Working Man's Burbon

[richard2717]

Easiest way I have found for removing the bolts is to just drill the heads off and punch them thru. They mostly want to spin and tear up the metal anyway when trying to remove the nuts. I have been able to save a lot of metal repairs to wheel tub flanges and to the front and rear metal connections. It is difficult to get to a few of the spare tire bolt heads but can be done.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by richard2717

Easiest way I have found for removing the bolts is to just drill the heads off and punch them thru. They mostly want to spin and tear up the metal anyway when trying to remove the nuts. I have been able to save a lot of metal repairs to wheel tub flanges and to the front and rear metal connections. It is difficult to get to a few of the spare tire bolt heads but can be done.

Actually I did that on the bolts across the front. Thank you for pointing that out.
The ones on the sides the wood was so degraded that I could pry the head of the bolt up 3/16 to 1/4" and clamp it with the Vice Grip. So I would set five bolts up (Thats how many pairs of Vice Grips I have ) and then jump underneath and twist them or the nut off.

[04ls1gto]

Also helps to get underneath with a wire brush or wheel and clean threads off. Getting plywood out is a multi person job. Do yourself a favor and get some marine grade plywood for the new one

[HO455]

Originally Posted by 04ls1gto

Also helps to get underneath with a wire brush or wheel and clean threads off. Getting plywood out is a multi person job. Do yourself a favor and get some marine grade plywood for the new one

That was part of last months preparations. I gave the bolts a shot of penetrating oil and a week later hit them with a wire wheel and another round of oil. I did a round of oil last Thursday hoping that enough oil would make things just fall off.
I have two sheets of Gator Board I got off Craig's List for the new floor. It is Douglas Fir marine plywood that has a resin non-skid coating on both sides. It is commonly used on docks and ramps.

[HO455]

After removing the air tank and the body mount bolts it was time to get the old wood out. The little piece in front passenger side corner only took a push and it fell right out. Then I screwed two wood blocks to the remaining big piece. (Photo #1). This allowed me to take the persuader and bump the wood towards the passenger side. (Photo #2) It all went fine until I came up against the rear tire. Curse those wide tires. Fortunately I had plenty of travel in the suspension and was able to jack the truck high enough so the plywood would slide over above the tire. Otherwise I would have had to remove the wheel.
The next step was to raise the drivers side up so the piece would then slide out of the back. Those GM engineers didn't leave a lot of extra room to get the floor out. The wood just fits at an angle through the back door/ hatch.
I wonder at what stage in the assembly process the wood was installed at the factory. It is hard to believe there was any cost savings for GM by using wood instead of a metal pan.
OK back on track. I used some wood clamps in the extend configuration (instead of compression) to push the wood upwards on the drivers side. (Photo #3) with them holding the wood I slowly wriggled the piece out the back, resetting the clamps a couple of times as I came out. As 04lsGTO said having friends would have made this much simpler. Finally success (Photo #4).

[Average Joe]

Wow! Nice work and fantastic write up!!! Your abs must have really gotten a work out going back and forth so many times. Very creative idea though fastening the vice grips down.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Wow! Nice work and fantastic write up!!! Your abs must have really gotten a work out going back and forth so many times. Very creative idea though fastening the vice grips down.

Thank you Joe! Its allways go to hear from my southern neighbor.
I have to admit I only got to do the five at a time once. Most of the rest were 2's and 3's. But it still saved wear and tear on the Carharts.

[HO455]

Here are the three under the wood supports. (Photos #1 & #2) Actually the front one isn't really a support but it has the cage nuts for the rear seat and its seat belts. I am guessing that a Burban that came with the third row seat would have a different version of this and possibly one for the third seat too. The seats have been in and out of the WMB so many times over the years all threads in the cage nuts are stripped.
The two 2 bolt hole plates in the back support are where the upper part of the body mount bushings contact.
I failed to get pictures but I was able to get the bolts out of the rear top plate without damaging it. I had to heat them with my Map gas torch and then grab the bolt with a pair if Vice Grips. While wiggling the bolt with a the pliers I tapped the end with a ball pein hammer.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by HO455

I wonder at what stage in the assembly process the wood was installed at the factory. It is hard to believe there was any cost savings for GM by using wood instead of a metal pan.
(Photo #4).

I tend to wonder if it was to help deaden sound since a lot of these did not get any other treatments on top of it.

[HO455]

"Originally Posted by HO455 View Post
I wonder at what stage in the assembly process the wood was installed at the factory. It is hard to believe there was any cost savings for GM by using wood instead of a metal pan.
(Photo #4)."

While under the truck I started thinking that maybe they had to use wood to fulfill a contract obligation to a woodworking union. But sound deading is a good idea. It certainly is loud without any wood. And I haven't even left the driveway.

