'99 Stepside Frame Swap

I bought my '99 2WD 5-speed earlier this year for $2,400. Everything was on the up-n-up with the test drive, motor was and still is in good condition. The next day I gave it a thorough inspection (mind you, I had never done any real mechanic work before this, but I figured I could get my feet wet... I got the 5-speed to force myself to learn how to drive a stick so that should tell you something about my previous mechanical knowledge)...

This is when I first noticed the frame (originally a NJ truck) was ruuusty. The frame was beginning to rot away on both sides: starting about a foot behind the shock towers, it had "split" in a straight line across the underside, continued the split straight up the inner side, and halfway across the top side (almost like the rust was trying to make a clean cut behind the shock towers, the outer sides were still intact enough to drive regularly). The driver side was worse than the passenger though... That "split" continued in a squiggly fashion up and over and halfway down the outer side of the shock tower (near the end of the swap you could actually hear it rattle if you whacked it hard enough)

SO, I took a gulp and told myself I'd swap the frame, maybe, sometime within the next year. In the meantime, shocks needed replacing, got some new drums/rotors/pads/shoes/calipers/hardware to revamp the brakes. Also replaced the upper arms and ball joints (lower arms looked fairly new, or at least recently painted). A couple vacuum lines had draped too low at some point and melted, so I knew that would have to get figured out. Also got some new Cooper Discoverer AT3's, 235/75/15s.

Fast forward to early August... I drove out to Ohatchee, AL to sell my motorcycle ramp for some much needed moolah. When I hit the brakes to park it the pedal went to mush immediately... huh?... pushed it again, same thing. The brake line coming from the master cylinder, just before the 3-way junction thingy on the driver side, had rusted through and was spraying fluid with every push. So... Sold my ramp, yay me, but now I had a problem to solve.

I got lucky, reeeal lucky. Long story short, came out there with a car hauler abd a plan to haul it back home so I could replace the brake line(s). When I got there, someone had slashed 3-of-4 tires and left a cute little note on my windshield... yippee. At that point I was grounded... no money for tires, no money really at the time. So my boss (I'm a "caretaker" for a 30+ acre property) offered to let me do the frame swap in his garage and stay out there til it's done. The next day I bought a frame for $150 and we hauled it out there. Time to embrace the suck...

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Got the frame in the garage...

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Stripped it down...

Sprayed out the 20lbs if dirt that was caked up inside the rails (I think someone tried to park their truck in a ditch)...

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Then, because I'm a meticulous mofo, I sanded and coated the whole frame with RustOleum Rust Reformer (by this time I had a special hatred for rust)...
I also spray-coated the brake lines and fuel lines with the same stuff

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Kept the better parts, mostly from the donor frame. Rinsed out the gas tank, blew out the brake and fuel lines, sprayed em out with their respective cleaners, then blew em out with compressed air again. Mounted the harness. Mounted the motor, tranny and driveshaft. Cleaned 90+% of the harness connections. New spark plugs. New plug wires. New bed mount hardware. New tires (Mastercraft A/S, 225/75/15s).

Also swapped out my rotors and bearings... I didn't tighten the spindle nut anywhere near tight enough the first time, resulting in a strange metal-on-metal knocking sound, which resulted in me trying to hunt down where it was coming from for weeks.

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And 2 1/2 months later (took longer than I wanted, also been building a house) it's almost 100%. Planning on getting some bumpers from Pull-A-Part in the next couple weeks. Next will be a new clutch and an engine rebuild (sometime in the next 6 months or less I hope), might just go with gaskets but part of me really wants to do a full rebuild. Then again, it might be a better idea to do a swap... we'll see. Dumped a can of BG EPR in with the oil, and a can of BG 44K in the tank, which I think should buy me some time. Gonna dump a can of BG MOA in the oil after I change it soon.

The A/C still blows out the defrost although I pulled the lines off a '98, which I hoped would fix the issue. Not sure if it's related, but the engine kinda bogs down while idling (currently idling at 700-750rpm). So I guess I'll need to check the EGR/vacuum/etc components and see if something needs servicing/replacing. Also thinking of replacing the power steering pump/pulley, it made noise before but I have noticed its gotten quieter over the past 2 days since I topped it off, cranked the wheel all the way to each side several times while running (the truck, not me), topped off again, and repeat til it stayed level/full. So hopefully that fixed that as well... Kinda thinking of flushing it just to make sure there's no crud in there.

But it's looking good so far. Just gotta throw my fender skirts and dust covers back on and do a few small things here and there. Definitely bit off a bit more than I could chew, but it the experience was well-worth the effort (and it helps that I had a tractor for removing/replacing the cab and bed [emoji6]).

Sometime in the next year I'm hoping to put some slightly larger tires on (30"-32"?), slight lift/level, upgrade the differential/axle swap, and get a fresh set of body bushings/mounts.

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Welcome to TRS.
Wonderful job!
Keep us updated.

