pulled the pin and swaped in the pedels and test fitted the the clutch MC.

this little jem of a bracket will make it ez to go hydro clutch in something else.

the 85 cab does not have the holes for the 4 bolts but could be welded right in place once a hole in the fire wall is cut. if a mech linkage set of pedels are on hand, they would just need a small piece welded up for MC hook up.

with the correct v-6/v-8 hydro bellhousing the 833/833OD/5-speed can be used.

been scratching around in the JY and have come up with a bracket/pedels from a truck.

picked up a 94 DAK/AX-15 5 speed with its own 9 bolt hydro bell housing. free fit the budget, just hauled the rest off for the owner some recycler cash.

looks like the folks over at dodge did not have to think too hard to come up with the hydro system upgrading the antique mech linkage.

Cool!

lookin good Mike

was able to finish off some small patching from backside after rocker is open. got the backside of seatbelt anchor welded up good.

next up,

a few small cuts then work the edge towards the inside a little.

moving right along now.

just about ready for a patch

jump over to ol' greenie and chop out some patch pieces.

getting drafty with all the holes choped in GOOD metal on ol'greenie

time to burn some wire. the trick is to weld in the patch as flush as i can get it, not to much goober welding and less grinding.

it will skim over good with allmetal and get sprayed with bed liner when done, should not really be able to see this patch that low on the rocker so that helps hide it.

moving along and burning wire, hope to finish before the rain starts today.

little more grinding and it is done for today, the rain has started to fall.

got 1 small rocker hole to go and i think I will weld up the cargo light hole. this looks to be were some water was getting inside. the mounting screws rusted right off in the cab sheet metal.

with Ace as my shadow, I gave it a good try for my first hand at patching the rocker myself.

I would say it turned out better than the first patch.

skim coat and bedliner will hide it well enuff to go fishing.

rocker is patched.

windsheild/pinchweld/driprail up next.

Your doing a great job.
Fun to watch as I have some similar work to do on my 76. there are Basically no rocker panels left but I have replacements from the 84.

thanks,I guess the biggest part of learning how to do it is doing it.

I enjoyed doing all the body work on the 440 truck, and now more practice with the 85 truck.

the more I do the better I should get as I fix my own rusted junk.

helps having a paint & body man to guide me thru how it is done. i just follow his advice. he does a little but has me doing most of the cutting/drilling/welding/grinding for practice.

I can tell you for sure that last saturday,if I was paying myself to do this work i would have fired me..

just a little sanding on the allmetal to smooth it out a bit, spray it and the bottom side is done up nice with a thick coat of bed liner.

got a 2nd coat on the cab floor under foot.