New 63 owner

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, good progress this weekend, if taking everything apart is considered good progress.

Some friends came over and we yanked motor and transmission. Thats my dad in the back



With the clip off, was not a major ordeal, with some help. Getting the engine on the stand off of the cherry picker was different story. I bought havy duty 2000lb engine stand, and the legs splayed out and would not fit in between legs of cherry picker.



While i had some help, we alao pulled the bed. Rigged some chains and staps and used the cherry picker.





Now all stripped down and ready for frame sandblast. Contemplating if i am going to pull the cab. Dont really have lift cabaility and starting to get worried if i can get the thing back together.



My sandblast guy says he has lift and sandblast the frame with cab on.

Wondering if people have any experience / suggestions.

Take accessories off motor and send motor and trans out for rebuild this week. Even with motor out, i have not been able to find casting marks to indicate year / type of motor. I think it is out of 70’s truck. I can see some markings on heads and manifold so going to research that tonight.

[grump]

Jeff, you can use your cherry picker to lift your cab. Take a 2x4 and find the middle, nail a couple pieces of short 2x4s about 6 inches apart in the middle and then put pieces of 2x4 on the sides of the gap. Center the long 2x4 against the top of the door opening and put the end of the cherry picker arm up against the 2x4 in the gap and lift away. I'm not real good at explaining things so I hope you understand what I'm talking about.

[bird55]

Your paintjob looks great. No way I would chance taking it to a blaster with the cab on. I know it can be covered but believe me when I say the sand can get into everything really easily. Plus with all the work you are going thru the frames going to be better being out there in the open for a thorough job.

[Blanger]

Jeff,

As Grump said it's pretty easy to remove the cab with a cherry picker, I've done it by myself using only a 2x10 that will strattle the door openings on both sides of the cab, but you really need to remove the doors first because you don't want to lift off of the door frame. A striped cab can also be lifted by 4 strong people (one on each corner) but if you have the space to roll a cherry picker through one of the door openings and lift it enough to roll the frame out from under it, you'll need a few 4x4 blocks to sit the cab on so it's not sitting on the cab corners or rockers. I'd also highly recommend that you mark the hinge location before removing the doors, it will at the least give you a base line point to start when you rehang them.

If you do a Google search you will find lots of info about lifting a slick cab with a cherry picker....it's worth the effort.

Jon

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, got ONE of the motor mounts from hell removed tonight. Previous owner rigged some home made motor mounts for the 390, so i am going to use one of the trans-dapt cross member mounts specifically for this purpose. Cleaner install and looks like it might sit motor down a little lower, it was sort of kicked up in the front. Going to think about puling cab off this weekend when i have some help here, so want to be ready to take frame to blaster. Wasnt originally planning that, but got the “while your at it” fever... and seems like now or never.

Seat guy finished up with seat and what a transformation. Found a guy in SC, Perry Ashley, his wife stiches and he does frame repair, foam etc.

Perry took frame down to metal, repaired sagging frame on drivers side, cleaned up and painted frame, new foam etc. really nice job for reasonable cost.

Before seat


After seat


Rear view



My grandson Riley will be pleased, he told me i needed to fix that before he could drive. He is 4.

Thanks again for the great info on the forum and very specific advice. I am thinking about trying the bolts thru seat holes in floor of cab for cab lift with cherry picker. Sounds like I need to take doors off. What is the best method to remove, remove bolts at the hinges into the cab, or pop the access panels in the door and remove there?

[Blanger]

Sounds like I need to take doors off. What is the best method to remove, remove bolts at the hinges into the cab, or pop the access panels in the door and remove there?

Jeff,

Each hinge has 7 bolts, at the A pillar there are 4, 2 that you can see and 2 in the hinge pocket, behind the cover on the door there are 3 more bolts, I'd take a look at the door first and see if it closes ok without it dragging or binding, if that is ok, then choose your poison but just do one or the other leaving the hinge on the door or on the A pillar, before removing any bolts use a drill and drill a 1/8" hole through the hinge and the door or A pillar so you have a reference location that you can stick a punch or awl through to line those holes up again when hanging the door.

If I was doing it I'd pull the 4 bolts from the A pillar and remove the hinges with the door, but I'd also drill two holes in each hinge one at the top and one at the bottom by the mounting bolts, I've done the door removal twice and didn't mark the hinges the first time, it took a lot of hours to get the door to close and latch properly, second time I drilled the reference holes (one per hinge) and it was a lot easier, if I had drilled two holes in each hinge it would have been even easier to line everything back up.

