So here's the upadate. I'm still working ont he bed, aslo working ont he steering, and shift linkage. Found out through some research that the tranny is a 200 R4. Made the same time as the 700 R4 but was phased out after the 700 was upgraded. Both were good trans, but the 700 can take more abusive or so I've read. Seems like everyone has an opinion to one thing or another. I've read so much crap ont he internet just trying to figure out what type of trans it was and how my shft linkage can work and a bunch of other nonsense. It's all correlated to what I'm doing, but when you start seeing conflicting arguments in forums on how to hook up the rear drive shaft and pinion angles, it can be like watching two drunk dudes fight it out while smoking cigarettes behind the propane tanks. yeah pointless.

So anyway, I reserved tomorrow to get a bunch of shit done, but of course I need stuff to get shit done. So Until I have I have the steering, shift linkage, and rear axl hoked up, there's no real point to working on the body. Feeling really down about it right now, haven't a clue what to do.

Good part of the past couple weeks, is that Melissa bought me some really f'in sweet rims for it, and I went to an auction to get some parts and came home with a sander and a bunch of moon hubcaps. They are cool. I also have all my steering parts except the column holder which is being made by my dad. So that should be done soon. I've not been liking the shift linkage I have adapted to the truck so i bought a sweet old skool LOKAR floor shift. Comes with everything that will hopefully fix my problems. It's a little bit of money, but I've wanted one super bad. I figure why not.

Well we'll see what is happening tomorrow. I hope to work on it most of the day but who knows...

Soup to Nuts! No not those nuts. Here are some pics of the bed being turned back into a bed. Not much else to say about that. Ryan did some welding on it, and everything turned out just fine. Also got the U-joints for the drive shaft and cleaned that up. No problem, wire wheel, a little sanding action did this thing just fine. Anyway enjoy the pics more to come hopefully. Alright.

Ok, Ok so I'm lazy. Here is the long awaited update from the past couple weeks. I'm trying to pack a lot of info into all my two fingertips can type out. Alright here we go. These first pics are of my floor. I've covered it in rubberized coating, yeah that's it.



Here are some pics of the full truck. I had to stick the door back on to get a good line to position the bed on. It's all about the lines. hahaha yeah anyway here are some other pics of the truck. These were taken while a lady with two giant dogs looked in at me. Think about it, a bearded bald dude, in bibs taking random pictures. yeah that's what i thought...





Finally I cut the bed down about a foot and am in the process of welding the posts back onto the bed. time consuming. I used the cross braces from the Dakota bed that I got with the truck parts, and welded them onto the bed. I lost some depth, but the damn truck is channeled and I really could care less. I don't see this hauling much except parts for itself. And maybe some people around during a cruise or two. Well here is is in all it's glory.





So all in all a pretty productive time since the last update. Other things that have been in the works. I ordered and received all steering materials needed to make this thing steer. I need to fabricate a steering column holder so that I can go about fitting the steering shafts and u-joints. It should be another project that takes a little to finalize, but it should turn out ok. Next big expense is going to be the wiring harness, but well worth the cost. Till next time, fingers and toes, (thanks melissa)