ok since my whole drivetrain is pretty much out i thought i would pull out the i-beams and paint them....now my dilemma is i dont know what color to go with. i have 3 choices, there is semi gloss black, semi gloss red, or something you guys think would go good.



here are the beams.



thats the front end before i stripped it.


and the truck.

 

IMO black looks the best. Color starts to look wierd underneath a truck after it takes on the road conditions. Plus when the black starts to look crappy you just craw underthere with a $1 paint can from dollar general and go at it

 

alright well heres an update on how things are going. i brought the beams in at school in the metal shop, sanded them intensly with the disc grinder and a sand paper attachment and wire wheeled the tight areas, got them cleaned up perty nice. now i started painting the drivers side beam BUT im not tellin what color untill its full done! i can tell you though its going to be bad ***! and heres a bit of a clue. The Calipers are gonna be red to stand out with the black rims, but the beam is a 2 tone, nwo the color(s) of choice is a secret. heres some progress pictures. BTW thanks for all the votes, i know im really gonna like the turn out fo the beams and im sure you guys will too. you can see what i started out with and its coming along nicely.

 

lookin good! I would have used POR-15 on them and not worried about rust again......make sure you get that Form-A-Gasket off the inside of the driverside beam before you put the diff back in....

 

also while you have them out, you ought to change the ball joints......

 

well i used tremclad rust paint on them and im putting a good coat of it on too, so well c how they turn out after a while. and yes dont owrry i will get that gasket crap off before anything gets bolted back together. its just that there isnt a putty knife or razor blade in the metal shop so its not a big deal right now anyways.

 

i am going to get them done before i get it aligned. i dont know hwo to do them myself and right now im just trying to focus on getting the most important stuff done i.e. gears tires leafs and shocks...

 

how hard is it to do them by urself anyways? is it hard to take the knuckle off? any special that has to be taken?

 

if you have a repair manual, they usually have a pretty good detail in there on how to do it.....it will be a little harder since your truck is a little older and they look like they have never been off...

 

found it! lol and yea it sounds pretty easy. the only problem now is i have to find out if my autoshop has the tool to remove the ball joints.

 

if they dont, then you could probably rent if from an auto parts store...

 

ugh for the price they charge to rent i could get them done at a shop!!! prices are through the roof in canada

 

UPDATE!!!!
Well i got both pieces painted today. The drivers side was mostly done to begin with but i had another idea come to mind. Ill get into that in a second. I got both calipers painted today and got new bleeder valves cuz the old ones on mine well are old and stripped!! SO drivers side caliper got a second coat today and i started painting the passenger side. I swear to god everything on the passenger side needed twice the work! there was rust that was 3/16" thick on some areas, luckily 24 grit sand paper and a grinder took care of that. RUST!!!! So you saw in the previous pictures what the parts look like unpainted and sanded so enough talk and heres the goods. Oh and the idea, lol quite funny it came to me at 12 am!! ne ways the idea is to paint on the beams upside down "IF YOU CAN READ THIS, FLIP ME OVER" hahahahah. The red i used is called "Fire Red", its amazing cause i havent even used clear coat (dont plan to) and its like glass!!! The paint dried so smooth and rich of color and the red just going to pop when the black wheels go on. Tomorrow i will get more pictures of both beams and calipers. A few more coats on everything and she's set.

 

nice dude.. when are they goin back in???

 

well the beams will go back in once they're painted and dry, but thats it untill i get the gears for the diff. Once i got that done then on goes the axles, spindles, bearings, rotors, and calipers and the front is 95% done, just need tires :D

 

that's gonna look pimp!

 

damn looks real good

 

Thanks guys, heres an update with the drivers side traction beam done.....i love midnight ideas...lol i clearcoated the writing just to help protect it a bit, you can see i didnt do all of it but i will spary the rest of the black before the beam goes under the truck

 

haha, awesome man!

 

man great job, when can we do mine?

 

thanks...haha send yours over!!!!...i have no problem doin yours, i have all the friggin class time i need....

 

good deal lol

 

looks good!