodyline. I saw a couple 1st gen trucks locally with that paint scheme one white and one gold, and they looked nice so maybe. Here is the best overall shot so far.

Hows that for an update?

 

[Metcalf]

Nice!

Roller, brush, or can to apply the paint?

 

[lstzephyr]

Thanks.

I used a roller mostly. I used a can in the places I couldn't the roller into.

 

[Metcalf]

sweet!

 

[mustangwarrior]

looks good, u considered doing bedliner on the bottom half?

 

[Rot Box]

Looks great! keep it up :bike_rider:

I stole your black frame idea on your XRR.... Hope you don't mind :coffeedrink:

 

[Terrainist]

Way to go man, no stress paint! Very wise way for you to do it, IMO. Fun even? So now she's running better and she's got some new paint... hope you are feeling better about your rig.

You can drag a halfway decent brush over it after you lay it on with the roller, or spray can even. Goes a long way to getting rid of the orange peel. Smooths things right out, comparatively. Can't get too far ahead with the roller though to still drag a brush over it, have to do smallish sections. Roller, brush, roller, brush. Or if you can have someone help you for an hour, makes things a ton easier. Give someone brush duty.

I think you would like painting it black up to the lower body line like you mentioned. Brush or rattle can the wheel wells black. Drag a wire brush over the frame real quick to get the surface dirt and grime off and hit it with a couple bottles of rust stop, then brush black paint over that. Do the same with your hitch. Paint the insets on your topper black... you'll have a brand new truck.

And enjoy the comments from people about how much better your truck looks, you deserve it. Enough with the beaten down look, she's cleaning right up with a little effort.

If you do your springs, please post pics and write up a little about it if you can -- I have to do the same thing, would be a big help.

 

[lstzephyr]

Rot box- That looks great. I don't mind at all. What year cr500 is that?

Terranist-I will try to do a write up when I do the springs, but if it is really difficult then there probably won't be many pictures. I'm not really looking forward to it but it needs to be done. I am much happier with the truck now than I was a month ago or so. It really works much better, I hope the front springs and tires help as much.

I am planning on adding black to the lower body line, I think it will break up all the red a bit. The downside is then my vehicles will match, but I guess they do already. I am not going to use bedliner, its too expensive. I think I am just going to use rustoleum hammered black. The reason being is that I'm not overly concerned about chips anyway, and the paint will be no less weak than the rest of the paint.

Here are a few more pictures as it gets finished up. It has 4 coats over the whole truck now. I have run out of paint, so I'm calling that good enough. I don't mind the orange peel now, it has flattened out and gives it a nice satin red finish, which is what I wanted, I'm not too big a fan of gloss.

Wet paint a couple days ago.

This shows the orange peel when wet pretty well.

This is after the bed had dried. You can tell the difference in fresh paint on the cab and dried on the bed.

The masking took a bit of the paint with it, and I was slightly unhappy with the amount of stickiness after removing the masking but oh well. This picture shows the texture pretty well as well.

At some point I need to remove the cap and paint the back of the cab and front of the cap. That will happen next week sometime. I want to be sure the paint is dried before I try to remove it.

Overall.

I got the 3rd coat on the cab too thick and it really looked awful. It looked streaked and way too shiny. I added the fourth really thin and that fixed it. I wanted the texture and shine to be the same as the bed was. It looks pretty good now. My internet has been spotty and classes have revved up so I will get to painting on the black and posting pictures when I can.

So far so good.

 

[lstzephyr]

The red is done now except for the back of the cab/front of the cap. I'll start on the black soon, I just need to grab some blue masking tape to hopefully keep the residue down a bit.

Looks good from the neighbors driveway. I'm happy with it overall, especially considering I painted it in the driveway/garage.

Local shop has skyjacker 2" for $366 in my hands, no charge for shipping, so I will be going that way instead of alcans. My truck isn't really anything custom anyway so it should be fine. I also ordered a gauge cup for my boost gauge, I hooked it up a week ago, but its just been sitting on the dash. Interior is next, I need to find a spot for the egt gauge(I think I'm going to put it where the "4wd engage" light is), and then put the dash back together. I need to find a transfer case shifter boot, and I found a new armrest for the drivers side.

Progress.