If you saw my last post, I'd finished up the front control arms, but hadn't gotten the springs in and spindles attached. I tried to use three different coil spring compressors, but none of them would compress the spring and give me the clearance I needed to get the spring in place. Since I had no weight on the frame, it was impossible to just put a floor jack under the control arm and compress the spring to put the spindle on. I thought a lot about how I might go about getting the spring compressed, and thought maybe if I put the motor in place it would give me enough weight to offset the spring. No luck. So I finally realized that if I put a heavy duty tie down under the jack and over the frame, I'd be able to keep the frame from lifting up. Just to be safe, I used two 1500 lb capacity ratcheting tie downs, and it worked like a charm.
Now my spindles are on and I'm ready for brakes, engine, and transmission this weekend. Luckily, I rebuilt my 3/4 ton control arms with new top and bottom cross shafts and ball joints this spring. Now THAT was a job!
Interesting fact. Has anyone else noticed that 1966 C-20's use the same design lower control arm cross shaft as the '60-62 pickups? They bolt directly to the crossmember instead of using u-bolts.
The accelerator pedal is the same way. It doesn't use studs and just bolts directly into the floor like the earlier years. Does anyone know why?