What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[mick53]

Originally Posted by DransportGarage

Bingo! We're going to grind on this one, and the heat and vibration has been known to start a crack. We'll see, in January.

I have a small glass shop where I blow , cast, bend ,cut and drill glass. Windshield glass has a high COE (coefficient of expansion), probably about 120. This makes it easy to cut but subject to cracking due to the high expansion rate. What you want to avoid is temperature differential. Warm glass is easier to work with than cold glass. warm up the entire piece and use warm water. I like to submerge if possible. Also a couple of suction cups help with vibration. Your expert probably knows this I just thought I would throw it out there.

[Marty68]

Originally Posted by Dyslexic Dog

Not sure where to post this but has anyone had issues with Gearhead Ent. in Iowa? I got a Must II front end a year ago. The parts were not machined properly, I got hand written instructions, and when I asked for a parts list for replacement items, I got hung up on twice.

You look at the ebay site and it says they are a wonderful 99% seller. I question that. Many build sites say to stay away from them.

i wonder who makes their stuff.. Spartan Rod works in Sparta Wi. supposedly makes and ships 50 kits a week to somewhere is Iowa.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by Dyslexic Dog

Not sure where to post this but has anyone had issues with Gearhead Ent. in Iowa? I got a Must II front end a year ago. The parts were not machined properly, I got hand written instructions, and when I asked for a parts list for replacement items, I got hung up on twice.

You look at the ebay site and it says they are a wonderful 99% seller. I question that. Many build sites say to stay away from them.

Several of those positive feedbacks are from me. Lots of parts on my truck are from Gearhead. Always great quality, low prices, fast shipping and excellent service. The lowering springs for my MII front end were right on the money.

I'd trust their Ebay seller rating more than forum gossip. I've seen too many unreasonable customers go on crazed vendettas, joining every forum solely for the purpose of single-handedly destroying a seller's reputation - including one paranoiac on this very forum who accused me of being the seller operating incognito and then followed me from forum to forum to harass me. I couldn't post anything anywhere without this guy answering back that I was a cheat and a thief, when in fact I'd never met him ever. I see he's still a registered user here, although moderators have removed most of his posts.

Sorry if you were wronged, but Ebay has a procedure for a money back guarantee if purchases are not as described. You'll get more satisfaction that way than going public with your beef.

[Dyslexic Dog]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Several of those positive feedbacks are from me. Lots of parts on my truck are from Gearhead. Always great quality, low prices, fast shipping and excellent service. The lowering springs for my MII front end were right on the money.

I'd trust their Ebay seller rating more than forum gossip. I've seen too many unreasonable customers go on crazed vendettas, joining every forum solely for the purpose of single-handedly destroying a seller's reputation - including one paranoiac on this very forum who accused me of being the seller operating incognito and then followed me from forum to forum to harass me (I see he's still a registered user here, although moderators have removed most of his posts). I couldn't post anything anywhere without this guy answering back that I was a cheat and a thief, when in fact I'd never met him ever.

Sorry if you were wronged, but Ebay has a procedure for a money back guarantee if purchases are not as described. You'll get more satisfaction that way than going public with your beef.

Wow, I have them a positive when I got my shipment, after that, no way. I understand everyone can have a different opinion, but the material and information I received was not how I would do business.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by Dyslexic Dog

Wow, I have them a positive when I got my shipment, after that, no way. I understand everyone can have a different opinion, but the material and information I received was not how I would do business.

As I said, no one on this forum can fix the problem. File a case with Ebay and/or PayPal.

[Marty68]

Attempted to "outline" letters on tailgate.. didn't like it so I washed it off with lacquer thinner.. to my delight it was slowly removing grey.. so I exposed a little blue

[idbeast]

Finally, Tuesday the Beast goes in to get the Interior done!!!

[mick53]

I'm making progress on my timing cover. I almost gave up a couple of times and just had someone make me a new one. Now I think I have a shot at pulling this off. I had to put so much heat into the piece replacing bad metal that it shrank considerably. So I welded up the holes and dab by dab made it wider. Then I machined the back and got it surprisingly flat (big win). This now gives me a flat surface to work from. Of the 5 countersunk holes 4 go into the back half of the cover and 1 goes into the engine block. I was careful to center my now oblong hole on the crank when I countersunk my holes. Now I have to rebore the hole (scary).

