Looking at a HJ60 but... (1 Viewer)

[whisturk]

That last picture is alarming. But we would need more pictures of the rear of the frame, the c-channels. And it’s hard to tell but the rear wheel arch looks like it may have had work done. Though I do see the body seam above the rear wheel so that’s a good sign.

My quandary is that the body is great (a bit of rust on parts of the wheel wells, roof gutters look perfect) and the interior (dash, carpet, headliner, body under carpet) are in great shape for a 39 year old truck. It seems like a great starting point for a 60 restoration that I could do in manageable pieces over time eventually ending up replacing the 2H / auto with a more powerful engine (12HT or 1HD-T?) and a 5-speed.

I can get my head around projects to restore this beast and I'm game to invest the time and $$$. That said, my fear is how far I can go without pulling the chassis off the frame and what I find when I do... If I really reflect on this it truly is fear of the unknown and I guess once you've done it and know what's involved it's just effort and $$$ again.

So I guess my question to the group is what's involved in restoring/rebuilding a frame?

Is it on the order of a few days to detach all the wiring and plumbing bits, a day of fussing with the rusted body/frame attachment points and then carefully lifting the body and rolling out the frame. Another day pulling the engine/trans and axles and then countless days of scraping, grinding and assessing rust followed by fabricating new bits and bolting/welding into place? Paint & protect the new frame and then reverse the process?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[RevISK]

One long afternoon stretched over a couple years.

 

[georgebj60]

Without more pictures, especially of the rear frame it’s hard to say what you’ll be into. But these are very simple trucks, and getting one torn down is totally doable. But if the rear frame is good, maybe just new c-channels and some rust repair will do it.
For me the only barrier to taking the body off was space. It’s amazing how much room all the removed parts consume, let alone a body and a frame separated from each other.