1986 Chevy C10 SWB Step Side

[aotte1]

Right side cab corner.

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Front fender ready for sealer and primer

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The inside of the step treated with ceramic coating as corrosion protection.

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Another picture of step treated.

[aotte1]

While waiting for the truck to be painted, started working on the wood for the bed and rebuilding a replacement front suspension. So far have cleaned and painted the front cross member. Trying to see if I can remove the springs, with the cross member not being in truck. My K&D spring compressor won't fit through lower control arm hole.
Les

[aotte1]

Picture of replacement front suspension being worked on.

[aotte1]

Today disassembled the front suspension some more, got the upper ball joints loose easily. Loosened the nut a couple of turns, then used the five pound hammer, hitting side of spindle a couple of times and it came loose. The lower ball joints are not loose yet, tried with air hammer- fork not thick enough, need a bigger fork and big sledge. Want to get lower ball joints loose before taking out springs. The rest of the steering linkage came loose easily with the air hammer. The tools used are shown in a picture below.

[aotte1]

Closer look at spindle

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Parts removed and tools, need to look at bearing closer but they look original.

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The crossmember and suspension stuff still attached

[aotte1]

Today continued working on the front suspension. Removed the front spring by method suggested by another member. It worked well. I used three ratchet straps to remove the first spring. Used three straps for safety, not knowing how this was going to proceed when I removed the upper ball joint nut. The first strap went through the center hole of the bottom control arm, then up and out through an upper coil of the spring. The strap was warped in this way three times around before it was tighten to its max. The second strap was warped around both the upper and lower control arm twice before before tighten to the max. For the first spring removal I used a third strap, not having removed one of these springs before. For the second spring only used the two yellow straps.
The first strap.

[aotte1]

The second strap added.

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I released the second strap after removing upper ball joint nut. This released some of the compression in the spring, which was taken up by the first strap. Then I released the first strap and the three rounds of wrap slowly released the rest of the compression in the spring.
Picture of tools used.

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Second try on picture.

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Picture of control arms ready to be removed. Researching how to remove lower control arms and reinstall them in same position before I remove them.

[Tx Firefighter]

You can't screw up the lower control arms. There is a dimple and nub arrangement.

The control arm shaft has a dimple. The crossmember has the nub. Insert them together and install the u bolts.

[aotte1]

Kevin,
Thanks for the help with the lower control arm. Today worked on taking suspension further apart for rebuilding. It came apart pretty easy. Used impact to remove both upper and lower control arms. Then used air hammer with chisel attachment to remove the bushing. Placed the chisel on the flange of the bushing and the vibration removes it. At first it opens up a gap, and then you can push the chisel down to the bushing cylinder with it operating. Next put pressure on the bushing cylinder at the flange in a motion that causes it to be removed from the vibration. Some come out easy and others take more effort. On each of the bottom shafts one of the bushing came loose from the control arm attached to the shaft. I used a cutting wheel to remove these bushing from the shaft ( the outer most sleeve and rubber ) along with a chisel and hammer on the inner most sleeve after notching it with the cutting wheel.

Les

[aotte1]

In the picture above you can see the lower shafts with the one bushing attached to each one. This picture shows the tools used to get to this point.

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Removing the bushing from lower control arm shaft. Cutting wheel removing outer sleeve and rubber part.

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Another picture of removing bushing from shaft. This shows the bushing removed in three parts, outer sleeve, rubber with slot cut with cutting wheel, and inner sleeve.

[aotte1]

Picture of the additional tools used to remove bushing on shaft above, The die grinder should be used with the guard! I am putting it back on!!
The lower control arm parts close up.
One additional thing forgot to mention, each of my bushing where they extend beyond the control arm on the inside had two areas where they were bent out to keep them from working out. Before removing I chiseled each area back in make removal easier.

[aotte1]

As part of my rebuild am considering the caster mod suggested by members here. After reading the reference suggested, I measured the available space on the lower control arm for this mod before taking them apart. One side had at least .75", however the other side only had .57". Could gain more length on the short side by removing the bushing that extends past the control arm in that area only.

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A few more pictures of progress on truck painting. The bed is all in primer!

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A few more pictures, the new fenders.

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A few of the small parts.