Welcome

Hi everyone, I'm Chuck and this is my project. I am going to attempt to make this tired old truck into something worth driving again!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Junk Yard Trip

Yesterday my friend John and I went to the U-Pull and Pay salvage yard in north Denver ( www.upullandpay.com ). They have an online inventory that gives you an idea of what whether or not you will find certain parts. It works pretty well because you pay a 2$ entrance fee and they provide you with a wheelbarrow to carry things in and you can spend as much time as you want scavenging parts. John needed a relay for his cherokee, which he found. I found an idle air control for my wifes Metro and a Brake Light for her brothers Contour. For the Highboy... not as much luck. They had a 1976 f-150 on the online inventory that interested me until I found it. It was destroyed! I think it spent a few too many weekends at the WalMart parking demolition derby. I was able to find a brake light fixture and a headlight mounting ring that were in good enough shape but that was it. I found a battery tray to protect from corrosion and an antenna off of a GM car and an antenna wire from an import suv of some kind. The things I really wanted to find were a tailgate, a bench seat (or buckets), and a spare tire. Next time I guess.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Tires, the WalMart and a random dude

I went to the WalMart yesterday, that's right THE WalMart, to have the other set of tires mounted. I used the WalMart because tire mounting is pretty cheap there and they balance them for the life of the tire. I first called ahead to make sure they could handle 37" tires which they can, what they cannot do is make reservations apparently it is a walk-in only setup. Anyways I got in line behind 2 people at just before 1pm and made it to the front of that line 15 minutes later. They remembered me from the phone call and said they would have my truck done in "about an hour". 3 hours later I drove away with only 2 tires mounted, apparently the other 2 had hard bends in the bead of the tire making it difficult to seal. I suspect the damage was caused by the WalMart but I don't really care because I got the 2 worst tires off of the truck and I'm planning on downsizing tires anyways. The 37's show signs of rubbing and I'm sure 35's or 33's would do just fine for my purposes. Moral of the story: Sometimes things are only CHEAP or FREE if your time is worth nothing to you. To me, time is everything. Especially when I have an awesome wife at home waiting for me to return. The way I see it, if I multiplied my meager hourly wage by the time spent at the WalMart plus the price of the service I would say I was ripped off! Especially since I already worked 40 hours this week and those 3+ hours would put me into overtime. ALSO! I would say spending ANY time at the WalMart on a SATURDAY of all days would warrant some sort of hazard pay. Carts packed with junk whizzing by, kids screaming, no one to help you find what you came for, great prices on things you don't actually need, 2 checkstands open, the parking lot(demolition derby) and the strangest mix of people. UGH. Which reminds me of this random dude I met while pondering a possible seat cover purchase. I think this guy lived at the WalMart, his eyes were crossed- probably from trying to find prices for things he had originally wanted to buy on all the mixed up shelves but had long forgotten what they were or where he found them. He was alone, but looking for someone- I think he thought I was the guy he was looking for. Maybe his family is also lost in the WalMart, or maybe they went home and forgot the poor guy there. He hadn't shaved or showered in quite a while unfortunately. Anyways I hope the random WalMart dude finds what he is looking for at the WalMart, even if it's just a friend.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

View from the beast




This is eye level at a stop light.

New Wheel Studs and Seals




It was a good idea to just replace both wheel bearing seals while I was this far into the project even though only one was leaking. It's a good idea to add some 80-90W to the bearing after you slide it onto the hub especially if you are like me and cleaned all the old stuff out of it while inspecting it for defects. I used a short piece of 1/4" vac hose to extend the tip of my squeeze bottle of gear lube to squirt a little back into the bearing area before sliding in the axle and sealing it all up again.

Differential Gear

Rear Differential mud



The fluid inside the rear differential should not look like chocolate milk shake...

Gears looked good so I cleaned it up and sealed it with silicone sealant making sure not to overtighten the cover bolts which squeezes out the sealant and allows leaks to form. And then filled it to the fill hole with 80-90W.

New Shoes?



This was a new set of shoes put on a badly damaged drum. The new drum was only $50. The shoes that were wasted were $20.

Groovy Drum




This is what happens when you continue (for thousands of miles) to drive with that metal-on-metal sound every time you hit the brakes.

Brake drum removed



This is the drum brake system on the rear of the truck, nothing exciting on this side. Leaky seal and detached E-brake cable.

Removing the Axle



The axles were in good shape, there were flakes of rust attached to them and water beaded up in places, thats a bad thing I think!

Broken Wheel studs

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Rear Axle/Brake Service

Today I finished the rear end of this truck, I did a thorough inspection of the differential, replaced broken off wheel studs and repaired MANY brake problems.

This part of my project started with the intent to just replace a few wheel studs and move on. Unfortunately but not un-expectedly I found some "suprises" that costed me both time and money.

The passenger side of the truck had an almost new brake drum and shoes but broken wheel studs, the e-brake cable on this side was unattached and missing a spring that would have held it in place. The inner wheel bearing seal was leaking a lot on this side.

