Saved From Scrap

Did a surprising amount of digging on Google and finally came up with a decent image:

 

Nope just on the driver's side. Both sides had them on the pipes when I bought it. One was from a Star and the other one was from a KW.

 

So most of this:


Came out of this:


I'm glad I decided to re-plumb and re-wire the whole truck. A pig is a pig, no matter how much lipstick you put on it.

 

So lets reflect on what I've learned on this project so far. Maybe it can help someone whose planning something similar:

-Understand your end goal before you start. I originally planned on simply cleaning up the truck. Fixing the wiring, replacing air lines and re-paint. I knew there would be other items I would uncover as I go but TBH there were a few more than I expected. Plan eventually evolved into a partial frame re-rail and single drive axle. I could have saved several hours by simply chopping the frame from the start, rather than removing axles, crossmembers, etc.

-Throughly inspect the truck before you buy. I got this truck real cheap so I was willing to overlook quite a few things due to this fact (and the fact that other owners were asking 4x the price for W900's in slightly better condition)

-Work systematically. Whether that means removing wiring or airlines first or simply starting at the steer axle and working back. Whatever works for you. Stay focused on small jobs rather than trying to look at/work on everything all at once.

-Save everything you have room for until the project is done. As an example, I saved several switches, brackets and small bits of hardware. Its much easier for a parts person to find the parts you want from a sample rather than a description. Large parts that are obviously junk (like broken crossmembers) I photograph, measure their dimensions and toss them out. No need to keep them laying around.

-Photos of how lines are routed and where certain parts are installed make life easier. I keep a file on my laptop of all my project photos so far (probably have over a hundred at this point) as well as a backup on my flash drive.

Organization. I have all my small parts seperated in plastic trays. Bigger parts I have on pallets out of the way. Keeps the work area clean and pallets are easy to move around with a set of forks.

 

Didn't do too much today. Chopped off the rest of the exhaust system and pulled a couple more valves out of the dash. Then went on a wasp killing rampage after I almost stuck my hand into a nest on my 8 bag cut off.

 

A solid 2 hours of effort this morning. Once it cools off I'll knock the outer wheels off and pull all 4 axles.

 

Well I didn't get the wheels off. All the nuts are seized on. Going to have to pull it to the front of the shop and use the big air impact I think.

 

Started doing some sanding. Just too #### hot outside to do much more. Got all the way around to the rear of the door as well.