Dad's Dodge

[makman1297]

Well so much has been going on the truck always goes on the back burner. The charger had a leaking water pump so I swapped that out. It is going to my sister in law later this year. I finally got around to replacing the seat bottom on my suburban.

My alternator bracket came in today, however, it did not have the spacers so I had to make some to align it to the other pulleys. I really don't like the old v-belts too much. I also installed the water pump pulley and fan from the old slant 6.

[makman1297]

A couple more, the difference in the inner wheel bearing. Seat bottom and water pump for a 5.7 hemi.

[Palf70Step]

I am glad I can't find a decent old Dodge shortbed truck, as I would be ripping alll the guts out of my 98 and putting into the older truck. Like your build alot!

[mongocanfly]

,looks like your moving right along..good luck with the paint..!

[makman1297]

Thanks mango. I am moving in June so I need it back together to help move.

[makman1297]

Fitting doors and dr fender. I decided to replace the Lh fender since it had more rust than I though. I had to adjust the dr door repair and aftermarket fender to get the gaps right.

[makman1297]

I had to cut the speaker hole bigger to fit the new speakers too, lol.

[makman1297]

Body work continues.

[makman1297]

And more body work. Also installed the fuel filler and vent tubes.

[mongocanfly]

looking good

[Russell Ashley]

Coming along nicely. Paint looks great. It's a smart move to have the whole family involved.

[Palf70Step]

Truck is coming together very nice! Love the color.

[67C10Step]

Nice. Love the green.

[mongocanfly]

Thanks..!!!

[makman1297]

Thank you Mongo, 18 years and counting. Getting close to retirement.

I have pushed and got a lot of work done, some times I think I rushed in some places and have to pay for that. At the end of the day we learn new skills everything we do something and make a better product the next time.

[makman1297]

The work continues, but my china freight air compressor had a melt down so I had to find something else to finish my painting.

[makman1297]

I also decided to try my hand at pinstriping. Also had to do some spedo work, these old spedos are not so great.

[makman1297]

Front end done and hood aligned as close as it gets. I am thinking the body lines were not as much as a concern back then. I also changed out the water neck to add a thermo valve to control the ported vacuum operating the charcoal canister.

[regan wilson]

That turned out really nice.

[Russell Ashley]

That turned out great, you and your "crew" should be very proud.

[makman1297]

Thanks guys.

I think I found my vibration problem. The tail shaft sits at 5 degree down, the driveshaft is 4 degree down and the rear diff is 5 degree down.

Both ends match, but the problem is the rear pinion is higher than the drive shaft and everything I read says that will cause problems.

I ordered 2.5 degree axle shims to fix the rear and then I will see if I can shim the transmission up 2 degree.

I figured that since I used dodge engine mounts and tranny mounts that I would not have a drive line issue, but I also swapped in a 904 instead of the 727 which is shorter and I replaced the rear springs. All of these accounted for the angle issues.

[mongocanfly]

Love that family pic...truck turned out real nice..!!

Rear 5deg down?..wow..yeah it needs to match the angle of the trans...but opposite..
Trans down...rear up...with equal numbers
The 2.5 axle shims still wont get your diff to a positive angle...it will still be down 2.5deg...
Without moving the trans..say if you left it at 5deg down..then the rear would need to be 5deg up..
Trans -5deg...rear +5deg....when setting up I usually shoot for these angles to be 3deg
You said you replaced the rear springs..could there be a issue there?
Shimming up the trans wont be a issue...
I went back and looked at your spring pics but nothing really stood out...

[67C10Step]

I fought a similar issue on my son's Toyota Tacoma for a while. Toyota flunked drive line 101 because his truck is completely stock and the trans tail shaft was 2 degrees down but the input on the differential was 4.5 degrees up. Got some 2.5 degree shims and it took out 99% of the vibration. Still has just a bit but nothing compared to before.

By the way, I like everything about this truck and build. Love the back glass treatment and color choice.

[makman1297]

67C10Step, thank you.

Miss understanding, so the rear diff is 5 degree up from level. I said down because I was using the down angle for the pinions calculators, all three angles are down from front to rear. The front and rear are both 5 degree, however the pinion is pointed higher than the driveshaft.

I also noticed I have an issue in the leaf springs too, the pass side is about 3/4 higher for some reason. I think the springs are not matched. I will take some more measurements from level to verify, but I can already tell they were not put together the same, the overload is backwards from one side to another.

Perhaps the springs are throwing off my angle.

I told my wife this is the drivability phase where I get to spend money fixing the things that don't work right . At the end of the day I want to cruise with no vibrations.

[makman1297]

I did some tinkering on her today. I put it up on jack stands and leveled it under the front part of the box where the frame is flat. I then pulled the tires so the suspension was able to hand all the way down.

I took several measurements front left and right side to my 8 foot level on the floor. I found about a 1/2 frame discrepancy from side to side. I remembered that I bolted all of the cross members in and loosened up the two rear ones and adjusted the from with a jack. I was able to get it within 1/8 of an inch (until I haul something I guess).

I also made some adjustments to the shackle brackets because they didn't match by about a 1/4 inch. I was able to get them to match as well.

I pulled the leaf springs out since my 3 degree shims came in and measured them, one was about 1/8 taller when unloaded. I also found that the overload was installed backwards on one of the packs. I installed the taller pack on the drivers side. re torqued everything and measured again, pass side is 3/4 taller then the dr side, what the heck!

I figure that maybe the gas tank is on the dr side of the frame and 30 gallons of fuel is about 200lbs. I think I am going to get heavier springs anyways as these ones are better then the original but are pretty soft. I put in 1700 lb ones and I ordered 2500 ones, I will put the higher side on the drivers side to compensate for fuel and driver, lol.

I also installed the 3 degree shims. After torqueing everything down my pinion measured 1 degree nose up (originally measured about 5). I was able to put about 3/4" of shims under the tranny, which measure at 3 degrees tail down (was originally 5 down). Dive shaft is still about 4 degrees down from front to back. I was able to do a short road test and got it up to 70 mph for a few feet, I did not notice any vibrations this time I will road test tomorrow since I have duty anyways.

Not sure the best angles for this stuff as the info on the internet is all about racing, but I gather leaf springs need a little more angle to compensate for all the movement the rear end makes up and down plus torqueing.

I also found some original advertising from 1981, pretty cool as I have never seen most of the options that they offered.