I'm finally starting to work on Bella.

[Pick]

Today was a productive day...I think....I finally got some shiny stuff installed!

However, one thing bugs me a little bit: the upper a-arm hits the top of the spindle when the suspension is completely unloaded. Is that normal or have I screwed up somewhere? I cut the lower bump stop but left the upper so I assumed it would still stop the travel when the suspension unloads. I dunno. Do I need to trim the upper? Or ??????

[swamp rat]

I cant answer your question but keep up the good work!

[Pick]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I cant answer your question but keep up the good work!

Thanks!

After I posted, I did a search here on the board and found my answer. I knew I had to trim the lowers to clear my 15X8 steelies but didn't realize there was a common issue with the uppers when you install some makes of drop spindles. So I guess I will be trimming the uppers a little bit to clear.

That being said, if anyone see's a glaring error in the pics, or you know of another common error I may have missed, please let me know! I'm always open to having another set of eyeballs look over my work!

[mcbassin]

Very cool old Chevy you have there. I had the same problem with my lower control arm when I tried to put my rallies on my chassis. I still have to go back and trim the spindle a little too if I remember right. LINK HERE
Is this what you are talking about?

[Pick]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very cool old Chevy you have there. I had the same problem with my lower control arm when I tried to put my rallies on my chassis. I still have to go back and trim the spindle a little too if I remember right. LINK HERE
Is this what you are talking about?

First of all, THANKS! I clearanced my lowers by removing the lower bump stop and trimming the outer "flange" out near the lower ball joint. (you can barely see it in the picture.) If you zoom in to the upper control arm/ball joint and spindle area on the picture, you can see that the outer lip of the upper a-arm is touching the top of the spindle.

[Pick]

I haven't made much visual progress lately. The daylight savings time change doesn't leave me much daylight after work to get much accomplished. Oh well, I guess that is part of the "fun" of a build in the driveway.

Since I am at a temporary hold in the front end, I moved to the rear and started disassembly. About all I got done was to pull the tires and brakes. Since we have "before" pictures of the front, I might as well include the same for the rear.

[swamp rat]

Keep at it, daylight savings time bites... maybe get a good set of halide lights from Harbor freight?

[jlsanborn]

I can tell ya, I had plenty of minor clearance issues with my drop spindles and 15" wheels. Little here, little there but nothing really significant. Once I was done I did the LCA relocate mod and got to do it all over again. I think I'm all clear now but will likely go back an touch it all again for added clearance.
Truck is looking great! Keep at it!

[Pick]

I had another pretty productive Monday. I stuck the front wheels back on so I could move the jackstands and started tearing stuff up out back. Literally. I broke 3 out of the 4 rear spring retainer bolts trying to get them apart. And yes, I really was turning them the right way....righty tighty lefty loosy......

Anyway, the rear end is just resting there....still stuck and held in by rust and dirt. The u-bolts are lose and the only bolts left are the two holding the control arms to the crossmember. I'm not looking forward to breaking those loose.....or just breaking them.

Pictures of today's progress.....and carnage.....

[jlsanborn]

Have you got a torch at the house? I can see you used some penetrating oil but HEAT is where it's at. I think I would have just cut them ones out but if you want to try and turn them crusty ones break out the fire. Even a MAP gas propane torch will do the trick on smaller stuff.
Great to see more progress here! I bet it'll drive like a new truck in comparison to what it was. How'd the tie-rod sleeves you built work out? If you could makem on the side, I bet you could upgrade your account and make a few scheckles round here on the side!

[Pick]

I do have propane....and could borrow oxy-acetylene from next door if push came to shove. In this case I just slid a cheater over the breaker bar handle and pulled. :-) They obviously needed replaced anyway.

I did finally get the adjusters to work more like I wanted...thanks to a tip from Vic......getting long mating threads to play well isn't always easy. The only trouble with making them for others is that I have to use a lathe at work and they don't generally like us doing g-jobs for profit. We have to be careful about our own g-jobs.

I'll get pics of the tie rods and adjusters tomorrow if I get a chance. I haven't put the steering linkage back together yet because I haven't finished trimming the upper a-arms yet. Fortunately, it looks like the lowers were clearanced enough....I think anyway.

[mcbassin]

Looks like some good progress. You should soak the trailing arm bolts in WD-40 or similar for a few days if you have time to wait. It worked good for me once I used a cheater pipe and a breaker bar to jar them loose. Of course a torch would make it easier. (I don't have one either).

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Pick

I do have propane....and could borrow oxy-acetylene from next door if push came to shove. In this case I just slid a cheater over the breaker bar handle and pulled. :-) They obviously needed replaced anyway.

I did finally get the adjusters to work more like I wanted...thanks to a tip from Vic......getting long mating threads to play well isn't always easy. The only trouble with making them for others is that I have to use a lathe at work and they don't generally like us doing g-jobs for profit. We have to be careful about our own g-jobs.

I'll get pics of the tie rods and adjusters tomorrow if I get a chance. I haven't put the steering linkage back together yet because I haven't finished trimming the upper a-arms yet. Fortunately, it looks like the lowers were clearanced enough....I think anyway.