A word of caution, if you are replacing the door gaskets you will want to do that while the doors are off the cab, it is so much easier to do the front of the door (hinge end) with the door off, but after you hang the door with the new gaskets it will be harder to close until the gaskets seat or conform to the door opening. Of all the things I've done on the two trucks I've built the doors have been the most problem, and taken the most time to get back in adjustment, maybe it's just me but they really have too much adjustment or too many bolts that can be loosened to adjust the door, the less you can remove the better off you will be in my opinion.

Good luck.

Jon

[unibody madness]

Welcome to the site
Looks like you have it handled.
I took my bolts and rusty parts and fixed up an electrolysis bath to remove the rust, worked great. You will find that there are a few sizes and lengths of bolts mostly 5/16ths and 3/8ths. I am not sure what years things changed but 1961's have fine threaded bolts, If yours are course, check with your local body shop and ask who supplies the bolts and J nuts, Stainless seems like its expensive, and they gall easily.
Good luck with the project!

[My wife's nightmare]

I've got an adapter for a cherry picker to pull a cab with in Mooresville.
Check your PM's, I've sent you one a few days ago.
You're more than welcome to borrow it!

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi WN, sorry did not see your note earlier, replied today. Would be great to borrow the cherry picker rig for pulling the cab. I am almost ready, have not pulled the doors yet, and have not pulled steering column.

I am going to take the great advice on drilling some registration holes to make realignment easier. Doors need everything, new rubber etc, but i dont think i am going to re-do the doors for this stage of build. Focusing on structure and mechanical.

Spent today getting all miscelaneous stuff removed , disconnected. Found good post on removing the ebrake cable, so got that done. Got the other franken motor mount off and did some grinding on the old welds. Ordered a trans-dapt FE motor mount crossmember, so that should be much cleaner install

[JeffinMooresville]

Finally get to work on something i know, woodworking . Built frame for cab dolly, cab is coming off this weekend.



I made it basically same width as frame rails 34”, with wheel outriggers for stability, and 4’ long. It sits up about 32” and has clearance under the side for cherry picker.

Local member of forum hooked me up with a boom to mount to top of cherry picker, so i should be good to go.

I got engine stripped and my engine guy stopped by and we got it loaded up on his truck, off for full rebuild, transmission going to local guy for rebuild as well. These are the major elements of my budget, so better get those done while i have the money squirreled away.

Hopefully, get cab pulled this weekend and take frame to blaster guy right down the street for blasting. Havent decided if i just prime and paint, or go with the por 15 stuff.

[My wife's nightmare]

Nice cab dolly!
I used por15 on my 65 and have been very pleased with the results. Follow the directions and use their metal prep. I did use the semi-gloss, the gloss was too shiny for my tastes.
Y'all have fun Saturday!!

[oldsmiley]

Welcome from Durham N.C.

[JeffinMooresville]

Hello old smiley from Durham.

Ok pretty good weekend. My grandson spent the night lastnight and son Chris came over this morning to give me a hand and we made great progress.

Anderson loves trucks.



On Saturday, dad and I pulled doors, gas tank, Heater, steering column to get cab ready to pull.

On Sunday, Started with cab ready to pull off of frame.



Chris and I Used cherry picker and rig that local member let me borrow, and worked like a charm.



And set down on the bed dolly i made.



Broke out the pressure washer and frame got a bath, turned out pretty good.



Washed cab and shop while im at it.





I knew i had floor panel rust and the drivers side front cab mount is gone, but there was a piece of diamond plate sortof welded over to cover, removed that and can see the extent of floor damage.



Really appreciate all of the advice on the site and special thanks to local member who really helped me out with the loaner cherry picker rig and advice. Could not have gotten this done this weekend without it.

[JeffinMooresville]

Got frame and suspension disassembled this weekend. Dad came over saturday And helped. My logic is that i have to replace the leaf spring bushings, king pins brakes etc., so i may as well break it down prior to sandblasting.



Seperated springs from frame and axles.





Obviously never been off, was a little stubborn coming off. Lots of PB blaster and a big hammer. I cant go any further, i sure hope it goes back together easier. I have all new spring bushings and bolts, so will break down leafs and press out old bushings before taking to blaster.