[Average Joe]

Truckin' right along!

[CG]

This thread is one of the reasons that I sometimes think it would be better to have all of our trucks grouped in one area instead of split up. Sure there is some burb specific stuff you are doing, but overall this is just a really good build thread with a ton of great ideas and fixes. Things that everyone, no matter what they are building would benefit from.

Blazers was an area I seldom looked at until I picked up a SWB K10 truck project. My thinking was they would have a similar overall look because the wheel base was so close. There was so much stuff there that pertains to all of our trucks, I wish I would have dug in earlier

Thanks for a very good build thread. You are doing a great job!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by CG

This thread is one of the reasons that I sometimes think it would be better to have all of our trucks grouped in one area instead of split up. Sure there is some burb specific stuff you are doing, but overall this is just a really good build thread with a ton of great ideas and fixes. Things that everyone, no matter what they are building would benefit from.

Blazers was an area I seldom looked at until I picked up a SWB K10 truck project. My thinking was they would have a similar overall look because the wheel base was so close. There was so much stuff there that pertains to all of our trucks, I wish I would have dug in earlier

Thanks for a very good build thread. You are doing a great job!

Thank you very much.

[richard2717]

If it had 3rd row seating this is what the underbody support would look like. It is the same as the one on the Blazers


.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by richard2717

If it had 3rd row seating this is what the underbody support would look like. It is the same as the one on the Blazers


.

I assume it would be somewhere in the area of the rear axle?

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by HO455

I assume it would be somewhere in the area of the rear axle?

yes it falls in directly behind the other cross member
it is in the far left of this pic, not what i am pointing at

.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by richard2717

yes it falls in directly behind the other cross member
it is in the far left of this pic, not what i am pointing at

.

That makes sense. The support piece just aft of that one is different than mine is. Mine is flipped over with the flange edges down instead of up. Are other ones the same? I'm assuming your pointing at a seat belt attachment point.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by HO455

That makes sense. The support piece just aft of that one is different than mine is. Mine is flipped over with the flange edges down instead of up. Are other ones the same? I'm assuming your pointing at a seat belt attachment point.

I have not had the opportunity to dismantle any 67' burbs so yours might be different but all of the 68-72 ones I have dismantled have been the same style I have shown. Here are a couple more pics. The far forward one you have for the middle seat is actually welded to the step down on the ones I have pulled.

.

[HO455]

After a relaxing afternoon wire wheeling the surfaces the wood bolts to I have a clear picture of the rust that is living in the WMB. The photos pretty much speak for themselves. I need to come up with a plan to deal with this.
One of these is not like the others. (Photo #3) PO fabricated mount for the rear paneling. (Photo #4). It doesn't look as if my Burban left the factory with the rear side panels as none of the paneling mounts/brackets match the trucks paint color. Or maybe someone wanted more noise and removed them.
In addition to the new track bar (It's a Super one!). I want to relocate the shocks to a more vertical position. This will require removing the factory mounts that are riveted to the cross member. First step for me is hitting the rivets with a disk grinder to make a flat spot so I can center punch a countersink for the pilot drill. This keeps the bit on center so I don't damage the hole. After the pilot (1/8") was drilled I used two step up bits (1/4" and 7/16") to drill the heads of the rivet down to the level of the cross member. Then a punch with a good hammer drives the rivet out without damage to the holes. I should mention I like to drill the pilot hole down past the bottom of the cross member. I feel this allows the rivet to collapse some as I drive it out. (Last photo). I didn't use the big chisel shown in the photo. I just like showing my big chisel off.

[HO455]

Last winter I made these shock mounts to relocate the shocks. (Photo #1)
I would like to thank member Lakeroadster for the thread on them.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=451200

They are not done yet. (No holes) When I mocked them up and I found that the notch where the shock mounting ring goes needs to be deeper to maintain clearance between the shock and the axle. I will lose a bit of vertical but it's better than having to dent the shock to install it.
One of the benefits of the air ride suspension is it is very easy to travel the suspension to check these things out. During the clearance checks with the bags aired out I measured from the lower shock bolt to where the new upper mount hole will be to get compressed shock length. The stock shocks are to long. My new measurement is 12.25 inches. I believe the factory shocks are 14 inches.
After several hours of research I have located what I think will be a good replacement shock. 1963 through 1973 Jeep Wagoner rear shocks are 11.25 compressed and 17.75 extended. Plus they are from a comparable vehicle. That would give me one inch of room for the bumpstop to compress before the shock bottomed out internally. Peace of mind for me as I'm pretty sure that once the wood and the second row seats and the spare tire are installed the bumpstop will compress more than it did today.
Jeep CJ5's and 7's front shocks would be a slightly longer shock with a 11.6 compressed and 18.1 extended length, but they would be valved for the heavier front end. They maybe a good choice if I find the Wagoner shocks to soft.
As a side note there are some differences in shock lengths for specific vehicle applications between different manufacturers. Especially in the aftermarket upgrade shocks. Rancho shocks in particular I found have compressed lengths that are longer by at least an inch than what the OE shocks are listed as.
As much as I would like to bolt the shocks in from above before the floor gets installed it is probably a good idea to wait and see what the compressed height will be with everything installed. At this point in life I'm pretty much out of coupons.

