my shipwrecked '63

[shipwrecked]

Built myself a tarp shelter in the porch area of my garage to help contain the sandblasting... I've done it before and it worked real well, however this time I just had little patience for it and I will most likely not do this again. It was a big mess today. I would love to get a blast cabinet, and haven't gotten around to buying one as I have a garage full of stuff as it is.

Anyway, the axle is going to go with me to work tomorrow to see if I will be allowed to use the machine shop to press out the old king pin on the driver side. It is in so tight I couldn't get it to budge even with heat, passenger side came right out. I can bring it in to a local machine shop to hone out the new bushings on Wednesday or Monday, I already asked at work, we don't have a hone for this so I gotta pay someone. Only shop in the area wants like 100.00 ugh.



Blasted the axle, backing plates, parts to the steering where the tie rods attach and I called it quits. I did remove the old bushings from the leaf springs. I already have the new bushings, just need to put them in.

Freezing the last two days so doing any work out there is uncomfortable. Not looking forward to winter! Stand by for more.

[bruceandersson]

I haven't found a blast cabinet to work as well as a pressure blaster. It will still get things cleaned off eventually, but works more along the lines of the older siphon blasters and you just don't get the same sand volume. If you are dealing with rust, I found the evapo-rust product to work very well. Just place you parts in it and in a couple of days they look like new. (except for pits) It's just a little expensive.

[shipwrecked]

Had the morning off today but not sitting on the couch! I went out and made a video on how to remove the steering column and steering box. Here are a few photos of what I did today.



I took the axle to work and used a press to pull that stuck king pin. I pumped that thing oh so slightly at a time and it POPPED! kind on scared me but I knew it was gonna happen.



look what I found!!! Oh heck yea!




popped the old lugs out and also got the hubs free.



moving along!

[Alan Mclennan]

coming along nicely, that is a great looking blast booth, makes mine look like a shoe box !

[shipwrecked]

Took the spring packs apart and brought them to the autoshop at work to use their blast cabinet. Took 5 hours! They have a syphon feed system and it kept clogging because of moisture, but it did the job nicely. If I did the work in my back yard, it would have been faster but messy.



Took the steering box and nasty components and put them in some degreaser.




Got them all cleaned up and even pulled the plug on the steering box to see whats the deal. It has water, oil and grease in there... not to mention some shiny flakes coming out.




Started to rain this morning, so I moved my project under the shade so it wouldn't get ruined(only painted one side so far)



When I took the old spring packs apart, I had cleaned them up and bought some new center pin bolts, but they sucked! Do not use Rancho bolts. They just stripped and never got tight enough. I am going to look for some higher grade pins. I suspect the Rancho are grade 2, and soft. I looked on Summit Racing and saw some grade 5 center pins so I will try those.




And of course I am as guilty as everyone.. I'll clean it up on a rainy day.... Its already clean- I did it last night... This was out of control.


Sifting through some books to make sure I get the right parts on order today.

[shipwrecked]

only real thing I did today besides paint some leaf springs, was dig around behind the dash...
52 years of hack job wiring and it is a mess. I really don't want to tag it- just chop it and start new with a brand new wire harness. The wiring still has those barrel fuses behind the light switch.

[bruceandersson]

That looks good compared to a lot of them. They are pretty easy to get out. I'd take it out to get a better assessment on it. If there aren't a lot of cut wires, you may want to salvage what you have.

[shipwrecked]

Today I had a few hours between work shifts. Had to go in early for an "active shooter" drill and then went home to play in the yard. Here is what I worked on.

Dropped the transmission.



Opened up the front brake cylinders to measure their bore to order rebuild kits.



got the wiring harness disconnected finally.



removed the switches off the dash




spray painted


not show quality but it will keep the rust away.

Drained the fuel from the tank and disconnected the rust filled coolant hoses from the heater.

Here is to not forgetting how this all goes back together!

[jamesdfo]

April: Make sure you price rebuilt wheel cyllinders as well as rebuild kits, years ago (~1991??) I did the price check when I did the brakes on my '81 SWB 1/2T, and the front callipers were $19.00 ea, while the rebuild kits were $15.00 ea.....it was a no brainer:) (can't buy a ball hone for the difference in cost:)

And BTW: That pic above is the exact opposite of your self diagnosed RBF, so the truck must be very therapeutic:)

[bruceandersson]

I second the idea of new cylinders vs rebuild if they are close in price. I usually search for deals online for parts like that.

[Truckrat]

Wow April, your work is coming along great. Liking the red suspension stuff.
That little wedge piece between your spring and axle, like Kevin said, is there to set
the castor on your axle so it will drive straight down the road. Hold on to those and put them back in when you reassemble the frontend. That blast cabinet is the bomb!
Been wanting one of those a long time. Loving your build. Looking like your seats will be nice too. Keep at it. TR

[shipwrecked]

Been looking into some rebuilt or new front brake cylinders, they are expensive. I saw a cylinder for like 46.00 and it immediately made me go out and open the cylinders I have to see how bad they were if I could just rebuild it!

