Quote:
Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY
Great find!!!! Wish I had one that nice!  Burn those ol tires till they blow! LOL!! |
Thanks TJ. I love those straight 6s like you are working on. If my 63 Nova convertible still had the 6 in it I would just leave it.
If that ol' V6 will roast the 16.5"s then that is exactly what I will do after I get some late model 16" Econoline wheels for it. They don't have the nubs for the later style caps but they don't come with the clips either so I will need to drill them when they get here.
The caps aren't in horrible condition but they could be better.
That spare tire might be older than me.
The caps have a steel ring built into them that is in the way of trying to straighten them.
It seems like the edges could be pryed up all the way around to remove the ring but I'm not sure if I should try it? Maybe I will buy a really bad one for cheap so I can experiment?
I noticed that this truck rides pretty good for a 3/4 ton up to a point. Then it rides like a dump truck. I looked underneath and suddenly saw why...
Quarter elliptic helper springs. This truck did have a camper on it most of it's life. It rode on the coil springs until the suspension compressed about 2 inches, then the rubber pad on the end of the helper touched down and things got firm fast!
Next I need to dig into my box of shocks and see if I have anything that will work on the back of this beast. I also have some stock TJ springs, JK springs, and some half ton Chevy springs to experiment with to make it sit a little lower. I also need to figure out how to lower the torsion bar front also. I don't want it in the weeds, just a little closer to the ground and a little less of a rake. It's days of working hard are over. It will tow my Nova occasionally and possibly flat tow the Jeep and a couple dirt bikes but no more campers and boats.
Speaking of lighter duty, the Hydromatic is a pretty tough tranny but it doesn't have a torque converter so the rear end gears are pretty deep.
Since it's a good ol' DANA 60 my best friend and diff building genius might have something laying around for me in the 3 and a half to 1 range. He builds diffs, trans, and V drives for high end off road racing and the Ultra 4 buggies for King of the Hammers and his shop is like a hospital.. so I gotta get it clean clean clean if I'm bringing it over there!
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