[HO455]

I got the upper shock mounts finished today. In order to keep the shock from hitting the axle at maximum extension I had to deepen the notch a lot more than I expected to. (Photo #1) It was about an additional 1/2" to make sure there would be no problems down the road.
With the notches finished I drilled the mounting holes and bolted the mounts to the cross member so I could then determine where to drill the holes for the shock bolt.
This involved mocking up the shock in postion. To make sure I had enough clearance between the axle and shock body I put a 3/16" magnet on the side of the shock for a spacer. (Photo #2 at end of green line.) (The photo shows the magnet not perfectly centered which is a result of the photo I took during the actual process was too blurry to use, so I when I went back to get another photo I was too concerned about trying to get a clear photo I didn't notice the magnet was off center until now. Dhoo!)
I made a black mark on the white shock bumper disk to represent the center of the hole in the shock's bushing. (Photo #3) Once everything looked to be in the correct position I made the silver mark on the mount to represent the center line of the shock bolt. (Photo #3 again)
Then it was unbolt the mounts and clamp them in the drill vice. I used a washer of the same diameter of the rubber bushing in the shock. I put the very bottom edge of the bushing even with the mount and then laid the washer on the mount to mimic the bushing's position. With the hole in the washer centered on the silver mark. (Photo #4) A small magnet held the washer in place while I marked the hole. Then it was center punch the hole and drill a pilot hole and then a 1/2" hole in both sides from the one pilot hole. (I Cheated and used a drill press.)
The last photo shows the difference in the two mounting locations.

[HO455]

During the breaks in the rain I got parts cleaned up and some of them painted. And I finished up the bolts for the back angle piece when it was raining. (If you're watching Richard I should get them shipped tomorrow.) I dropped the back angle piece at a sheet metal shop to have them bend me up some so I can try to replicate my rusty one. I was hoping they could do the countersunk spots (Photo#2) but was told they couldn't. Looks like it will turn into another project of it's own.

I picked up new fasteners at Winks Hardware. I didn't think I would have any luck finding the little inserts with the points to catch the wood and a square hole for the carriage bolts. They are used for the bolts going through the 3 support pieces. (Photo #3 shows the originals and photo #4 shows the new one with an old one for comparison. They did have some but they are definitely larger. Which will mean drilling a larger hole. I will try to reuse as many of the old ones as possible but, I think about 1/3 of them are too rusted.
I also noticed a discrepancy in my bolt count. I believe that said there were 11 of the wide headed carriage bolts (bolt #1 in the photo). But having looked at things closer I believe there should be 12 of them. The bolt in question was in a particularly rotten spot and the head looked smaller due to it wasting away from rust. I will edit the earlier post if it will let me.

[HO455]

I spent several hours today making a pair of dies to countersink the holes in my new rear angle. I think the photos are pretty self explanatory. Basically a male and a female with a dowel pin to guide them. The idea is to drill a hole in the angle and then put the angle between the dies and them force them together with a press. I did get 2 spare angles made just in case things don't work as expected.

[LockDoc]

-
Good deal! Looks good. Let us know how it works for you.

LockDoc

[HO455]

The first test of the die set revealed a problem. The top side was great (Photo #1) but the bottom was not correct. I used a 1/4" hole for my pilot which was too large. When the metal is deformed it stretches the hole and makes it larger. This in turn reduced the amount of material to make the square hole the correct size. (Photo #2). Basically I was able to push the bolt in with my thumb. Admittedly I used a thinner piece of stock than the actual material for the truck, but it was handy and as a proof of theory it did the job.
The cure was to make a pair of bushings and use a 3/16" pilot. I found some large 1/4" pop rivets removed the center pin, head on the end and cut them to length. Then drilled them to 3/16" on the lathe (To make sure the hole was centered) and I was ready for the second test run.
It was a success! I found a piece of a fender off a 90's Buick I scrapped that is near the same size as the angle. The jack on my "Toys are Us" press doesn't even start to work and the countersink is made. The photos show it all.
Some notes are I had to make sure the pilot holes in the stock were deburred completely or things don't work properly. And I used some anti-seize on the dies to allow the metal to slide easily.
The next step will be to file the holes square. I don't have a square file anywhere near the size I need so that will have to wait until tomorrow.