The drivers side had a functional e-brake and seal. This side had newish shoes but the drum had a terrible gouge (and matching ridge in the shoes) from someone wearing the brake pads to the rivets and continuing to drive for probably years. This drum needed replaced and I'm glad I found it because it was dangerous. (see pics)

The differential housing was filled with fluid that looked a lot like a chocolate shake with bubbles. The differential gears all looked good.

I repaired or replaced all of the above problems.

Also important: Let it be known that I had never before even attempted a drum brake system, specially a 3/4 ton rear axle.

Tips:
-Do one side at a time so you can refer to the other side to see which spring goes where.
-There IS an inner and outer side to each brake shoe (I learned that one the hard way)
-There are some great videos and internet resources that make this kind of job pretty easy. Search for it on Google videos before you start!
-Make sure your bearings are clean and have no obvious damage before putting it all back together. It would be terrible to do the job over again because of a 5 dollar wheel bearing.
-Clean the differential cover seal lip thoroughly before applying sealant, any oil residue will void your attempt to seal it.
-DO NOT OVERTITGHTEN THE DIF-COVER BOLTS.

Friday, January 15, 2010

My cool adventure

I decided to replace the upper and lower radiator hoses the other day. The old soft swollen ones looked like they were just waiting for the right time to burst. I started with the upper hose because it looked the easiest to get to. This prooved to be untrue when I found that I am not tall enough to reach into the engine compartment. So, standing on a box I was able to replace the upper with no problem and only small amounts of coolant dripping on the floor. The lower hose prooved to be easier to get to after all. This truck has a ton of clearance so laying on my back I can easily see and reach anything on the underside. I started by loosening both of the hose clamps and prying the radiator side loose from its home. I decided to not use the drain on the bottom of the radiator since all of the fluid was going to come out anyways and it might as well come out fast as possible so I had a 5 gallon bucket ready. After a few minutes of fighting with it I decided to just slice the end of the hose to make it looser and hopefully come off with no trouble. Bad choice! I created a fan shaped geyser of antifreeze that was expelling fluid faster than I thought possible. The spray was wider than my buckets' opening which caused fluid to leak all over the place, my hands, the floor, my tool-tray. the bucket was filling fast and I was looking forward to it stopping when my hands slipped! The bucket fell on its side and sent three gallons of green chemicals flowing across my in-laws garage. Trish, who was taking pictures of the process snagged some old shirt rags I had and threw them at the mess. Then she said "well, I'm done here" and made her escape before the growing pool of coolant reached her socks. I was stuck holding the bucket beneath the still spewing truck when the pool soaked through my sweatshirt and caused me to flinch and drop the bucket again letting the remaining gallon or so join the rest on the floor. I decided to just set the bucket down and let the rest drain mostly into it so I could concentrate on the flood. The geyser stopped with only 3 inches of fluid in the bottom of the bucket. FAIL. I felt like Lucille Ball when she was working on an assembly line that got backed up and everything she did made the problem worse and worse.
After all that though and a ton of cleanup I finally got the new hoses on pretty simply and refilled the system with a 50/50 water/antifreeze mix. Note to self: USE THE DRAIN PLUG!!!!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

ANGER!!!!!

Today was a waste! I spent 5 hours on a 2 hour task. And that is not the worst part! The worst part is that I actually did not accomplish anything. In fact I moved the project in a reverse direction, I am now further away from being ready for the road... Ugh. Here is the story: I went to the parts shop and picked up a new locking gas cap, a flasher and while I was there asked about wheel studs that I need to replace, I was excited to hear that there were 17 of them at the store down the street. I immediately headed over there and paid $43 dollars for a set of 8 new wheel studs and 8 new lug nuts. After I got home I tore into the right rear wheel and 4 hours, 2 calls to my dad for advice, 1 bleeding knuckle and 1 smashed swollen thumb later I discovered that the wheel studs were the wrong diameter! So I called the parts store to verify, and sure enough I had the correct wrong parts, I bit my tongue and thanked him for his help. It took me 30 minutes to slap it all back together so I could park the truck outside the garage before dark (4:40-ish) and 30 more minutes to clean up drips and streaks of 90W of the floor. I hope tomorrow goes better. The good thing is that now I can make that 2 hour job a 1 hour job, and I know that the rear brakes are ready to be replaced.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

1st Drive Home

The first long drive I took in this truck was kinda scary, I haven't gotten my plates yet and needed to get the truck to my house to work on it, needless to say I was watching for cops more than normal! The truck ran well, although I really did get a sense of its age after the drive. It is going to be a long road before this thing is reliable again. On the lighter side it track straight down the road and doesn't seem scary at highway speeds, even with under inflated junk 37" tires on it.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

eBay parts

I am beginning to realize how much I think/obsess about projects I am in the middle of, that sounds like a negative doesn't it?.. I am also seeing just how much satisfaction I get from doing things like this truck project, it is like no other thing I can think of.

SO....

eBay, I am currently winning an auction for a used steering column with tilt steering, this would be a huge upgrade for this truck, I will keep you all posted, one day-12 hrs left on the auction.

