Another day that proved to end very differently to the way I would have planned it to......
As this build has unfolded, I have found more and more damage, bodges and general wear and tear that needed to be addressed.
A lot of it was and is safety paramount, things like brakes, suspension etc.
I decided to replace all the front ball joints, steering parts etc with completely new parts some time ago, so ordered a rebuild kit as advised by Ian Brown who had used one for his Tennessee Honey truck.
So today I managed to persuade (asked nicely) mate Martin to come over and help, and supervise the replacement process. Thinking we would be done before dark.
Yeeeeaaahhhhh Riiiiighht.
Started by disassembling the Wishbones, suspension and steering.
The sort of chaos that gives me a massive headache.
Drivers side hub and ball joints were a problem when I lowered the front end, after a load of bashing, it still did not relinquish its hold.
Ended up cutting the two bolts' heads off to get the nuts off. They were replaced by parts from the hub Ian had given me.
Also decided to buy a full front bearing replacement kit while at LMC or similar. As the bearings are an unknown, and could be as old as the truck @ 50 years.
Drivers side wishbone or A-Arm was obviously in a hard impact somewhere in the past, thankfully Ian had a spare that he donated a few months ago, along with the front hubs he removed when doing his dropped spindle rebuild.
Note the buckled metal and displaced end cap.
This was just as it was unbolted from the truck, surprisingly it tracked just fine and you could not feel anything untoward when driving at motorway speeds.
When we removed to upper cross arms, the passenger side had the same 3 shims per fixing, but the drivers side had double up front and one extra on the rear mounting.
Also realised the brakes were not good, so new parts will be bought when in the USA during October, best to replace these parts, than to paint and doll the truck up, and then putting it sideways into a Honda or some builders van at speed because the brakes failed.
Where does the water come from?
Previously ignored them, but my front hubs (possibly the rears too) have these springs wound around them.
Any idea why they are there, and can I remove them without expecting a blow up?
I want to remove them as they seem to serve no purpose, so that I can clean up and paint the hubs.
Thanks again as always for your help and knowledge.
At this point I needed a strong coffee.
Martin did not need to convince me very much to drop the front cross member, so that was a quick 7 bolts if I recall correctly.
Of course with the front subframe removed, I can clean it up better and paint it up properly. Also under the frame and unfolded the cab.
One of those tools you rarely use, came to its own today...... Punching and marking certain parts that will be cleaned and painted so that reassembly will be a bit easier.
Wishbone stripping prior to cleanup.
Truck as I left it tonight......
