"Sheila" - K2500 Flatbed Tow Pig

coexist, Sheila's a$$ is way purrtier than that

Looks good!

Hell of a lot better than most around here.

Thanks guys!

coexist wrote:

LOL, I was worried for a while that I was making this a little too "80's Sci-fi"; the Star Car from "The Last Starfighter" even came to mind.

Then I realized I don't give a berkeley.

Oh, this happened some time last week.

It's the cheap, non-epoxy Rust-Oleum, applied with a fabric roller. The instructions call for a solvent safe foam roller, but I wanted more texture than I could have gotten with a standard foam roller.

That was a mistake.

While the rollers I used were solvent safe, the fibers got pulled from the roller while I was "dry rolling" to even out coverage and pull up a little more texture. I got tons of texture compared to what I've seen other people get from this stuff, and I'm hoping a higher quality fabric roller will resist shedding better when I roll more stuff on.

It's difficult to see the shed fibers in the pictures, but this kind of shows it as well as the overall texture I got.

3 coats took less than half a gallon, so I have plenty left over. And the stuff is super cheap anyway so it really doesn't matter if I need more.

Fortunately, it really wasn't ready for paint, and a lot of it will have to be stripped back off to finish the doors and making tie points, but I was just sick of looking at it in primer.

I still haven't finished installing all the bed mounts, but on a plus note now that it looks better I'm more motivated to work on it.

yu got one hand on 'Sheila ' an da udder on 'Unca Ben' ?

Crackers, has life gotten in the way of what's really important, or is it a case of total frustration with the current photo debacle.

Cracker's I know you you're alive, Gunchsta can attest to that. You mention circle tracks near you...would that be Navasota and? Hey next time your down Magnolia way stop by.

No, that was in California at Saugus Speedway before it closed down.

I'll let you know when I head down your way again.

So Sheila is finally capable of doing truck stuff again, although still quite limited until I can source material to make a spacer for my drop hitch. 

I've been jonesing for some inch box so I've been slowly working on getting the deck on and fitting some captive nuts in the top rail so I can tie stuff down. 

Yesterday, I gassed her up for the first time since I pulled the old bed off (not counting the $10 I put in a few months ago to get me back and forth to the car wash) and went to the steel yard to pick up a bunch of inch box, and Lowe's for some 6x6's to make some blocks for Uncle Ben as the ground is too uneven for me to trust my tiny jack stands. 

It looks like the forum is going to allow me to paste from my phone again, so I'll work on fixing pictures this evening.

As soon as I get done with my coffee I'm going to try to finish a domestic project and get back to the car stuff and junk. 

Crackers I have a k2500 hidden drop hitch that I keep stubbing my toe on come and get it (decker prairie/tomball).  832-465-1226 and leave a message cuz I'm an old fart and don't answer those that I don't have listed. 

So let's see if the forum will cooperate so I can update... 

I haven't been taking many pictures since photobucket went full retard and stole a lot of my photo taking motivation, but I finally finished the bed mounts and was ready to bolt down some wood. 

I decided to use angle iron at the ends bolted through the wood to hold everything down. So I started by cutting some 1-1/2" x 1/8" angle and laying out my bolt pattern so they can go on either end, or even upside down. 

The upside down part was especially important, as I'd use the angle iron as a jig later. 

The next step in attaching the wood deck was to make up some of these.

(Yay, I can paste now!) (Also, I should wait until after I've brushed stuff off before taking pictures.)

Then those mounting points got bolted to my upside-down hold downs so everything would line up, then clamped my "jig" into place and welded them in. 

And then... 

That still left me without tie down points. So I did this...

Then used a hole saw to cut through the side rails and welded them in. 

That leaves me with doing something about a headache rack but I can at least "use" the truck for more than personal transportation now. 

Next project is doing something about the damaged driver door/fender. 

I might have a line on some cheap used doors complete with glass and power windows/locks. I'd like to have the power windows/locks but it's not a trivial job to make it all work correctly, and I need to find out exactly what I'll have to aquire to make them work in my truck.

Yes, my manual stuff will swap into the power doors, but one of my regulators needs to be replaced too so I'm probably going to just bring the new doors home and just look at them for several months before I actually do anything with them one way or the other. 

Realistically, I probably won't touch it again short of route maintenance until I get mad at the wagon. 

Anyway, there's my update. 

In reply to 759NRNG :

Dude, that's awesome! However, I probably have the same hitch already. 

I bobbed about 8-10" off the back, (including the bumper) and the skirt is about 3-5" lower than the stock bummer was, so there isn't a simple bolt on solution anymore. 

The receiver receptacle on this hitch points down ....the receiver is a 90 degree piece that was intended to come out below the normal  ball mounting surface on the bumper.....yes, probably the mounting flanges are in no where'sville near your remaining frame, but hey  it's free, it's yours, and with your mad fab skills just sumpin' to do......

Oh, cool. I was looking at it earlier today (yesterday?) and I may do something different altogether.