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My next 720 resto


720inOlyWa

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Man, thanks for the site reference! Bookmarked!

But showing me that roof is a dangerous business, man. I am the kind of fool who would actually try to put that in! What a cool deal! (I didn’t even look for the glass and hardware for fear that it might trigger an impulsive and foolish reaction on my part.)

 

And what is the deal with the wheel well flares? Didn’t all 4x4 versions have them? I think I know where there is a set, if memory serves. Certainly, I have seen them before in my jy visits.

 

Did the skid plates tend to go away too? Were they an option? This one looks to be in pretty good shape, but the entire engine bay and underside is coated with a dust so fine that it is quite hard to get off completely, even with hot soapy water and a brush. Like St. Helen’s ash or something. It is going to take a lot of work to get it all off of everywhere.

 

This is day three of running a (supervised) space heater in the cab, with one window cracked open. Finally, it is getting fairly close to ‘dry’ inside. That’s a start.

I have a lot to learn about the 720 4x4. When I slid out of the seat getting out of the cab, my feet didn’t touch the ground, per usual. That was a shockka!

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The thing with the flares is that it's not that they didn't come on all 4x4s. It's cause they want to put a set on their 2wd trucks to run wider wheels. This way they know it's fits perfectly, there og to the truck and you can run a wider wheel to get that "fitment" people are going for now a days. Plus it looks kinda cool. lol

 

For the skid plate. I think he's just saying that because people tend to take them off for repairs and don't bother putting them back on. Idk haha

 

I've never dealt with a 4x4 but there pretty much the ones to have cause it's like a 2wd ST truck only it's a 4x4, even though they made 4x4 ST trucks. The 4x4 base models came with almost everything. Sometimes they didn't come with the clock but I'm sure all of them came with a tach. And I'm sure all of them came with the center console gauges too being its a 4x4 and you need to read oil pressure. I think the only difference between an base model and ST model was the tailgate trim, decal and maybe some interior stuff like door panels, gauges and steering wheel. It changed through the years though. I think they started doing ST models in '83 and things changed like body style and interior stuff. Too much to list but I think you get the idea.

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Mine doesn't have flares or the skid plate and I have only seen 1 in person that had them.

Mine also doesn't have a clock, which sucks because somebody decided to glue a white stopwatch in there and then try to paint it black with a sharpie. It is ugly and the battery died long ago. 

 

You can buy NOS flares for 160 a piece... But I don't have $600+ for some plastic trim pieces. Especially since all the mounting hardware has to be bought separately.

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Awesome day today!

I pulled a set of seats out of an ’86 ST out t the jy. My 4x4 had blue seats that really looked white trashy in a dark brown truck. These grey plaid seats are out of a silver 720 and could be an improvement if only they weren’t filthy.  I had eyeballed them more than once before and each time I come back to this truck for more parts, and find more of it gone, I am surprised that the seats are still there. Surely some local 720 driver has worse seats...

 

The foam foundation was pretty good, and the cloth wasn’t ripped, they were just dirty. Really dirty. It was a real borderline call, at first glance. Even taking them out, I wondered if they would clean up enough to warrant the dough to liberate them.

 

The drivers side seat had some serious black greasy dirt stains that did not look like they would come out easily, if at all. So I bought a can of carpet stain lifter and loaded up my Bissel upholstery cleaner and got to work. 45 minutes later, I was astonished at the results- fantastic!  I will let them dry in the basement overnight 

and then bolt them in tomorrow morning. They are going to look way better than the worn out blue seats that were in there. I will have to post a pic of them tomorrow.

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Geeze, it was dark for photos when I quit yesterday. Gimmie a break!

Ahhhh, new seats. Much better than the old ones in every way!  Today, I drain the fluids, begin pulling off all of the parts required to do a head gasket and timing chain job. I’d like to get that started before the rains come back...

 

NEWSEATSIN4x4KC_zps0a038562.jpg

 

SEATSIN_zpsb413c970.jpg

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Thanks for the thumbs up on these seats. Man, you should have seen them before. They got way better.

