1971 Chevy Suburban Redux

My arms got a little crispy on Saturday. I spent a couple hours welding up some wheeled dollies for my jack stands, and I got a little sun burn from the welding arc…

It starts on my forearm, just above where my welding gloves were, and ends right at my t-shirt sleeve. It got a little warm on Saturday for a jacket, but I guess I should have at least put some sunscreen on…

Either way, I managed to get some wheeled dollies done, so I can put my jackstands on the dollies, and wheel the Suburban around the garage without having to install my axles.

I built four of these out of 3/16″ angle iron, with four 330lb steel caster wheels each.

The classic Suburban is still massive, so setting it in motion is a chore, even with caster wheels, but this helps. I started pulling the front clip off, in preparation for pulling the engine/tranny. More on that later.

So, what’s the moral of this story… no naked arc welding. Gloves and a mask just don’t cut it.

Despite not posting in a while, I’ve continued to cut and grind and remove rust from the Suburban. In fact, I’ve been running the air saw and air cutoff wheel so much, that my poor old Craftsman air compressor is working overtime. I bought that air compressor probably when I was 18 years old, and I’ve gotten more mileage out of it than just about any other investment I’ve made, but it’s only a 30 gallon tank. Works great, but when you’re running the air saw or a grinder, the compressor is constantly on.

If you have a small compressor, you know what that means… condensation. That constant compressing and decompressing of air generates massive amounts of moisture and condensation in the air lines. Eventually that moisture starts collecting in and leaking out through your air tools… not a good thing for metal tools.

In the past I’ve been able to deal with the condensation using small inline filters, but I have been pushing past the limits of those filters. It was time to step up to something more robust. Despite some bad reviews from people online, I figured I’d give the Harbor Freight Industrial Air Filter Regulator a shot. (http://www.harborfreight.com/industrial-air-filter-regulator-unit-98904.html)

Most of negative feedback I found online revolved around the unit leaking air. I believe this design is a knockoff of an old Devilbiss unit, and for $35, it was worth the gamble. Well my bet paid off. This thing actually works great. No leaking whatsoever, and I bet the unit’s detractors just didn’t do a good job of plumbing the unit into place. Threaded couplings will, in fact, leak if you don’t install them correctly or use enough teflon tape. I’m really pleased though. Under long, long periods of consistent use, I still get some moisture, but not nearly as much. And the drain on the bottom of the unit works really well.

Harbor Freight tools can be hit or miss, but overall this was definitely a worthwhile purchase.

Trusty old Craftsman air compressor in the background

And for those of you interested in progress on the old 1971 Chevy Suburban, that’s on the way. I’m finally making some progress and a new post with photos is coming soon.