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.

Frame Notched and Chassis Reassembled

Friday night:  Cut the notch on the driver side first and partially welded in the new section.

Saturday:  Finished welding up the frame notches and rebuilt the leaf spring packs.

Sunday: Reassembled the flipped axle and leaf springs.  Put in new shackle bolts and tightened everything down.  Pulled the axles out and had to stop to clean up and reorganized.

Monday: Replaced the third member gasket.

Droppin' the Bed

Had everything I needed t install the front disc brake pads and new hoses.  During the process I discovered that the factory keeper bolt was hitting my wheel!  Quickly referenced my library of bolts and nuts and found 2 cap screws that worked in place of the Ford bolt.  Perfect fit! and front brakes done.

The kit from www.airbagit.com came in this week.  It included an axle flip kit and frame notches.  I bought shocks for it but they sent the wrong ones.  Also received the bushings for the leaf springs that needed replacing.

Again Doug graciously jumped in and we spent all afternoon Saturday working on the leaf spring bushings.  4 hours of pounding to get the 6 of them out.  I welded together a bushing tool to hit them with and it became best friends with a 3 pound sledge hammer.

  Got the axle flipped and mocked up where the frame needed to be notched.

And of course the Shackle bolts I ordered were too long.  Sent a picture of the bolt to LMC truck and no response as of yet.  Found grade 8 washers from Northern tool that took up enough shank slack that all I have to do is cut off the extra threads.

Clean out, break down and organize

I cleaned out the interior, reorganized the donor truck and unbolted the bed.  To keep things organized I built a wood frame on top of the donor bed and enlisted the help of some neighbors to lift it on top.  while waiting for help my neighbor Doug came over and said lets get busy.  In about 90 minutes we completely dismantled the truck down to the cab and frame.

Borrowed a power washer from another neighbor and wash 20 years of west Texas dust.  Lots of dust.

From Fort To Fort

With the help of my bother in law (Brad), my father in laws truck, and a friends trailer, we drove out to Fort Stockton to pick up Stinky and move it to Fort Worth.  Trip went smooth and much dirt was left on I-20.

Somewhere down I -20 the Hair Ball found a new home.

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