Restoring Rusty

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

size does matter, here's wishing this thing was three inches shorter

That's what she said.

I felt the same way when I first got my truck five years ago, but haven't felt that way in years. It was a different driving style then, not just in our trucks. You can hang your arm on the window sill (now they are all up to your ears) and steer with two fingers on the highway. You can palm the wheel around the corners in town. You can have your right hand in your lap on the highway and steer with your fingers from there.

The whole European style, rack and pinion, small wheel, high steering effort, hands at 10 and 2 driving style requires the wheel to be further out in front of you so you can get some leverage on it, and you need most of your arm length just to reach them. The car mags all thought this was great when they took the cars to the track, and that's what I preferred on autocross courses 35-40 years ago myself.

But I used to do a lot of cross-country driving in domestic cars in the 1970s, and I think the common driving position then was much easier and less fatiguing for off-track driving.

[greg64]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

That's what she said.

I felt the same way when I first got my truck five years ago, but haven't felt that way in years. It was a different driving style then, not just in our trucks. You can hang your arm on the window sill (now they are all up to your ears) and steer with two fingers on the highway. You can palm the wheel around the corners in town. You can have your right hand in your lap on the highway and steer with your fingers from there.

The whole European style, rack and pinion, small wheel, high steering effort, hands at 10 and 2 driving style requires the wheel to be further out in front of you so you can get some leverage on it, and you need most of your arm length just to reach them. The car mags all thought this was great when they took the cars to the track, and that's what I preferred on autocross courses 35-40 years ago myself.

But I used to do a lot of cross-country driving in domestic cars in the 1970s, and I think the common driving position then was much easier and less fatiguing for off-track driving.

I'm with you guys on new car/truck style, or the lack of it. Good aerodynamics have been the death of style. Plus people wanted their cars quieter, and that's pretty hard to achieve with style (air buffeting sound).

And I'll also agree that the 70s driving position was more comfortable. I've driven my truck across Canada about 6 times now. That's about 36,000 miles. It's really comfortable, just noisy. The only real problem is the self-retracting seat belts, but I have a bandaid for that.

But about the steering wheel position, I think most race cars are setup with the wheel close to the driver's chest to *increase* their steering strength. Just look at nascar cars. I think the wheels were moved away from the drivers as soon as air bags came on the scene. My guess is the manufacturers are worried about the injuries that might be caused by having the steering wheel too close to the person's chest when it deploys.

[enaberif]

Christ at the point you have that steering column I'd be ripping it out and shortening it the 3" you need lol.

[rusty76]

I drive a toaster everyday to work. It only does lightly toasted to burnt and that's it. It has AC, Power steering and a radio. That's it. No fancy power windows that mess up later in life or those doomaflogees that tell you when you are close to somebody. It don't even have carpet, lol. No extended cab or crew cab either. So basic Terminex probably thinks it's one of their trucks......

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

So basic Terminex probably thinks it's one of their trucks......

Best line eva!!!

[Gregski]

So got the steering column back together and now we can get back to business

[Gregski]

I just had to get the truck out of the garage and snap some pics of the newly painted hood, not bad I think

[motornut]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I just had to get the truck out of the garage and snap some pics of the newly painted hood, not bad I think

yup,looks good

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by motornut

yup,looks good

thank you

[rgunlock]

All seem like do-able goals for a month! Truck is coming right along and looking good.

[Titomars]

Like night and day, Gregski. Keep up the awesome work.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I just had to get the truck out of the garage and snap some pics of the newly painted hood, not bad I think

You've really turned the corner, that pic made me go back and check it against page one. Looks great.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

You've really turned the corner, that pic made me go back and check it against page one. Looks great.

thank you so much I didn't even think of going that far back, LOL that's a good idea, a little comparison never hurt nobody

[Gregski]

and here's another look at then and now

Note: the crinkle in the front bumper is from using a yellow tow strap to pull the truck home one night when it wouldn't start, nothing a 2x4 and a floor jack won't bend back out

My registration may be coming up here soon, so who here thinks I should punt on the rusty old blue license plates and get shinny brand new white ones?

[Gregski]

ok so the goal for this month is to actually fix some things before doing any more cosmetic stuff ie painting or fun stuff ie lowering the truck, so here is our short to do list:

1. fix rear brakes (see sister thread Tires Squel When I Brake - Why?)

2. replace or fix left headlight

3. fix left rear turn signal

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering

6. fix hazard signals

7. get the AM radio working (yeah baby AM mono!)

[LSX408]

Looking good!

[Gregski]

1. fix rear brakes - DONE

2. replace or fix left headlight - DONE

3. fix left rear turn signal

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering

6. fix hazard signals

7. get the AM radio working

8. fix reverse lights

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Gregski

1. fix rear brakes - DONE

2. replace or fix left headlight - DONE

3. fix left rear turn signal

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering

6. fix hazard signals

7. get the AM radio working

8. fix reverse lights

Well you have a short list LOL. Wish mine was that short.

[Gregski]

1. fix rear brakes - DONE

2. replace or fix left headlight - DONE

3. fix left rear turn signal

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering

6. fix hazard signals - DONE

7. get the AM radio working

8. fix reverse lights - DONE

[Gregski]

1. fix rear brakes - DONE

2. replace or fix left headlight - DONE

3. fix left rear turn signal - DONE

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering - DONE

6. fix hazard signals - DONE

7. get the AM radio working

8. fix reverse lights - DONE

[Gregski]

so got the ball rolling with all new rear brake components, drums, shoes, and hardware from PepBoys, went there to have my old drums turned and it turned out there was not enough meat on them so had to get new ones

the ProStop hardware kit did not include all of the replacement springs, not end of the world, but a bit disappointing (three springs are not included for each side)

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by Gregski

so got the ball rolling with all new rear brake components, drums, shoes, and hardware from PepBoys, went there to have my old drums turned and it turned out there was not enough meat on them so had to get new ones

the ProStop hardware kit did not include all of the replacement springs, not end of the world, but a bit disappointing (three springs are not included for each side)

Thats because there are 2 kits needed. The shoe return kits you have and there is the self-adjuster kit.

[Gregski]

as always we clean the old parts before re using them, and there is a good reason for that, keep scrolling (LOL)

one side still dirty, the other already cleaned

[Gregski]

by cleaning the old parts we can see markings on them, sometimes those markings are part numbers sometimes they are clues for which side of the vehicle the part goes on, Right or Left for example

in this case we see two parts below both from the Driver's side yet one is marked "R" whilst the other bears an "L"

in this case the first part which I dubbed the Dog Bone (LOL) is on the wrong side, someone swapped these two parts and put them on the wrong side

[jgorzitza]

Originally Posted by Gregski

by cleaning the old parts we can see markings on them, sometimes those markings are part numbers sometimes they are clues for which side of the vehicle the part goes on, Right or Left for example

in this case we see two parts below both from the Driver's side yet one is marked "R" whilst the other bears an "L"

in this case the first part which I dubbed the Dog Bone (LOL) is on the wrong side, someone swapped these two parts and put them on the wrong side

I'm pretty sure that dog bone is interchangeable, at least based on all the research I did. After market replacement only has one sku for both (and it was hard to find somebody who actually sold it)