[Sharps40]

A good weekend spent working on trucks. Sat the buyer came over and three of us managed to get the cab with doors off Ol John Lee. Even stripped and with an electric winch it all we had to pull the cab off the rear of the frame and down onto the trailer without doing any damage to sheetmetal or fingers.

Today, I cleared a bunch of my initial punchlist for John Lee Jr. Enough to feel confident the suspension and breaks are now ready for some break in driving.

The DS window had a broken roller on the riser, a new roller and a bit of greese and its working like new. I also lubed the vent window rivits and shafts so I could open the window, it also eliminated the squeeking. I put new rear break drums on and will prolly go back and transfer Ol John Lees shoes and new rear cylinders. I noted the original wheel cylinders on JR and the pistons are starting to break down. So, they need to go soon. I also adjusted the front and rear breaks. The fronts had new shoes and though the drums are original, they were recently turned and new cylinders installed with new front rubber hoses.

Under the hood, I installed Ol John Lees 16 lb radiator cap in place of the incorrect 7 pounder. I also transfered the radiator overflow tank and got it hooked up. A quick warm up and ride showed the brakes working fine w/no pull to the right and the radiator pukeing and drawing from the over flow tank. So, no more popping caps to check water levels. This radiator has some corrosion on the outside, so I spect I'll be transferring Ol John Lees 3 core V8 radiator over to replace this much smaller 2 core original.

There was no need to install new fuel lines as inspection of the papers with the truck shows a new gas tank, new sender, new rubber hoses and new fuel pump was needed for start up after the 18 year sit.

I did tweek the windshield gasket so it now lays flat like it should on the inside. While working in the cab I put in both windshield visors and a repo 1965 rear view mirror to replace the aftermarked/modern glass mounted rear view. Also vacuumed all the mouse turds from under the seat and gas tank.

Underneath I transfered Ol John Lees spanky new exhaust hangers. We had a broken one on Jr. Inspection indicates I need to get a good glass pack and a head pipe made. I also inspected the suspension. Its original, all the ball joints are rivited on top. The lowers look original too. The PS joints are pretty good. The DS lower joint is showing a bit of wear but no where near what Ol John Lee had before his suspension rebuild. So, I'll grab some undamaged suspension components off Ol John Lee and slowely work on installing them when I transfer Ol John Lees new Moog Springs to Jr. I also installed Ol John Lees new shocks, Jrs. were dead. I had to retorque the front upper shock mounts to the frame, they were very loose....good thing I didn't drive it home, prolly woulda egged out the frame holes.

Finally, in the looks department, I adjusted the fit of the hood. The rear was up and forward off the cowl gasket. That was a learning experience. A tiny bit of movement in the hinge pivot makes over 1/4" of movement in the up/down and fwd/back position of the hood. But the back end is down on the cowl gasket and the gap is even all the way across. The hood even latches still! So, I'll call it a success.