edwinsmith

Jobs already done. I hate crawling around under truck. Even on a creeper it just kills my knees to get down. Getting back up is even harder. If it gets loose I may have to take it to transmission place. It just depends on how I feel in my bones. I wasn't much up to it this time but push had come to shove and I needed to have truck in good shape for trip to Lone Pine next week.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Edwin

Boatnik

KIlled the "DowelPin"

edwinsmith

I'm grinding down the welding that was done to patch holes in the bed. I still need to spray it with Rustolium then I'll put down a sheet of Masonite. The wife and I plan to sleep in it during the Lone Pine Film Festival this weekend. We have a big air mattress and sleeping bags. Hopefully it won't get that cold.

oliver foster

Sounds fun Ed, enjoy the weekend!

NJTman

Ahhh... Nothing better than a dead dowel pin.





Other than a long, seductive night with a beautiful woman...... or two of them.....


Yeah..... that would be "better"....

NJTman

Patch holes ????


In the land of no rust ??


Did you toss out your stacks ???

edwinsmith

A PO had installed a Gooseneck hitch ball in the middle of the bed which I had removed. It left two long slots which had to be welded up. The truck came from TX originally but is now with me in sunny CA. Personally I would like to see a little weather now and again. Sunshine all the time is boring. SOme rain and sleet with an occasional tornado warning breaks up the monotony. I don't like hail though. It puts dents in things.

BTW I was in Coffeyville, KS the day the largest hailstone ever found fell. It's in the Guinness record books. Look it up!

Got the rustolium down now just letting it dry while I enjoy the fumes.

bigragu

Hey, Edwin, do you have a shell over your bed? The popular Leer brand that everyone seemed to put on our trucks back in the day? If so, those military cots that you can get at the army navy surplus fits two side by side very easily. Just another option, if the blow up doll, I mean bed, doesn't work out, lol.
My son and I used to sleep in the back during deer hunt trips, and with the shell it protected us from the elements.

Blue Goose

just don't sit up too fast if you use one of those shells......

edwinsmith

Yes. I have a shell. The army cots option is a good idea. They would fit over the wheel humps with room in between for other stuff. The rubber dolly we have has problems with a huge bump where it torn internally. Hopefully it will be good for one more trip. It is the blow up kind with the built in blower. I have a small inverter I can use to supply it with power. Since I have a dually it should support the both of us in the back.

bigragu

Since I'm on the subject of that Leer shell, is it true, as I read this somewhere, that they don't make those firstgen shells anymore, as of late? The reason I'm asking, is I have one sitting on dunnage out in the backyard, which was pulled off of a white D250 I had a few years ago that I sold. The new owner didn't want it with the truck. So, my thoughts were to paint over that white gel coat, to black, to match my black truck when I get it painted. My wife is trying to talk me out of it, saying the truck looks better without it. I told her that they don't make these Leer shells anymore. Am I accurate in that?

edwinsmith

I looked around online and I didn't see anything to fit mine. I wound up buying one off a ford and I reshaped the front to fit the tilt of the cab in the back. It doesn't look that bad if you're not picky. I used the big gasket in between the shell and the cab so I can pass stuff back and forth to the cab. Works out nice.

Edwin

oliver foster

I do not believe you can get a new 1st gen Leer shell anymore.
I would doubt there are any options out there for a fiberglass capper for the 1st gens anymore.
I searched for years to find a nice used 6.5 FT fiberglass capper for my crew cabs.

I have high top fiberglass cappers on most of my trucks.

I love camping under the old capper in the back of the truck.
I have literally spent a few years worth of nights sleeping in the back of an old Dodge under the fiberglass capper over the past 20+ years.

Blue Goose

looked at Leer's site....doesn't go farther back than 2004

bigragu

Well, thanks for reinforcing what I've read, guys. I guess you could say I've got an extremely "rare" shell then, as it's in really good shape. Only thing I have to have replaced is one of the side slider windows, as a kid we hired to weed eat didn't follow my instructions about staying far away from the shell, and he flung a rock into the glass and shattered it. I have a Leer dealer in my small town, and he said he can get the replacement glass.

The type of shell I have flushes out with the top of the cab.

I'm now wondering if they make that accordion rubber connection that goes from shell front slider to truck rear window slider. I remember back in 1992 my next door neighbor had a firstgen with the Leer shell and that accordion weatherproof connection. I thought it was cool that he could reach back and grab stuff from the bed, and never get wet. His hunting dog used to be able to hop from the bed to the front seat thru that accordion, too.
Would anyone know if that's a shell manufacturers product or an aftermarket add in for the shell? What is the proper name/term for that thing anyway?