Most of the work today was cleaning and painting the rough spots on the front end. I degreased the frame, hit all of the rusty spots with a wire wheel, and blew it down with compressed air. Repeat until satisfactory. I primed all of the bad spots with Rustoleum red primer and put on a topcoat of Rustoleum black - hammered finish. I didn't do a full coat on the frame because most of the "original" heavy duty frame coating from the manufacturer is still intact. Many of the removable steering, suspension, and break parts will be painted at a later time when they are removed from the vehicle for overhaul. After a few hours, I began to reinstall the new steering gearbox and new pitman arm, but ran out of daylight before finishing.
I started by removing the front bumper:
Surprise! I'll have to weld this back together before reinstalling the front bumper. It is on the driver's side, which is the same side as the large caved-in area on the old hood. Probably not a coincidence.
Leftover stud/rivet from old radiator mount. I ground it off with an angle grinder.
Old and new pitman arm for comparison.
You can't tell, but this pile of debris that fell off the frame is about the size of a basketball. Pretty impressive considering that I have been spot cleaning the frame along the way. I found more pecan shells in the coil springs.
Front end after priming and painting:
New gearbox installed. I left the driver's side bumper mount unfinished for the upcoming weld repair.
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