 

I have learned my lesson. This engine will be the first to experience my 60 dollar Harbor Freight engine stand. I have been building up an account with the best local machinist with an eye towards rehabbing the engine top to bottom. I am really looking forward to it. (Actually, once that is done, I will go back and rebuild my 2wd 720 thoroughly and correctly as well, since I will certainly keep it. I have never owned, nor can I accept, an oil burner.)

 

I stuck the seats in, but that cab will need a full days worth of ‘dunging out’, as my dad used to say, before it starts to look okay. It is just grimy, like nobody cared to clean it. Headliner to carpet. Another pet peeve, it really bothers me when people just plain neglect good equipment. When I rehab a vehicle, especially one that is headed to the wrecker like my 2wd 720 was, I feel like my work is, in part, an atonement for the idiot who let things get this bad. Pretty weird, now that I think about it, but true. So before I can really dive into an area that I am going to fix, I have to begin with a thorough cleaning and exam. It helps me discover what is going on, gives me a clean slate to work on, and feels like we are making things better right from the start.

 

One of my best friends, and the best natural mechanic that I know, is the complete opposite. He does as little cleaning as possible, prefers everything nice and dirty under the hood.

 

I can tell from these pics that those seats will benefit from another pass with the steam upholstery cleaner. Maybe two, even. But that can wait. For now, we begin the (de)greasy work under the hood!...

 

Are the replacement marker lights from Mexico that you see on ebay any good? 

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I need to get a steam cleaner. Your interior looks clean as hell.  

 

I bought an Ebay tail light from Mexico. It was okay. Had an imperfection/crack in the amber lens. But other than that it was okay. 

 

 I feel like my work is, in part, an atonement for the idiot who let things get this bad. Pretty weird, now that I think about it, but true. 

 

I completely understand that. If a truck can be abused for 30 years and keep on trucking, it damn well deserves a second lease on life.

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The left headlight bucket was a real mess. So I began fixing things be removing the old one, which was held in place with two bungee cords.

 

DEADBUCKET_zpsa1835aa2.jpg

 

The adjustment screw was a bent 1/4 inch coarse thread carriage bolt!

 

ADJUSTMENTSCREW_zpsa7837f6e.jpg

 

The yard had one for $4.50 so I nabbed it. As you can see, things have gone from unbelievablly filthy to merely dirty in this area after one virgorous cleaning. Now I will pull it all back apart and get everything really clean, rust treated, and reinstalled on both sides. 

 

FROMFILTHYTOMERELYDIRTY_zps2dccc7ab.jpg

 

Test fitting my battered grille at the end of work, yesterday.

 

TESTFIT_zps7026223b.jpg

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Last night, I tore down my replacement bucket and rehabbed it for this morning, including metal prep and re-spray of the bucket fronts. I replaced the 4mm screws that hold the headlight retainer ring to the bucket with stainless steel versions, as it took me about 20 minutes to work the old rusty ones loose. Since I am going to be back in here to change a headlight at some point, I might was well make it easy to get the ring off.  $3.20 for enough to do both trucks.

 

FINISHEDBUCKETINSTALLED_zpseb53b26e.jpg

 

Now to head over to the other side...

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Got the right bucket landing area cleaned up and ready while I rehabbed the bucket. Of course this is the battery tray side, so I had a little Por-15 work to do today while my bucket parts soaked in metal prep. When I took the grille off, there was mud caked 1/3 of the way up the radiator and the buckets ‘nested’ in little mud cups. At least now we are approaching the normal limits of clean / dirty instead of looking at total caked on filth. 

 

RIGHTBUCKETLANDING_zpsc9114851.jpg

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Weird. I posted an update to this thread, but it didn’t show up, somehow...  Let’s try again.  I try to do a little work every day, if possible. So last night, I rehabbed the other headight bucket and finished up the clean up work up front. Now I have a beachhead and I can work my way back into the engine compartment. If the rains hold off today, I will drain the radiator and begin the process of readying the engine for removal. For now though, I can check the headlight buckets off of my chore list.

 

Buckets are back in...

 

BUCKETSIN_zpsdaa757de.jpg

 

Grille is mounted again. Looks about the same as when I began, minus some rust and lots of dirt... and the bungee cords holding everything together!

 

GRILLEON_zpse2b604a7.jpg

 

Do you suppose I could take a stout body hammer and a heavy buck and beat that wrinkle out of the bumper?

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