Next post: The 1st Drive Home

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Front Axle



This is the front axle. I have been told it is a Dana 44 HD. I can't confirm that though. What I do know is that it has a dual piston disk brake setup that is pretty nice, the brakes on this truck don't pull at all to either side under load, which is saying a lot considering the size of tire on it. The hubs are the big old ford hubs that are notoriously weak and hard to find parts for, this may be a problem in the future as I suspect one of them is not working correctly.

Transfer Case



The divorced transfer case: Divorced refers to the separation between the transmission and the transfer case; this setup has some huge benefits. The most obvious is less extreme drive line angles. With a lifted truck, a common problem is that extreme drive line angles (especially to the front axle) cause added stress on the u-joints at the end of the drive lines. With a divorced transfer case the drive lines to the front and rear axles are nearly the same length and have similar angles. This is accomplished by simply moving the transfer case towards the rear of the truck, or, separating it from the transmission. Hence the name: Divorced Transfer Case.


It looks like this truck spent a few years at the bottom of the ocean doesn't it? Not all of the red is rust though, some of it is mud and grime.

Ripped metal



This is why I say the bed is junk. One of the previous owners probably had a ladder rack installed that caused this carnage. My plan for now is to beat down the sharpest points and hit it with some primer to stop the decay. Another interesting point is the gas cap, it pretty much just sits there in place.

Lights!!!




New parts: Installed! All external lights now turn on, just need to sort out the blinker problem and we will be good to go! The light sockets and plugs were all packed with years of dirt and bug carcasses!
Also Installed new wiper blades and a new air cleaner gasket, both were beyond dried and cracked.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Today was a weird day

Today has been a pretty weird day. I started it well, with good intentions, got up at 6:30 and made breakfast for Trish and I. Breakfast turned out well but thats about it. I took a very big test that determined whether or not I get my B.S.Degree well I beat the national standard but unfortunately did not reach the level required by my school, so that sucked, I am now $100 poorer and actually 6 months further from my degree than I was yesterday UGH!

On another note I also went to the DMV to get the title transfered for the Ford. The cost was $67.55, kinda steep! I learned a very important little bit of info in the process though: as of Sept. 09 the state has allowed vehicles made in 1975 and older to be classified as "Collector Vehicles" making them eligible for collector plates and making them exempt from all future emissions testing. That is awesome news because it can be a pain to maintain emissions on an older vehicle. Its not all good news though. The bad news is that the collector vehicle plates are purchased in five year increments only. That makes the initial investment pretty pricey. $329. That isn't a lot spread over 5 years but like I said before I am not made of money so that's a bunch of dough to just fork over!

Next Steps:
-fix the Lighting issues
-obtain insurance and registration
-find enough money to buy plates for this beast

Sunday, January 3, 2010

More Parts!

I think it is important to mention that this will not be a "body off" restoration project. If you just like shiny paint check back in a few years, this thing is gonna be ugly for a while, why? I will be using this truck while I am working on it, what that means to you? I will be spending my weekends and downtime to work on the beast and blogging frequently about not only the repairs but the adventures using the truck as a truck. The catch is that I do not have the luxury in time, space or money to just rip it apart and build it from the ground up with all new parts, thats where most guys mess up in my opinion, lack of resources, but excess ambition. THE PARTS: From Checker auto, we need to first get this truck registered and street legal. Picked up new headlights, brake bulbs, some marker light bulbs, upper radiator hose, an in-line fuel filter, 2 gal. oil, oil filter, wiper blades, air cleaner gasket(mine was missing) and Trish picked out a nice air freshener for it, the truck smells like mold in the cab...yuck.

Parts I have obtained

It came with an extra fuel sending unit, a nice extra hood and 4 partially worn tires that will last a little while. I paid 31 bucks for a box of stuff from a guy on craigslist(CL from now on). The box consisted of 2 nice taillights, working starter, heater core, heater blower motor, an ignition switch with keys, a cup of random interior knobs and hard to find little pieces that will come in handy when i get into the interior.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

This Trucks History

Mike, the man that sold me this truck says he really loved it, although the amount of neglect I am finding suggests otherwise. It was used mostly as a farm truck while he owned it. He claimed that he pulled half of a double wide trailer with it once. He sometimes used it to tow his boat to the lake or go hunting. Most recently though it has been not used. It has sat for 5 years on his property near Ft. Carson CO. It was started occasionally just to make sure it would. The rest of the history is unknown, and honestly I don't want to know, if I knew of all the abuse this thing has been through I would probably run the other way!
Ok, Welcome to my project. I will post pictures and commentary as the project progresses. Feel free to comment with tips or suggestions that may help me along the way. I am not a mechanic. I am just a guy that likes trucks and likes doing projects even if they are mostly unrealistic. My dad once said to me "you can't make a silk purse out of a hogs ear" referring to me wanting to turn a 1974 IHC pickup truck into a hotrod. The goal of this truck is to turn a formerly capable 4x4 truck into a currently capable 4x4 truck. I have learned what I know about wrenching from my dad and he's pretty good so hopefully I won't end up with a pile of parts in my garage instead of a sweet 4x4 on the trail. My amazing wife Trish is supporting me in this venture and I'm excited to get started.

The rust colored paint hides the rust colored rust...

First Pic!