Might wanna coat the threads with anti seize before assembling

[Pick]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Looks like some good progress. You should soak the trailing arm bolts in WD-40 or similar for a few days if you have time to wait. It worked good for me once I used a cheater pipe and a breaker bar to jar them loose. Of course a torch would make it easier. (I don't have one either).

I'm going to grab some AeroKroil to soak the trailing arm bolts with tonight. I won't be able to work on it again 'til Thursday, so that will give them some time to soak.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Might wanna coat the threads with anti seize before assembling

Good plan! I really don't want this many aches and pains if I ever have to undo or redo any of this stuff! After fighting with all of those really tight and really rusty bolts yesterday, my body really isn't happy with me this morning.

[Pick]

Here is the basic steering linkage mocked up on the floor. I made the adjusters from 7/8 cold-rolled steel hex stock and used jam nuts from Speedway Motors.

I think it gave me the look and function I was going for.

[jlsanborn]

Looks great! So one end of them is a lefty. You have that tap at work or did you have to pony up for that?

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Pick

Good plan! I really don't want this many aches and pains if I ever have to undo or redo any of this stuff! After fighting with all of those really tight and really rusty bolts yesterday, my body really isn't happy with me this morning.

You should have seen what i had to do to get my tie rod ends out on my K20...

[Pick]

Yep, one end of each is a lefty. I was shocked to find that we had brand new 5/8-18 LH and RH taps in the tool room so I didn't have to pony up for those. I really have no idea why we had em but I'm not complaining!

[Pick]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

You should have seen what i had to do to get my tie rod ends out on my K20...

I can imagine! I had to borrow a bigger BFH and swing it like a baseball bat to get my tie rods and ball joints to finally pop loose. You really really don't want to miss when you're swinging like that.

So what did you have to do to finally get em out?

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Pick

Yep, one end of each is a lefty. I was shocked to find that we had brand new 5/8-18 LH and RH taps in the tool room so I didn't have to pony up for those. I really have no idea why we had em but I'm not complaining!

Nice. I love fringe benefits. I make all of my own custom parts too.
Are you a machinist?

[Pick]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Nice. I love fringe benefits. I make all of my own custom parts too.
Are you a machinist?

Yes, but what I run doesn't lend itself to custom parts, unfortunately. I grind blade tips on jet engine compressors and turbines these days. It is pretty neat, I guess, but it doesn't allow me to do as much "fun" machining as I'd like.

The machine spins up the rotor to "sling" the blades into position and then the grinding wheel grinds the tips while a laser measures each tip as it spins.

Mostly, I set it up, indicate it, and sit at the desk and watch the screens. One is the machine controller, one is the laser readout, one is a video feed of the wheel against he tips.....and the other is for e-mail and checking in here.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Pick

Yes, but what I run doesn't lend itself to custom parts, unfortunately. I grind blade tips on jet engine compressors and turbines these days. It is pretty neat, I guess, but it doesn't allow me to do as much "fun" machining as I'd like.

The machine spins up the rotor to "sling" the blades into position and then the grinding wheel grinds the tips while a laser measures each tip as it spins.

Mostly, I set it up, indicate it, and sit at the desk and watch the screens. One is the machine controller, one is the laser readout, one is a video feed of the wheel against he tips.....and the other is for e-mail and checking in here.

Very cool job! Awesome looking machinery too. I don't work on engine components but I am in areospace manufacturing. Mostly just manage and program now but I used to crank handles on manuals at one time. I have some pretty cool equipment in my shop at work too.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Pick

So what did you have to do to finally get em out?

Just click on my build link in my sig and scroll to post #12, then i think a couple more posts after that..

[Pick]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Very cool job! Awesome looking machinery too. I don't work on engine components but I am in areospace manufacturing. Mostly just manage and program now but I used to crank handles on manuals at one time. I have some pretty cool equipment in my shop at work too.

It is a cool job most days! (now)

Up until a little over a year ago, my job for the past 10 years had been primarily fixing broken stuff or mechanic's mistakes: removing broken bolts, broken taps, stuck parts, broken/stripped borescope plugs, heli-coils, etc. but I got tired of standing on my head or hanging off of a ladder trying to cut a stuck inconel bolt out of a $250,000.00 engine case with a pencil grinder and a dental burr.....without dropping anything inside the engine that would require a tear-down and without touching anything except the offending bolt......while someone else told me that they NEEDED the engine done yesterday and that I should hurry every chance I got. (seriously!) That got to be no fun anymore.

Some days I miss just cranking handles.....

[Low Elco]

Wow! I did aerospace stuff but nothin' like that! Old School Trick: Get the bolts good and hot, the take just a plain ol' kids birthday candle and jam it into the threads and watch it wick it up like solder. Then take 'em apart. The liquid wax penetrates, then lubricates. Works like a bandit. I liked the Front end work description, my favorite suspension work tool is a 12# sledge head on a standard hammer handle. Is it sad when you ask for the BFH, your kids know exactly which one to grab?