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Old 08-08-2007, 11:56 PM   #1
longhorn70gmc
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Discussing Obsolete parts

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
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Old 08-09-2007, 01:21 AM   #2
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

As I see it, d9sc brakes became an option on most American cars between 67 and 69. by 1973, no passenger vehicle was available with drums on the front.
Why? because drums suck.

So when I have a car with drum brakes, points ignition, generator or external regulated alternator that has a problem, I waste 0 time on diagnosis, and install the more modern system. As a result, my 60's rides drive as well as a car from the 70's! Alas if I ever make it to a concourse show, I'm doomed.
IMHO Reliability and Safety are worth the penalty in Originality.

It may seem wrong, but your bearing in the wasted hub was probably fine to reuse if you could get it out of there.

When I got my truck, there were plenty of good ones in the you pull it style yards, now it seems most of the ones that come through are already trashed.
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Old 08-09-2007, 02:21 AM   #3
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

the only thing ive had to really get is the front calipers and they were reman ones, i dont know if you can get new ones or not cause i didnt ask
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Old 08-09-2007, 06:32 AM   #4
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

Quote:
Originally Posted by 68K20 x Drill View Post
As I see it, d9sc brakes became an option on most American cars between 67 and 69. by 1973, no passenger vehicle was available with drums on the front.
Why? because drums suck.

So when I have a car with drum brakes, points ignition, generator or external regulated alternator that has a problem, I waste 0 time on diagnosis, and install the more modern system. As a result, my 60's rides drive as well as a car from the 70's! Alas if I ever make it to a concourse show, I'm doomed.
IMHO Reliability and Safety are worth the penalty in Originality.

It may seem wrong, but your bearing in the wasted hub was probably fine to reuse if you could get it out of there.

When I got my truck, there were plenty of good ones in the you pull it style yards, now it seems most of the ones that come through are already trashed.
Drum brakes stop semis.They are still on the back of most vehicles.They are back on the rears of HD GM pickups.They don`t suck.The only advantage is easier to service.But,I`ve had more problems with stuck calipers than leaking wheel cylinders over the years.
I`ve never had points leave me on the side of the road,electronic has.You can adjust,file,clean and limp yourself home on points(or keep a spare set in the glovebox.Electronic either works or not.
Generators work fine.At least you can run all day without a battery as long as you`re started.
Alot of myths out there.There`s nothing unsafe or unreliable on any of these components.You should be able to find you hub used.And,did you try Napa?
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Old 08-09-2007, 07:41 AM   #5
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

Not to start an argument, but a condenser going out on a points set has left me stranded on the side of the road. For the topic at hand I imagine most guys think like I do, I upgraded to discs and kept the drum parts (In case someone needed them) around until I got tired of tripping over them, then decided to junk them because most people don't want them.
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Old 08-09-2007, 08:50 AM   #6
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

our larger trucks do have drum breaks. only difference is a couple thousand pounds of air pressure versus a wimpy hydraulic system
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Old 08-09-2007, 10:03 AM   #7
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

I had a good set of hubs off my 68 that laid around forever until I got tired of looking at them and took them to the scrap yard. I'd have darn near given them to you if I'd have known you needed some.
As far as hard to find parts, I'm still looking for a choke thermostat for my 68. Nobody that I know of makes them.
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Old 08-09-2007, 10:04 AM   #8
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

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


Not sure where you can pick up your parts, but thought I'd comment on your post anyway...

This is part of the enjoyment (or frustration sometimes) of fixing up an old vehicle. It's like a treasure hunt. If you find the part or parts, it's like you won the lottery... Sometimes you find more than you're looking for.

