Things I have done New brakes front and rear the front brakes where cheap I found a new set of rotors in a wrecking yard for $30 each and rebuilt calibers where $30each a friend gave a new set of pads. But the back cost a lot all most everything back there was bad 1 drum, wheel cylinders, springs, wheel bearings, E Brake cables, adjuster, I had to put speedy sleeves on the Axel hubs by the time I was done that was about $700. New head light switch,front sway bar off a 1ton it helped, fixed the leak on the power steering,put a class 5 hitch on it,first thing I towed was a lathe and a milling machine and got 17.5 mpg. the thing that made the biggest difference in the way the thing drives is I got a set of ford Alcoa's at the upullit for a $120 and a new set of tires 235/85/16 these wheels and tires feel like they wight about half as much as the 2gen chrome rims and the 245/75/16 that where on it boy dose it drive a lot better but now the speedo is way off. boy am I getting to know the 5 upullit wrecking yards in Portland OR. Some things I still need to do is fix the oil leaks on the front of the motor do the KDP fix, adjust the valves, find a nice tail gate, do some pump adjustments ,and put the 16 exhaust Hsg on it. I have to rebuild the 47rh that a friend gave me and post some pictures of my truck. ken

 

Sounds pretty good. I went through a lot of the same, only with a 4x4. The front brakes were more expensive in my case, but I lucked out and get a brand new set of rear drums off craigslist for $40, so that more than made up for it. The fronts required new rotors, new hubs, u-joints, outer axle shafts, lockout hubs and pads.

Once you start tweaking on the pump, you'll love it. Do a 3200 governor spring, a piston lift pump, BHAF and a 4" exhaust and you'll really love it! For the exhaust, get a cast elbow and 2nd gen downpipe and tailpipe, the muffler of your choice (or not) and the rest should be straight pipe on a 2WD truck.

 

Sounds like its coming together. I hate that you spent so much on the rear bakes. I just did rear disc conversion on mine and spent 300.00 total. Well, glad its coming along! Welcome to the forum! If you haven't found it yet, check out the "sticky" at the top of the 1st gen forum. There is a ton of info in there.

 

the big thing on the rear brakes where the bearings and the speedy sleeves

 

very nice, cheap is the king, even if they need a little work. pics would be great.

 

nice progress.

we need pics

 

+1 on that.......