Piddlin' Day

Got some time today to do all the tiny stuff that started adding up.  Cut off shackle and shock bolts to length, remove the old shock mounts (upper and lower), cleaned the rear diff of all the caked on 90 weight oil and West Texas dirt.

Worked on the gas tank after going to Northern Tool and picking up, sand, goggles, and a 3m P100 respirator.  The neighborhood had Darth Vader sand blasting a gas tank in the back yard.  The tank is cleaning up good.  It's hard to rust through 8th inch steel.  The Kreem sealer showed up in pints.  I thought I was buying quarts and now I am concerned about coverage, so I might have to drop another $50.   I will wait to coat it went it warms up a bit.

Also calculated volume of the tank that I engineered 23 years ago, and it shows to be about a 20 gallon tank.    That's a perfect size!

Shock Geometry - Not so much.

Spent more time studying and researching than I did actually fabricating the shock mounts.  I thought all was good and it was currently sitting mid range on the shock travel.  2 neighbors came over and we bounced the frame and yes, I grossly missed the calculation on the shock compression.  I am about an inch and a half off.  For now it will stay where it is as I suspect that once they get air in them bottoming out will be rare.

The gas tank got some attention today.  I tested it for sand blasting an it works pretty well.  Talked to Joe and we are going to Kreem the in side of it and roll with the old tank.  Ordered 2 quarts of Kreem.  Getting pretty close to the cab.  Going to start ordering parts soon.

Shock Mounts Easier Done Than Said

For a couple of weeks now I have been try to figure out how to install air shocks on the truck.  Lowering the  rear end shortens the shock travel distance and normally you would buy a "shortened" shock.  However the shortened wheel travel makes it very likely that the axle will bottom out.  Forget hauling anything.

One possibility is a air shock that Monroe makes.  It adds 1,100 lbs of load capacity to a vehicle.  After getting an idea for a shock mount from a 1960 Ford F100, I ordered a set of Monroe Max Air  MA810's.

First, I purchase some 5/8" Grade 8 Bolts from Tractor Supply and found some 5/8" collars in the tractor part selection there too.  A lot of time was spent trying to figure this out.  I went to the scrape yard and to pick up steel and upon my return home, I was practically done engineering the mounts in about 20 minutes.  This includes making most of the parts for the lower mounts.

So far I am pretty happy with my design.  Now lets see if it Works!

Big Break in the Rear

Did the rear breaks this evening.  The new brake shoes that I purchased were thinner than the 20 year old ones that were used on the truck.  So I stuck with the old ones for now.  I completely forgot the trick to get these back together and it took forever, on one side.  The other side was pretty quick.  Tomorrow I take on the shock mounts.

Super Bowl Sunday

Didn't get a whole lot done today due to the cooking and various chores prior to the neighbors coming over. Did however get new rear axle seals and re-installed the axles and brake assembly housing.  I did buy break shoes and discovered my old worn ones had more meat on them than the new ones I bought.  So I return them.  Found some interesting parts a tractor supply that may allow me to reconfigure the shocks so I can put a set of Monroe Max Air for rear height adjust-ability.

Rear Breaks and Tank Chop

Today was spent mostly cleaning stuff.  Started with the break assembly housings and sand blasted each with some "West Texas" blow sand I acquired.  Funny thing happened spraying sand in the back yard, it made Sharky's turds look like cinnamon sugar cookies.  So I had to stop and pick them up before a neighbor tried one.

Pulled the rear wheel seals by making a tool to pull them and then discovered that the new ones weren't the right size.  So I redirected my energy on robbing a emergency brake cable from the donor truck.

In the fall of 1988, I constructed a rear gas tank that went under the bed of the truck.  My motor crapped out in Spring of 1989 and I later used propane.   So for 23 years there has been some gasoline fermenting in the tank.  So here is what 23 year old gas looks like...

The scale filled a 1 gallon paint can and one quarter of another.  The tank itself is in good shape do to the thickness of the steel used to make it.  For cost purposes I am going to try and reuse it.