As far as dealers, don't discount them too soon. I just ordered a hard tp find flywheel cover for my 68 GMC from them yesterday. It's supposed to be in today. I've gotten other parts from them I never thought they carried. You just never know.
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Old 08-09-2007, 02:07 PM   #9
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

Quote:
Originally Posted by 68gmsee View Post

As far as dealers, don't discount them too soon. I just ordered a hard tp find flywheel cover for my 68 GMC from them yesterday. It's supposed to be in today. I've gotten other parts from them I never thought they carried. You just never know.
This is true. If the dealer still has a book that goes back that far. I was looking for a crush sleeve for a 12 bolt rear end out of a 72. None of the parts stores carried them (NAPA, Auto Zone, O'Reilly's). Went to the dealer and they said they could probably get one but someone threw out the book that is for the 72 and older. The oldest they could go is 73 for trucks. Moral of the story, the dealer can probably locate some harder to find parts.

Either that, or check the private message I sent ya earlier.
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Old 08-09-2007, 02:20 PM   #10
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

The thing that sucks, is when you burn up a hard to find part (say, like the 6 lug hub) in your only vehicle. This happened to me a few years ago in my old GMC. None of the yards had one, none of the parts stores had them, and if it wasn't for Fine69 (mike)... I'd have been screwed.
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Old 08-09-2007, 05:59 PM   #11
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

Hi everybody,
Sorry for such a windy post. Here is some response to everyone so far down to LonghornMan.

68K20 x DRILL
That is cool that you change and upgrade. My truck with this problem had been upgraded with HEI. Newer upgrades are always sweet to install. Maybe one of these days I can upgrade to disc on a future project. I thought if some one was really a great welder that they could weld more metal back into the front area where the race seats and smooth it out afterward that the Hub may be savable. You’re not in the wrong. I appreciate everything you all have to say. This old dog may learn some new tricks.

GREASEMONKEY72
The guy at Napa and Car quest said they still made calipers and discs. You got me wanting to go see the race now.

Special-K
I like drums. They have always been easy to work on and fix. I can only imagine how huge they are in the big trucks. I admit that electronic has done me wrong a couple times. Yes, I tried Napa. They tried for me. Napa is the place to find good old fashioned parts like points.

Krue
Thanks for the assistance with the post. I always figured if I kept it all original Gm parts that it would always stay in fine working order but maybe ole Billy ot to be upgrading in the future.

Screamin Eagle
I love it when the big trucks release that air break and the sound goes off.

Dave2953
I appreciate it Dave. I am going to stock Pyle this part and another that is hard to find for just in case.

68GMsee
Thanks for the dealer reassurance. I will check them out because of your success. You are so right. Finding parts is like the thrill of the hunt. It is like finding treasure. I think I went a little nutty because I really enjoy driving the trucks and it was grounded for a while. Glad you had success.

MVFD70,
You’re the man. Thanks good Buddy. I responded back to you. Thanks for the reassurance at the dealer.

Longhorn Man
You know Andy, you and I are like two peas in a pod with our trucks. Same stuff happens to both of us. Good to here from you too.

Thanks everybody for dropping in and talking about this. I can honestly say this six lug hub is a hard one to come by.
Respectfully Longhorn70GMC / Billy
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1970 Ford F250 Ranger 390 BB
2010 Ford Super Duty F250 XLT W/4 inch lift kit and Pro Comp Tires
Hub Cap Freak!
I need another truck like I need another hole in the head!
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Old 08-09-2007, 06:12 PM   #12
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

I can relate to this story. So, almost every worthless, meaningless, useless part I ever took off my trucks is piled in, on, around, and under a truck, storage shed or lean-to out at a friends 10 acre place. Just for reason like this...

P.S. had you not found one...I wouldn't sent one back with a buddy of mine from Phoenix when he returns home from visiting the area for the 67th Annual Sturgis Bike Week here in South Dakota... He leaves Saturday (8-11) So, PM me if you need something small, you'd just have to go get it up in Glendale, AZ...
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Old 08-09-2007, 08:11 PM   #13
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Re: Discussing Obsolete parts

most of the big trucks have air brakes , the governor kicks pressure off at 120 lbs . shoes are mostly 7 inch wide on 16 inch drums . alot of matalic , most with 6 drums / 4 rear and two front . some of newer mostly have front disc and some with disc all the way round ...
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