[nvrdone]

just goes to show we all screw up things. that's how we learn life's lessons.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

just goes to show we all screw up things. that's how we learn life's lessons.

Yep!

Brian

[dsraven]

hey mick, with your machinist skills why not just build one from billet and be done? no leaks that way.

[mick53]

Originally Posted by dsraven

hey mick, with your machinist skills why not just build one from billet and be done? no leaks that way.

In retrospect might have been easier but I have very little skill And having to locate everything without a reference point would have been hard to say the least. Then you have round bottom fins and other details. My tools are not that great. This will be just fine and I learned a lot.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by DransportGarage

That brings to mind one of the three sayings I've made up over the years:

"Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition's a b__ch."

(The by-line in my signature is another one of mine...)

I often quote your second one, but what's the third?

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Yep!
Brian

Hey Brian, I did some modifications to the toy truck you gave me. Tried to PM but I can't post photos there.

[evilokc]

drive to work. its chilly. gld my heats working. really need to seal up my cab though. talk about a draft.

[Marty68]

very NICE

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

just goes to show we all screw up things. that's how we learn life's lessons.

That brings to mind one of the three sayings I've made up over the years:

"Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition's a b__ch."

(The by-line in my signature is another one of mine...)


...and thanks, Brian, for the story. I've heard about the chopped glass nightmares, but have never been stupid enough to try that. I neve thought of fitting the roof to the bed!

[nvrdone]

the one I like is" live fast, die young, be a good looking corpse. in my case 1 out of 3 an't bad" guess where I fit...

The other one is" keep smiling - it makes the world wonder what the heck you're up to"

[evilokc]

playing around with my non functioning headlight, gauge lights, parking lights,tail lights. I still have brake lights. the headlight fuse checked out fine. im testing the switch itself and im not sure about the results. im getting no resistance on all but one terminal and on that one im getting about 3ohms. that's not a lot but compared to the .01 im getting for all the other terminals its pretty big.

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by evilokc

playing around with my non functioning headlight, gauge lights, parking lights,tail lights. I still have brake lights. the headlight fuse checked out fine. im testing the switch itself and im not sure about the results. im getting no resistance on all but one terminal and on that one im getting about 3ohms. that's not a lot but compared to the .01 im getting for all the other terminals its pretty big.

Check the voltage with respect to ground on both of those "3 ohm" contacts. The two measurements should be the same.

[evilokc]

I found a ground wire on the back of the fuse panel hanging loose. its clear from the condition of the bare wire that its been inside something. it looks brand new. I haven't found the place it came out of yet but at least I have something to go on.

[mick53]

My custom spindles came today. I have been trying to get this done for a couple of years. I had to take legal action against one company that had them for 6 months to get them back. These are 12.88 disk brakes with nickle plated calipers. They only did nickle plating for a short time. The problem was they only fit a Heidts spindle profile. Nobody makes a straight axle spindle with that profile. I am not willing to give up these brakes, After talking to several people about doing it they all said at least $1k and did not know when they could do it. In the end a friend of mine that has an industrial fab shop in TN did them for me for free. I'm running a 4" drop axle custom made by super bell through Pete and Jakes. These were ford spindles to start with because I'm using ford steering setup mostly for looks. I still need to make caliper brackets. This is a major step for me. I will now send them back to Pete and Jakes to be chromed and they can finish their work.

[mick53]

I had to rebore my hole for the big block oil seal that shrank due to all the welding I had to do so I set the diameter on a piece of scrap. After mounting the cover I countersunk the hole on the ear into the block for repeatable mounting and recentered the hole. After drilling and before I put the seal in I checked the center on the hole and I am .006" to the upper left as pictured. That's closer than when I started so I'm calling it a win. It took a long time and I almost gave up a couple of times but I pulled it off myself and I learned a lot.

[Marty68]

When I had trans etc installed I told him dont worry about where shifter comes up I will take care of it. He flipped trans cover front to rear... good enough...
I today built another "trans tunnel while watching Packer game.

[Kevin Mac]

Mick53, your spindles and cover plate turned out nice. I home hobby with a mill and lathe so I know how much time it takes . Keep the pictures coming.
I am just getting started installing trac lock in the 9" and changing out my th350 for a 2004r. First time getting into a rear end so I have been watching and reading a lot.
Mac