TruckRat- I plan on painting the exterior grey... I thought about doing it up in the original Driftwood grey color as it came out the factory but it is a very light grey with no metalic or anything- its very light. I like the simple color but it is almost white. I am partial to blues and greys but since the truck was grey- i may go grey again.
As for the red.... I like red as well, and decided to change it up just a little. The red will go on the suspencion with some black pieces... like the spindals, part of the front leaf spring shackles and even the tie rod tube I got from Flashbacks. The frame is going to be black, and I am not sure about the engine color or engine bay yet. I may do original engine colors.

Exterior and interior paint are going to be so last on the list of things to do. Currently I am working 50 hours a week with standing overnight duty (weekends off!) till Thanksgiving. Then I pick up a recruit company(my 6th) again. By the end of that company I am supposed to get a 6 month break but we shall see...
I am pulling the engine this weekend if I get a chance of good weather. I have been stripping a lot of pieces out the truck this week that I didn't post yet due to time. But the pictures are on photobucket.

I wish I had more money and time. I spent two years on the sidelines with this truck due to health reasons, and I am not going to live forever. It is a little scary that several people I know in the USCG who had similar type cancers had theirs come back in a brain cancer form within 5 years. I am almost 3 years into remission and know this isnt going to be easy if it comes back. Do as much as often as I can now and enjoy it while I can! RBF (resting bitch face) at work but at home I am all smiles even when I am cracking a nuckle on a bolt. Who needs a boyfriend when I got Diesel Dawg(my schnauzer) and my shipwrecked '63!

[shipwrecked]

Had a wave of stupidy come across me and I decided to go ahead and pull the engine. I am never going to pull an engine while it is in a vehicle and on grass. I did a number on my yard... And I almost got squished when my neighbor (85 yo) came over to "help" and he let the hydraulic cylinder bleed off while I was moving a pallet below the engine- the engine tipped over and almost squished me. I thought he was gonna have a heart attack right then and there!





Anyway, we got the engine from the grass to the pavement area and I got it onto the engine stand.



I am glad I got the transmission off before lifting the engine out! It was a heavy beast. I am not sure what the reason is, but I believe I had a plug go bad on the engine and it started leaking. It's got rust leaking... Oil leaking and fuel leaking.





Today after I did all that, I took some purple power to the frame and sprayed it down. Will pressure wash it again in the morning. It is getting down to parade rest but I still have a lot of work to do.

[SteveCanup]

Wow! This is turning into a "frame off" restoration....glad you didn't get hurt...or your neighbor. Lots of work but certainly worth it. Following intently.

[shipwrecked]

scrub-a-dub-dub to get the gunk off the frame.






chassis saver painted on the area i scrubbed.

new tie rod adjusting rod came in from Flashbacks.

I scrubbed that, put a coat of chassis saver on it too.



hmmmm.. what should I do next? top coat the chassis saver, assemble my front axle, springs and tierods. Thats what i will do tomorrow.

[shipwrecked]

My bench vise had a bad day. My neighbor(85 yo) was over and wanted to help put the bushings in the leaf spring bushings. Lets just say that he is a big guy and between he and I, my bench vise lost. The piece you see shot out the bottom like a bullet.




it was from harbor freight... its now in the scrap pile.
I still only have 3 out of the 6 bushings installed. I am going to take it to work and see if I can use the hydraulic press. What a pain!

[kstones63]

I used my vice for things like that before I got a press. I would put a lot of pressure on the vise and then smack the jaws really hard with a sledge hammer. That would help push the parts in to where I could tighten the vise a little more and then hit it again with the sledge hammer.

Kevin

[bruceandersson]

Gotta appreciate someone who likes to help, but you may want to hire a medicine man to remove the curse from your neighbor. You sure do make good use of your spare time.

[The Big M]

only real thing I did today besides paint some leaf springs, was dig around behind the dash...
52 years of hack job wiring and it is a mess. I really don't want to tag it- just chop it and start new with a brand new wire harness. The wiring still has those barrel fuses behind the light switch.[url=http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/Coast ... e.jpg.html][img]

What's the push button for on the bottom right corner of the photo? I have the exact same thing on the left side of my column. I haven't torn into the wiring but I suspected either a horn button or starter switch.

[shipwrecked]

What's the push button for on the bottom right corner of the photo? I have the exact same thing on the left side of my column. I haven't torn into the wiring but I suspected either a horn button or starter switch.

Mine was hooked to the horn.
The horn on the column didn't work.