2000 Kenworth W900L

I'm trying to keep all pictures and everything in a Photobucket account. I have an album for "Before" and "During" as of right now. Whenever I work on it, I try to upload the pictures that evening.

My dad found someone who would sandblast and paint the frame so we spent last night dropping the fuel tanks off which was a pain in the rear!!! We had planned on just using a transmission jack and sliding it out. Those fuel tanks are skinned up anyway and we're looking for new ones so we thought a transmission jack would be a good option. Wrong. If you jack the tanks up high enough to get over the bottom of the saddles, the top was going to catch on the light bar below the cab. I think I also forgot to mention that these tanks were half full of fuel. This made the task all that much more difficult. What we did was used that jack to slide the tanks towards the rear of the cab and then once we got them out so far, we used an engine hoist to hook a strap around the tank and dad pulled backwards on the tank while I balanced it so it didn't lean one way or the other. It took us around 5 hours with all the problems we ran into. Not to mention on the driver side, we had to remove the step and the box that the battery terminal deals are in just incase you have to jump it.



We put 4 wheels on the drive axles in the back just to move it. We were only going to put 2 on the back rear end but the one in front of it hung too low to the ground so we threw 4 wheels on it and we are going to drag it up on a lowboy and haul it over.

Before Album
During Album

My dad thinks it would be a good idea to paint the frame in brown and then do brown on the fenders of the hood for a two-tone look. I don't know about that. Any thoughts??

After we get it back, I think we're more or less going to work from back to front. Putting all brand new brake shoes and drums on, rotating tires (good rubber on all drives, needs 2 new steers), mount skid plate and fifth wheel, get new pogo stick, (hopefully) put 2 new fuel tanks on, getting 2 new stacks, already has 3 new batteries, have 2 new Alcoa wheels for 2 new steer tires that are going on it, need to go through the gauges inside the cab and see what is and isn't working. This truck has a long way to come yet but I'm very excited and hopeful. I think the paint on the cab will be the roughest looking part of it. The fenders and a spot on the top of the hood are the worst parts of it. I forgot to mention I think both side boxes need new door latches. I think we're also getting a new bumper for the front.

 

I hope so! I wish could give my full attention to this truck and make this process go a little faster. Driving truck hauling casing to these oil and gas wells and then working til late most nights on that truck is getting exhausting. The day I get to quit this job and start down the road in that truck will be the most glorious and proud day of my life I think.

 

Well I figured it would be time for an update. There isn't much to tell at this point. I got the truck back just a few days ago from the frame being sandblasted and painted. We ended up just going with black but I think it looks pretty good! Dad currently has a trailer in the garage that he is putting new brakes on and rotating the tired so I haven't gotten to get the truck in to start getting the fuel tanks and everything back on just yet. I know we have to put a new sending unit on when we do the tanks. The gauge in the cab isn't working at the moment.



I have 4 new drums and sets of shoes (complete kits with springs and rollers) to put on it. I'm still working on polishing the wheels. They looked so bad that it makes me sick. They're not coming as clean as I'd like but I'm still working on them! I will post more pictures as soon as I get the tanks, shoes, drums, wheels, fenders, mudflap brackets, skid plate, fifth wheel, stacks, and anything else I may be forgetting back on.

 

I forgot to mention. I want to put new fuel fairing brackets on but I'm scared of them twisting off behind the interior of the bunk. Dad told me he's had that happen before and then you have to tear into the interior and it just becomes a mess. Does anyone know of any tricks to it or am I just going to have to go at it and see what happens?