Deuce re-paint, add winch, super single, power steering, with pictures!!!

[bdev0071]

I know everyone loves looking at some new pictures so here comes a bunch!!! It was finally time to redo my 1971 M35A2. It was originally a non-winch truck. But I purchased a complete winch kit from a fellow SS member! (Thanks to Dave in Pennsylvania the drive was worth it!!!). Then I recently acquired a set of brand new 24 bolt Aluminum MRAP wheels from GL in Oklahoma (big hassle but well worth it!!!) Then recently purchased an Air-O-Matic kit from another SS Member! What a project. Cosmetics getting done first. then on to flipping hubs, re-sealing all axles, new boots, fluid changes, etc. Many pics and posts to come! If anyone has any questions about how anything was done feel free to ask. We started the project by stripping ALL the rust and flaky paint. Thanks to a local mobile media blaster he did the whole bed and frame in 2 hours! Well worth it as it saved me about a years worth of sanding. Then primer, then paint! Can't wait to see it done! I will add pictures and information as the project progresses!

 

[bdev0071]

Check out the pics of Aaron's (peashooter) MRAP adapter plates. HIGH QUALITY great product! They look great primed and painted! Can't wait to mount the new wheels. Below are some pics of the winch kit I picked up from Dave (Sephirothq) in Pennsylvania!
!

 

[gimpyrobb]

Looks awesome so far!

 

[bdev0071]

Paint used was BEHR Premium Ultra Exterior in Satin. I used the FS code listed on SS for Desert Tan to get the right color, it looks awesome! All bare metal was primed with 2K Epoxy Primer from NAPA. Paint and primer was sprayed with a HVLP automotive spray gun. It's still to cold to paint outside in Michigan so I removed the Cab top and lowered the front tire pressures to get it to fit in my shop! Then prepped, painted and turned up the heat!

 

[Rmtaunton]

Nice Job!

 

[M35A2-AZ]

Looking good!!! I know redoing a truck is a LOT of work for sure!!!

 

[FloridaAKM]

Very nice work all around. Using the mobile sandblaster made your life a lot easier & the finished truck a whole lot more uniform than if done by hand. Another plus side, is that properly primed as you have done, the rust can't come thru as it is gone off the base metal to start with. Keep up the good work & post more pictures as your work progresses.

 

[swindad2]

Paint used was BEHR Premium Ultra Exterior in Satin. I used the FS code listed on SS for Desert Tan to get the right color, it looks awesome! All bare metal was primed with 2K Epoxy Primer from NAPA. Paint and primer was sprayed with a HVLP automotive spray gun. It's still to cold to paint outside in Michigan so I removed the Cab top and lowered the front tire pressures to get it to fit in my shop! Then prepped, painted and turned up the heat!

Wow. Wish I had thought about lowering the tire pressure. I cut and reframed the back of my carport to fit over my exhaust. I was more worried about the deuce than my carport.

 

[gimpyrobb]

The top of the exhaust is easy to remove! Or cut it short and put a flapper on it.

 

[bdev0071]

Well another 12 hour day put in on the Deuce! Today we cleaned, sanded, masked off, primed and painted the interior! I also removed the seats inside to make it a little easier to get to everything. Everything inside looks great now, tomorrow I'll be re-attaching all the data plates and un-masking everything! After getting the interior finished I started on flipping the hubs. I got one rear axle done. Re-packed bearings, installed all new seals, flipped hubs. This is the first time I've ever torn one of these apart, I can't believe how heavy everything is!!!! If it looks heavy, it's heavier! Well here's some pics of what happened today! More updates to come!

 

[Jeepsinker]

How did you paint the back of the cab/ front of the bed? Or did I miss it?

 

[bdev0071]

Well I've spent the past 2 days finishing up the interior, and finishing up on most of the underbody. I would have to say that painting the suspension and axles is the WORST!!!. The underbody, axles and suspension were de-greased, wire wheeled, sanded, sprayed down with Lacquer Thinner a million times then primed and finally painted. The under body and axles look amazing! Check out the new updated pictures. I probably spent about 16 hours total on the 2 rear axles, frame and underbody. I just have the front axle to go underneath, and the hood and roof up top. Almost there. I also received some new reflectors which will be going on tomorrow. Militarystencils.com sent me some really nice oil-board stencils and I painted some of those on today, below is a picture of one of the custom stencils they made for me. The black lettering really looks nice on the desert tan! Doing a complete color change on this truck is a crazy amount of work, but well worth it. More pics to come soon!

 

[peashooter]

That looks really good!

 

[bdev0071]

To answer the question about painting between the cab and bed I was able to spray 95% of it from up above, both sides and from under the truck. The small area in the center that I couldn't spray, I used a small house trim roller on a pole from Home Depot, worked great!

 

[DIndFab]

Wow looks amazing man

 

[DIndFab]

How much was the media blasting? And how long did it take him?

 

[bdev0071]

The media blasting was done by "The Blast Man" located in Milford, MI. He has a mobile unit and came right out to my shop/house as shown in the pictures. My cab was in great shape so I prepped that myself and had the bed and everything behind the cab blasted, including the frame. It took the blast man about 2 1/2 hours and cost me $400.00. He uses high pressure treated water that he brings with him and blasts crushed/powdered recycled glass for the media. Very little dust, and he can adjust the water output for different materials so he doesn't over heat any thin metal. He can blast literally anything except plastic. It did make a little bit of a mess as you can imagine but when he was done he power washed the whole truck off with his flash rust preventive treated water so that there is no risk of surface rust forming for up to 72 hours. I primed the truck the next day so no problems at all. Also, you do not need to wash off his stuff, it is paint ready! His process is even approved by all the paint manufactures to eliminate and prevent future rust. It was a great deal considering I would have spent that much in sand paper, or my own media for my sand blaster! It really came out nice!

 

[DIndFab]

Sounds perfect! Thanks for the detailed info.

 

[bigbird189]

Looking really great! Love to see threads like this. Now if I could just get you to come to my place and do mine. LOL

 

[DieselBob]

Great job.