Thatsa Lotta Work. Looks as if it turned out well. As far as the loping idle, I would check the vacuum lines for one being loose at either end, cracked, or split. If you went with a different year vacuum tubing 'harness', be sure that you match the routing specified on the radiator support. It is easy to miss the lines that connect to the underside of the upper intake manifold, or pull them slightly loose when maneuvering around for the plugs, etc.
The A/C will blow out the defrost(as will heat) as an 'emergency' setting when there is no vacuum source or vacuum is decreased due to engine load (climbing a good hill). You will need defrost in the winter, should you live in a cold frosty/snowy area, much more than you'll absolutely need that A/C in Hawkinsville,AL.
I suspect you have no vacuum to the inside of the cab. You know your truck a lot better than most will ever know theirs, so if you look at the vacuum line on the power brake booster, and follow it back from the booster, you should run into a vacuum 'manifold' where a bunch of vacuum lines are connected. Some models indicated what was to be connected where on the manifold, such as A/C, PB, CC, etc. There should be a larger line running to the intake manifold. If you follow the line from the manifold labeled A/C you should find a line that goes into the cab through the firewall. There may be a TEE and a check valve along with a vacuum reservoir located somewhere. If the check valve is not there, it should be connected such that it will allow manifold vacuum to be applied on one side, and the other connected to the reservoir. When you climb a hill, for example, the vacuum in the manifold drops, and the check valve will retain the vacuum to keep the vacuum 'motors' on the A/C system working. Otherwise, the system would lose vacuum, and default to defrost whenever you accelerated or worked the engine hard.
tom

Switched my lines back after running another test this morning. Truck didn't start, or even try. Found that one of the fuse box nuts was loose (idiot brother-in-law), tightened em, truck started.

Pulled down the driveway to head to the gas station and it was bogging worse than I'd ever witnessed, at the same time the ABS light and parking brake light were both intermittently on, and the oil pressure dial was all the way up.

Got out, disconnected the battery and fuse box, rubbed their respective terminals together to get rid of any static in the system (something the brother-in-law told me to do), hooked em back up, started the truck, same problem.

On the way back down the driveway I noticed that when I hit a big enough bump it rattled enough on uneven ground that the ABS/PB lights went back off and the oil pressure dial dropped back to the norm.

So I'm guessing I've got a loose sensor somewhere. Strange that it would affect all 3 of those things... I could understand the ABS/PB, but the oil pressure?

So, when I'm done with work today I'll see about finding a loose connection. If I can't find one I'm not exactly sure what to do next other than check that the fuses are all correct.

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Thought about it for a minute. I remember leaving 2 or more grounds with the old frame (either too rusty, too hard to get/too small of a socket needed to get it).

So I may need to bum a ride to Pull-A-Part and see if I can snatch em (along with the cab-to-frame wiring harness bracket... wish they'd have made it out if metal, not plastic... might make my own one day).

Not sure if the lack of grounds at the cab and bed, possibly one other at the motor (pretty sure I got that though) would cause this after 2-3 times of running it for short trips over 2-3 days... but electricity/wiring is still kinda over my head right now (ask my '80 CX500).

I know I should have em, so I'll find a way to get em and hopefully that'll be the end of that gremlin.

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Missing or loose grounds will cause strange things. I think you're on the right track. Double check other electrical connections also.

Very nice job with the truck. It looks good.

Eric B

Well, I did find that the battery -> radiator support ground wasn't tightened all the way, needed about another 1/4"... sounds like that may have been the culprit, since it was loose enough for it to wiggle, and the issue was happening randomly/repeatedly... So that's tight now.

I do remember one of those braided flat ground wires in the rear somewhere, before the swap, and maaaybe another somewhere around the cab.

Read in a separate thread (about ground locations, I'll try to post a link later) that the main ones are:
1) Battery -> Engine (I'm guessing that's either grounded via the starter or maybe the wiring harness hanger in my pic)
2) Battery -> Radiator support [emoji6]
3) Engine -> Firewall (not sure where this is... maybe the ground next to the PCM?)
4) Engine -> Frame (I'm guessing the engine grounds to the frame via the trans/support crossmember)

Gonna double check my vacuum lines are how they should be, and I'll give it a crank and see what happens.

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Success!
Truck idled just fine. Took it for a spin around the block after it warmed up a bit. I wrote down the before-trip/after-trip info from my Walmart OBD thingy. So if anyone sees something concerning, please let me know as most of this info is still Chinese to me...

---Before---
*Load_PCT (%): 40 - 41 at start, 22.7 after warm up
*SHRTFT1 (%): 3.5 - 10.2
*Spark advance (°): 21 - 25.5
*MAF (lb/s): 0.01
*TP (%): 17.6
*O2B1S1 (V): 0.065 - 0.750
*SHRTFTB1S1 (%): 3.9 - 9.4
*O2B1S2 (V): 0.050 - 0.550 (moving kinda quick)
*RPM: not shown for some reason

On the "I/M Readiness" page:
CAT: fail
EVAP: fail
O2S: fail
HRT: fail
EGR: fail

---After---
*Load_PCT (%): 22.7
*SHRTFT1 (%): not shown for some reason
*Spark advance (°): 13.5 - 14.0
*MAF (lb/s): 0.01
*TP (%): 17.6
*O2B1S1 (V): 0.145 - 0.730
*SHRTFTB1S1 (%): -3.1 - 2.6
*O2B1S2 (V): 0.050 - 0.550
*RPM: 850 - 880

On the "I/M Readiness" page:
CAT: Pass
EVAP: fail
O2S: Pass
HRT: Pass
EGR: fail

Vents are working now! Although, when on a head-level setting it blows 75% out the middle, 25% out the others. Lower vents blow kinda weak.

I'm getting somewhere though [emoji16]


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As I remember, there is a braided ground from the rear of the cylinder head to the firewall. There is also one from the cab to the chassis. Somewhere under the hood, near the floor, I think.
Without a good ground for the cab, the gauges may float because their effective voltage is not based against the 'zero' of ground. Weird things will likely happen.
The engine is grounded by the large battery cable, from the '-' post. At least I think it is, thence from the engine to the chassis and cab.
tom

Thanks for the info!

I have some 12ga wire left over from redoing the wiring on my bike... You think I could out some ring terminals on the ends and use those as grounds?

I thought about Pull-A-Part for the grounds, but it could be hit or miss, and I already have wire sooo... ?

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