I bought a High Rider...

[Shran]

Here's what I've been up to. I am painting a different hood. The one I used had a ton of hail damage that I did not fix very well... I had another hood on hand that also has some dents but a lot less of them. I fixed a couple bigger dings and decided to just use filler on the hail, it won't be perfect but should be way better than what I had before.

This is what I'm unhappy with, my current hood has a ton of spots I missed or didn't use enough filler in and/or enough primer. Ignorance on my part, I only had maybe 1 or 2 coats of primer on here and it was not high build. Filler soaked it up and so I have these rings. No big deal, as I have said this was an experimental truck so I don't mind redoing some things just for the practice.

 

[Shran]

Shot three coats of primer surfacer (4:1:1 mix w/ hardener and reducer) last Friday, had a couple minor repairs to make after that and scuffed it again on Saturday and shot one final coat. I'm gonna let it sit this week and put some color on it this weekend if the weather holds up. My kid helped me reassemble the paint booth last night so everything is ready to go.

Also I got some super cool Ranger floor mats from @PlumCrazy and they are awesome. He said they were more "gray" than expected and my picture seems to indicate that too but they are blue enough for me.

 

[Shran]

Three coats of base, three coats of clear. Some of my filler spots are noticable in the right light but it's way better than my other hood.

I must be getting better at painting, this is the first time I've shot more than two coats of clear with no runs.

 

[Shran]

I got the new hood on a couple days after I painted it. Pretty pleased with that, once I got the old one off I could not believe how bad it looks!

At the moment I am working on cleaning up a newer disc brake 8.8 with 4.10 gears. A few years ago I was incredibly lucky to find one from a wrecked Explorer that had 7000 miles on it - that axle apart from some light surface rust was basically brand new. This one, not so much. Looks like it came out of Michigan or Ohio, horrible crusty rust all over everything, all the seals leak, needs bearings, brakes, limited slip rebuild, etc. Wire wheeled the housing, then sandblasted it, now I'm working on cleaning out about an 1/8" layer of gray sludge that is built up inside the axle tubes before I start reassembly. So far I've used about 75lbs of sand and six cans of brake cleaner!

I shimmed the limited slip to the max, how y'all think I'm gonna like it???

 

[Blmpkn]

I got the new hood on a couple days after I painted it. Pretty pleased with that, once I got the old one off I could not believe how bad it looks!

At the moment I am working on cleaning up a newer disc brake 8.8 with 4.10 gears. A few years ago I was incredibly lucky to find one from a wrecked Explorer that had 7000 miles on it - that axle apart from some light surface rust was basically brand new. This one, not so much. Looks like it came out of Michigan or Ohio, horrible crusty rust all over everything, all the seals leak, needs bearings, brakes, limited slip rebuild, etc. Wire wheeled the housing, then sandblasted it, now I'm working on cleaning out about an 1/8" layer of gray sludge that is built up inside the axle tubes before I start reassembly. So far I've used about 75lbs of sand and six cans of brake cleaner!

I shimmed the limited slip to the max, how y'all think I'm gonna like it???

Anything done 'to the max' is usually pretty bitchin.. like the rest of the truck..

Recipe for greatness I'd say.

 

[Shran]

Anything done 'to the max' is usually pretty bitchin.. like the rest of the truck..

Recipe for greatness I'd say.

Fantastic. I knew I made the right call!

 

[Shran]

Many hours of sandblasting, 10 cans of brake cleaner later I'm finally painting the brake parts. So. Much. Cleaning.

In other news I got some seat covers. Been waffling on these for a long time, it's hard to find ones that fit RBV 60/40 seats. These do and I'm very pleased - you can find them on RockAuto for about $150 shipped (Dash Designs brand.) The color is a great match, my only complaint is the passenger side seat bottom is a bit big so the edge doesn't look right compared to the driver side. I'm the only one who will ever notice that I bet. Installation was really easy.

 

[ericbphoto]

They look good from here

 

[Shran]

Old 8.8 removed after taking some measurements.

I got the new one pushed under the truck this morning and tacked the perches and shock mounts on. Pulled it back out and finished welding everything. After cleaning that up and a coat of etch primer, I shot some paint on it. I'm trying a new thing I read about where you add hardener to Rustoleum paint - the mix ratio I found was 5 parts paint, 2 parts acetone, 1/3 part hardener. I sprayed this about 2 hours ago and it's still tacky but maybe slightly less than it normally would be? Hard to say, I'm hoping for some nice hard paint on this axle.

 

[Shran]

Sunday was a marathon of bolt shit back into place and empty a bunch of boxes of new parts. That pile of empty boxes on the floor is always a super good feeling. Last night all I had left was building one brake line, bleeding the brakes, putting gear lube in it and putting the tires/wheels & driveshaft back on. Took a sick day today and hammered out those last bits between naps, I actually do feel like crap but got restless. My kid helped me bleed the brakes this evening and I put about 10 miles on it testing and correcting the speedo.

First thoughts - 3.73 to 4.10 was not a huge jump like I'd somewhat hoped. Lot more snort from a stop, still kind of a turd at highway speed but not like my wife's 3.27 gears. I was expecting more from the limited slip, that "err err err err" around corners is cool but it doesn't do it. Oh well.

Most importantly - the brakes are MUCH better. It has about the same stopping power but I can't lock the rears up on command like I could with the drums. It was almost unsafe to drive it that way, I was always paranoid that I'd have to panic stop and rear end somebody because of the stupid brakes. Not anymore!

Looks pretty cool too.

 

[Shran]

All cleaned up, little car show action today.

 

[Shran]

I won first place in the truck category. My competition was a tow truck.

 

[superds]

Congrats on the show win.
I just read this whole thread over the last few days. Awesome build! This is one of my favorite trucks on TRS. Just looks awesome, all the right proportions.

 

[Blmpkn]

I still can't get over the level of bitchin' that bed is. Some real TOTM stuff for sure.

 

[Shran]

Congrats on the show win.
I just read this whole thread over the last few days. Awesome build! This is one of my favorite trucks on TRS. Just looks awesome, all the right proportions.

thanks! It was a fun project, minus the paint debacle! I love driving it.