My 1971 highboy build, the sequel!

[69Highboy]

Well, I found a bed sooner than I thought! The guy down the road I got the green cab for the other truck from was parting out a project, so I was able to snag a 1969 bed, tailgate, a drivers side fender, some chopped inner fenders for patch panels, a cigarette lighter to replace my non-original one, some oem style led roof lights, new chrome wiper blade bits, and a handful of stuff for my brother's truck. The plan is to put the 1969 bed on my brother's truck, put his '71 bed on my truck, and I'll keep the tailgate I just got and he'll keep his tailgate. It's also looking like my truck might get painted soon as well, there's been a whole lot of discussions going on about The Yella Truck.

[Fordkid68]

Good find! That bed looks very straight and clean.

[69Highboy]

Yella bed is off, paint will be made next week, and as soon as it isn't 107 out we'll pull the 71 bed off and set it up on stands so it can be painted.

[69Highboy]

The 71 bed has been pulled off of the 69, the 69 bed is sitting on the trailer until the part that faces the cab has been painted, and my paint will be ready in the next day or so! In the meantime, here's a pic of the two trucks near each other before we pulled the bed.

[Fordkid68]

Those are some AWESOME trucks!

[69Highboy]

I just picked up $532 worth of primer and Prairie Yellow paint so I can get the 71 bed painted!

Currently my dad is trying to convince me to pick up a 69 F350 cab that is less beat but has all the metal above the window below the drip rails rotted out. The guy said he was going to wire wheel the loose stuff off, put some rust converter on it, then get some tubes of industrial sealant and "fill" that area with the sealant. My cab is fairly banged up (which I don't mind), the floorboards are "spongy", the drivers side cab corner is rotted out, and there is a section of the rear drivers side cab brace/support piece that needs to be replaced. I don't think it's worthwhile for me to get the 69 cab, but I'm on the fence. I'm looking at ~$100-$150 for patch pieces for the yellow cab vs $150-$200 (guessing) for the 69 cab, but I won't have to swap over my "guts" if I keep the 71 cab. I'll get some pics of the 71 cab's rust shortly, but I want to hear what you guys think.

[69Highboy]

Here's the promised rust pics:

[Fordkid68]

Not bad!! Looks good for a 50+ year old truck!

[hfdco4]

How much can you get the F350 cab for, and does it have the pieces needed to fix your cab? Patch panels are never as good as a donor cab!!!!!!!!!

[69Highboy]

I'm guessing I could get the cab for ~$150-200 including the doors, but it may be as high as $250. And he already double-layered the floor pans so technically it has all the patch pieces, but transferring the floors would be a pain.

[basketcase0302]

I personally would pass on the rotted out cab, (if it were my decision). Unless...
We had a member here many years ago-Dave in South Florida that took his 69' bump and cut the roof off and grafted a 46'-49' Ford F1 roof onto it!
That is a typical spot that always rusts away on our cabs, (google or search here "drip rail delete" and you'll see a viable option for that rotted roof section but...
Beware that all the guys I've seen that stuff the roof rail section full of body putty and then "slap" paint over it regret within 3-4 years as the rust comes right back.

Nice score on the bed.

Know the feeling on the 107 as the thermometer on my front porch has been over 100 for almost a week now. I'm in "emergency cooling mode" here to prevent my expensive Trane package unit from burning up by "load shedding" ("pulling rabbits out of my hat" to reduce my heat load in any way I can-window treatments/cleaning coils. Retired 35+ year HVAC tech here, I need to run larger ductwork but the 3 days of having the unit shut down to do so aint' gonna happen anytime soon LOL!

[69Highboy]

Over the weekend I replaced the transfer case bushings, fixed the awful and pretty much useless rear exhaust hangers (they were there but they weren't actually attached to the exhaust ), and pulled 100 or so feet of extra wiring out of the truck. I also replaced the busted rear wheel stud and pulled out an axle bolt that sheared off when I was re-installing it.

[jzjames]

Thats a nice truck and it looks like fun working in it. Looking forward to seeing it all together.

[basketcase0302]

Your u-joints will love you for replacing the TC bushings! Are those poly?
LOL about the wiring as my username suggests it seems like every single "2nd hand" Ford I've bought through the years had the same guy hack jobbing into the wiring! Man did that guy move around from Florida to out West LOL!

[69Highboy]

Yes, the bushings are Prothane poly bushings. Amazingly, most of that wiring was for a camper so I only had to disconnect it from a "live" oem wire and pull it out. Right now I'm trying to figure out why my rear running lights don't come on and why my brake lights don't work if my running lights are supposed to be on. I'm guessing there's a wire crossed somewhere that's responsible for both, the only question is where is that somewhere?