My truck is falling apart.... literly

[Suspect]

I posted this truck up on here before. Its my 73 Datsun 620, now flat black with a punisher skull on da hood. Anyways its a true Michigan truck that has been battling rust issues. 2 years ago I decided this truck was too bad to drive and condemned it to a parts truck. I robbed parts off it for my 74 620 and it just sit in the back 40. Towards the end of last year, I decided to try a freebie L16 motor I got from a guy in Kentucky. I installed it in this 73 and put it back on the road. As I drive it 100 miles daily, I'm remembering why I condemned it 2 years ago. When I turn corners the rear of the cab slides on the frame and blocks of wood. I have to rig the center support bearing on the drive shaft so the drive shaft wont rub the frame.

 

Well the latest thing that happened was on my way to work. I been noticing the rear right suspension was getting bouncier that it used to be. I didn't think much of it, just figured it was weak shocks. Well today I get off the highway and it is ruff as hell. I pull into my job and realize that part of my frame broke, my spare tire was nearly on the ground. The round bar that holds the upper shock mounts rusted out of the frame, this also hold the spare tire up.

 

This has been a good truck and I'll have a hard time "putting it down" for good..... when the time comes

 

[Roadracer Al]

I'm usually all for fixing stuff, but that looks pretty far gone. The trouble is finding enough solid metal to weld to.

 

I'm sorry for your loss, is there anything we can do to aid you during your bereavement? :lol:

[mr.mk1]

...Still better than British classics!

[Suspect]

The easiest actual fix to the rear suspension would be to slide a bar threw the holes in the frame and weld the shock mounts to it. There isn't much I can do for the body. There is several stuff the could use attention on this truck. The most annoying thing is the gas tank, rusted out at the 1/2 way seam and the gas gauge don't work. I put $10 of gas in a day and I usually don't run out. I carry a gas can with me at all times. I find in amusing at times when at gas stations, someone complements on how clean my truck is.

[chiquapen]

so sad!!!

[datzenmike]

I've driven in MI and the roads are hell too, so what rusts gets shaken off.

[Bob3]

Sorry to see that. My advice is to not drive it. If you hit the brakes too hard the cab may fly off WITH YOU IN IT! :o

[Suspect]

What Brakes? ..... well it has some, brake adjusters are froze and I have to replace a steel line every now and then.

[moparvwfreak]

i know how ya feel. i LOVED my 78 KC but it looks to be in the same boat as your 73 there. so i scavenged all that i wanted off it and it sits in my feild to be parted more as more parts are needed.

[Guest kamakazi620]

Your truck gives me hope with mine,I thought my floorboards were gone!!! and yeah get that crossmember replaced and you should be good

[72240z]

You guys want hope? lol

exhaust I just had to fix, look at how that flange went from 3/8 to paper lol.

Flame I fixed this summer after it broke in half. Since it broke in between the leaf the bed then became the spring lol.

Look at the brake hose fitting, its so rounded from rust i cant get it off. I have to run a new section and replace that before my brakes go out and I die.

Whole I had to repair, there was the rockers on both sides as well.

 

My truck IS rust. If your under it working on it and it shakes or the wind blows your showered in rust flakes lol.

 

When you ratchet strap things in the back the bed walls fold in and you cant open the tail gate. I have to leave straps on the bed in a X semi tight or the walls slap around all crazy and loud.

I daily it to and from work 40 miles, 4x4 in the snow and sand often. You guys see I haul motors and tow cars with it as well. Think break you fix them, but keep on drivin lol.

[WtShSed]

owch, did someone leave it in a bucket of salt?!

 

I gotta say, make another frame, drop the body on it :D

[Suspect]

I don't know what I am going to do with the truck in the long run. I have another 73 without a title, though of swapping the body onto this frame and using the title. But after having frame rust issues, probably wont do it that way. Maybe just a vin swap. They are both the same trucks, both 73's, both originally yellow, but the one I'm not driving is in better shape body wise.

[Guest kamakazi620]

Uuuhhh,if ya gonna do it I dont kno what yer talkin 'bout!!! hint hint wink wink I ain't no rat

[lynchfourtwenty]

RUST IS A MOTHA FUCKA MAN! holy crap.. thats so sad..

[Suspect]

It is sad, alot of you on this forum are very lucky. I keep seeing "I just bought this / that for cheap $$$ on this forum and they are in very good shape. Then they call them projects, which I guess they are. But to me, a project is a pile of rust that you are putting back together exactly the way you want it. In Michigan and a other states, rust is all you can find. I guess there is several levels to being a project. Datsun's in California seem plentiful, every good Datsun on ebay is 90% of the time in California.

 

This was my first "road legal" datsun. I gave $600 for it and put just enough in it to keep it going.

 

I did take it off the road, not because I had too, but because I wanted too. I get bored driving the same vehicle every day and I can only afford one at a time. I switch to my 77 620 and had problems the first day. I got it all straightened out now.

[pharouh]

OMG! I don't know what to tell you,man. It looks like the Titanic under there. :blink:

Good luck with it.