DIY Lease Truck Conversion

[hoythunter]

I bought a truck 2 years ago to keep at the lease - 1993 Chevy Z-71. It's been a good lease vehicle and gone through way more than I would have ever imagined - We off-road regularly at the lease making new roads up and down the hills south of Rocksprings. Pretty rough terrain and the truck's paint has taken a beating to say the least with the terrain and mesquite more specifically. The original paint was starting to peel off in a few places and the clear coat was coming off in several places.

My goal this off season is a make-over of sorts on the lease ride. Plans are as follows -

Step 1 - Bedliner the entire outside of the truck, as well as the bed itself.

Step 2 - Build new duck seats - The original "duck seats" as they were named by my then 3 year old (always had to yell, "Duck!" when going under a low hanging branch so the passengers wouldn't get caught in the brush). The original duck seats were simply a bracket mounted to the top of the bed with 2 poles and swivel boat seats. Gave extra room for passengers to ride around while we were filling feeders and goofing off at the lease. The new duck seats will be a bench seat with a guard around them to keep passengers a little safer. My son always wants to ride up there, but I won't let him because he's too small. The new seats will be Cody approved.

Step 3 & 4 - Build pipe bumpers and mount extra lighting for night tours around the lease in the off season.

Step 1 was completed this weekend. Pics to follow...

[hoythunter]

I did a little calling around locally to find a shop to do the bedliner. Too expensive to spray an entire truck at the local places, so I did a little reading on some DIY kits. Monstaliner it is.

Materials:



First step was to sand the truck to rough up the surface:



I had a little helper for a while on this stage. Had to keep safety in mind:





Helper in action:





He tried for a few minutes, then said he was done. He enjoyed watching more than doing when it came to sanding.



Next step was pressure washing everything, then wiping it down to clean it with MEK. Then I had to tape off and cover anything that I didn't want to be bedlinered. It was prepped and ready to go:

[Mexico]

Following!!

[RAGUIRREJR]

Awesome! Like the Lil' helper pics

[hoythunter]

I started the sanding on Friday after work. I got all but 1 side finished before it got too late, then wrapped that up Saturday morning with my little helper. Him and mom left for a bit, I ate lunch and took a break, then taped it all off in the late afternoon. I didn't have a shop to spray it in, and the instructions said the surface had to be cool to the touch ( I missed that part in my early reading of the instructions...). My driveway gets the afternoon sun directly on it, so I decided it would have to be sprayed at night since the weather was supposed to be scattered showers Sunday.

I've sprayed paint with a paint gun more times than I can count. I didn't think spraying the bedliner material would be too much different. I was wrong! This stuff takes forever to lay down! I broke out a couple lights so I could see what I was doing, then got to work right at dark. I thought it would be best to start on a part you wouldn't see much, so the roof and inside of the bed was where the learning curve would start.





After getting started, I realized spraying with 1 hand and holding the light with the other hand so I could see was a major pain. My neighbor wandered over for a visit to see what I was doing, so I put him to work holding the light and inspecting each portion as I thought I had a thick coat sprayed on.





The pictures stopped here because my wife decided it was bed time. My neighbor and I had a stuck with it until about 1 a.m. when we had the truck finished. All that was left was the tailgate and a second coat on the bed and roof where I started and sprayed it pretty thin.



We didn't get any final pics, but I'm overall happy with the results. I'll get some of the finished pics when the weather clears up in the next day or 2.

[DPElite]

Can't wait to see the final pics of it, but from what i could see it looks good

Now how much are you gonna charge the TBH BrotherHood

[Mexico]

Yea man what I can see in the back ground it looks nice!!

[JustinJ]

Ready to see finished pics!

[gig one]

Nice

[hoythunter]

Weather cleared up this evening, but everything was soaking wet. I'll get pics posted up soon.

[Z7_Matt]

Looks like a fun project.

[Bowtech38]

Cool idea there

[str8ght]

That's awesome with lil man helping. Mine is almost 2 and sometimes I have to grit my teeth and watch him! It almost brings tears to my eyes seeing his interest in what daddy does. I'm planning very similar project in a year or so. 2 thumps up !!!!!!!

[LittleE]

Nice

[CountryLegend]

My dad did this to the inside of his jeep over the weekend. Good looking and pretty easy to do. Staying tuned to see the results of yours, I may paint a truck with it like you did