Discussing Obsolete parts

[longhorn70gmc]

Hello all,
I have just spent three long weeks looking for a part for our trucks that is not manufactured anymore. It is the front Hubs for a 1970 Chevrolet, Custom Ten, Half Ton. I asked One of our Board Leaders where would be a good place to post my story so you could know how hard it is to replace such an item. He told me the 67-72 forum so here it is. I welcome all comments and questions. I want to here what you all think of hard to find parts. Trust me, after I buy one major part from a fellow board member here soon that has been very patient and understanding I am turning myself blue so I can ask about parts on here. Here is my story.

About a month ago I was driving around my 1970 Chevy Half Ton, 2wd and started to here a grinding sound and a swoosh sound as I drove. During investigation I discovered my dust cover on the passenger front came off and was rotating around in the hubcap. I finally got down to removing the six-lug hub and removed the dust cover on the back of the hub and then removed the bearing with race. Then I turned it over and removed the front bearing and as I was working the race I noticed it was really free floating around and wasn’t coming out. Finally I had to cut the race out of the Hub. Upon doing so I discovered how bad the race ate into the hub. I had only bought this truck a year ago and the hub bearing looked good at that time. My Hub was shot and it was bound for the trash.
For the last three weeks I have gone to every parts store in our town, NAPA, AUTO ZONE, CAR QUEST and KRAGEN. Each and every one of these places checked their computers and old books for a source to get a new one. One Lady even went home and looked through an old obsolete parts book and said it was not available. The guy at Car Quest said about two years ago they had plenty. I was told to try the Chevy Dealer, I am wiser then that and know they don’t stock parts for a 37 year old Chevy Truck. Learned that lesson already. I went to the Internet and tried EBAY. Found nothing on there. Checked junkyard sites and parts locators and got one hit. Problem with this was I was not comfortable buying a part I haven’t looked at in used condition so that was back burner fall back just in case. Out of the Internet that was the only person that contacted me and they were from Phoenix Arizona. This showed me hope to keep looking. I made my rounds talking to fellow truck owners and nothing. All of these old 67-72 trucks around here and nothing. Next were the junkyards; three of them had no trucks in there yards from 67 through 72. One junkyard that I frequent had an old decrepit junk man fill in because the regular owner was on vacation. He moved as slow as it gets just to look in a book for me. I told him four times he has several of these trucks but told me he didn’t, so I left. I waited again for a couple days and started calling around California, so I could drive and go get one here close. I have lived here for two years and found out there were more junkyards 57 miles away. That shocked me because I normally know where the Yards are. I headed out there and verbally got attacked buy some old 75 year old. This guy lived out in Trona California and it was 115 degrees out there in his yard. He had a GM section and as I was looking I discovered the familiar looking drum for the break and I figured it matched. After removing the drum and Hub I discovered the Hub looked a little different but it seemed to be the right fit. The old man told me to name my price so I paid him 30 bucks for the drum, Hub and two hubcaps. I am a Hubcap freak so every cap I come across for our trucks I buy it. Went to install the Hub on the truck when I got home and discovered the spindle was too large. That meant the Hub was for an older GM truck. I am guessing a 1960 thru 1966. The spindles were smaller in diameter during those years. Now I am stuck with a very nice older setup. I went back and looked through all my Vender magazines and parts books and all they offered was conversions to up grade to a 5-lug disc set up. I am Mr. Original, so I didn’t go that rout. This whole time I had TEEITUP, (Randy) on the back burner to ask but that was because I knew shipping was going to be hefty. Hubs are heavy. Finally the other day I was just out driving and found this old parts yard that I always thought was junk and to my surprise there was a 1970 Chevy sitting in there. He also had a 1974 Hub sitting there for me to see. It looked exactly like the 70 Hub but the Lug bolts were wider in diameter and I wasn’t chancing it. We pulled the drum and Hub from the 70 pick up and it set me back 45 dollars. He told me that if it didn’t work he would honor a swap out or my money back. I got it home and tried it out for fit and it was perfect. I installed new packed bearings and rear dust cover and on it went. My truck moves so nice and smooth now. My wheels look great on it too.
It seems everyday we get closer to some part that is not manufactured anymore for our trucks. I can honestly say that Hubs for our year trucks should go on that list. My question is for everyone is: Do we have a hard to find or obsolete parts listing for everyone to share on here?

I can only imagine what all of you have gone though to find a part for our trucks that is not manufactured anymore. In the case of a six lug hub maybe this is why I see allot of people doing upgrades. Thanks everyone for your ear and taking the time to share this with me. What kinds of parts for our trucks are coming up hard to find or are just not made anymore?
Sincerely
Billy
Longhorn70GMC