My plan is to sandblast and then prime and paint the leaf springs. I have seen what looks like rubber sheets that go between the springs. Should I use them? I have also seen a bracket extension for rear springs to drop the rear end a couple of inches. Anyone have experience or source for those? I have seen them for 65 and 66 , but not specifically for 61-64. Are they different?

Ready to stop tearing apart and start reassembly.

[shipwrecked]

I didn't put any rubber sheets between the springs when I reassembled mine. I put some sort of graphite material i got from the tractor supply on mine.
Also- those U bolts are not good from LMC just so you know. if you read in my build thread, I had to buy mine from some joint up in New York. The ones I bought from LMC were no good.

good luck.

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, been a bit since i have gotten any work done. Sent frame, leaf springs , axles to sandblaster and got back last weel. Set up redneck paint booth and sprayed frame and parts. First time using the china freight purple gun, and struggled a bit getting the setup right. Finally i was able to get spray if i closed the fan setting down all the way. So was like painting with a rattle can, in any case, i was able to get a few coats on and seems to be OK.

I was spraying PPG ALK-200, chassis paint ( sandblaster dude recommended) , but i may not have thinned enough. Gun sprays fine with just mineral spirits thru, but cant seem to get enough paint to flow. Still have some parts to paint, so i will have to experiment a little more.

Before



After



Leaf Springs and such



Ready to start reassembly process. I ordered new ubolts, have pressed in all new leaf spring and chassis rubber bushings. So hopefully, i have all of the pieces to put it back together. I still need the little clips that hold leaf springs together, old ones tore apart getting off.

[JeffinMooresville]

Hey, it looks like my images in previous posts are gone and replaced with link to postimage? Can others see the images in previous posts? I hvae not been on postimage in a few weeks, do they time out ?

Update... turns out i had moved them between folders on postimage site and broke the link. I have gone abck and fixed most.

Thanks

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi, i wanted to pass along a refernce and source for UBOLTS. I ordered ubolts and accessories from a company named stengel brothers. Products were great , really heavy duty, fast delivery and fair price, but the real kicker was when i misplaced ONE of the centernuts and could not fine a .375 superfine thread anywhere, i dropped them an email and they sent out a couple free of charge, not a big deal, but unexpected these days, and somone named Stengel actualy answered my email.

Check them out
http://www.stengelbros.com

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, dad came over this weekend and we finished painting the remaining chassis pieces and can start the re-assembly process. I thinned the paint a little more this time and seemed to get better results, still didnt get the spray quality i expected, but got the job done.

Got leaf springs and front axle back on. I have replaced every bolt and bushing as well as new ubolts. Was probably overkill, but nice to start back with clean slate.







I have not been able to find the straps for the leaf springs. I had a few that didnt break when i pulled them off, i guess i can beat these back square and re-use them.



I drained the 9” ford differential while it was off. Gear oil looked pretty good, had been changed recently, and truck seemed to run fine prior to teearing apart, and axles, seem tight so i am just going to fill up with Lucas Gear oil and put er back on.

I had a local guy to press new king pin sleeves into spindles, and ream... so i dont have those back, will install new king pins when i do. Slow progress, but its a start.

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi , been away for a while. Back on the truck a little and wanted to show some progress.

I have the chassis reassembled, new bushings, ubolts, shocks, kingpins. Staying with drum brakes, so had rear turned, but had to buy new front drums, and had to un-swage the drums from rotors and had my machine shop buddy lightly turn and press in new bearing chases. Replacing all og the guts of the brakes including cylinders, lines etc.

Motor and trans back from rebuilt and reassembled, so set them into chassis to check fit, clearances etc.



I removed the frankenmounts that previous owner had used, and went with trans-dapt motor mount kit. Good news is that it sits the motor down in the truck, much nicer, bad news is now headers dont fit so, having to put stock exaust manifolds on to clear new mount and frame.



You can see i have not drilled final holes in frame yet, still tweaking the location.









Going to set this aside , and pull the cab inside next. I have been taking welding class at local community college, bought a welder, some floor pans and cab mounts from carolina classics, and going to see if i can tackle that. First time doing any metal work, but getting some good advice from some local forum members with experience.

More pics when i get the cab in the shop.

Happy 4th of july, thanks to all millitary for your service.