1970 VA Longbed Project

[brn agn]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

And guess why Jason added this dormer in the roof of his shop????

Lift?

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by brn agn

Lift?

Winner!

Yep, he's getting a used but very nice assymetrical lift tomorrow. I will be going by to help him after Church. It is going to help a ton with setting the cab and bed back on the chassis and doing exhaust, etc....

[VA72C10]

Well, I am still smiling from a sense of accomplishment today. It was my first time messing with a rear at all and was easier than expected. I asked Jason some questions to make sure I didn't mess anything up, but it was not bad at all. Jason has really been a great help through this and I wouldn't be nearly this far without his help and help from many on this board.

I got good at taking axles out and putting them in...I put the cart before the horse so to speak and forgot to put the brake brackets on before the axles. So I pulled them again and installed them again. Second time was like 2 minutes to pull and reinstall max.

[VA72C10]

Well, here are more pictures from today's festivities

Parts I finished painting the other day after their second coat....purdy



Getting the axles out



Tape is to label drivers and passengers in case there were wear marks...Jason recommended it an I figured better safe than sorry.

[VA72C10]

Then I started cleaning it up




Found a bunch of numbers buried in the gunk

[VA72C10]

A note of caution....when the wire wheel gets overly used....stop using it It started flinging projectiles my way and I didn't want to leave to pick up another one so I used it till basically only the cup was left. However, when I stopped to scratch an itch on my leg, I found it wasn't an itch....It was some of the metal from the wire wheel imbedded in my thigh. I had about 20 pieces in me.

This one went through my jean shorts and well into my skin


Black specs are undercoating/gunk coming off the rear and it didn't all come off even after two showers/scrubbing...

Red lines are blood from imbedded metal

[VA72C10]

Here is a prime example why i spray and don't powdercoat.

These brackets were coated and after only being mocked up..never driven on....they have peeled away and exposed bare metal to rust....


I used a scotchbright pad and scuffed them up, installed them on the rear, installed the axles for the last time I painted the end of the axle befrore I put the brackets on so the metal would be protected.



For those who haven't messed with the rear axles before, here's what I learned....lust loosen the one 1/2" bolt that holds the silver pin in place.


Remove that bolt and the silver pin. Then push the axles (one at a time) in towards the center and the little C-clip will be easy to pull out. Once you pull the C-clip out, slide the axle out. Then repeat on the opposite side.

The tip Jason added was to re-install that center pin and bolt to make sure if you bump the yoke and spin the gears, they won't be able to come loose or shims come out. Sounded like good insurance to me since I halfway dropped the rear off the jack

To re-install....take out that bolt and large silver pin again, slide the axle back in. (you will get almost all the way in and then by feel you have to angle it up and spin it slightly until it fits into the gears) Once the axle has slid as far as it will go, you will see the groove for the C-clip. Insert the clip then pull back out on the axles. This seats the C-clip and won't let it fall out. Duplicate on the other side and then re-install the silver pin and 1/2" bolt. (1/2"X2" or so)

To many of you, I guess this post is a waste and child's play, but hopefully it will help someone in the future.

One other note is I found it easier to rotate the yoke to get better access to the bolt or to be able to slide the pin out. Just do it slowly to not disturb the other gears with the pin out.

[VA72C10]

Okay, and now.....the Money shots

[brian69longbed]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

A note of caution....when the wire wheel gets overly used....stop using it It started flinging projectiles my way and I didn't want to leave to pick up another one so I used it till basically only the cup was left. However, when I stopped to scratch an itch on my leg, I found it wasn't an itch....It was some of the metal from the wire wheel imbedded in my thigh. I had about 20 pieces in me.

This one went through my jean shorts and well into my skin


Black specs are undercoating/gunk coming off the rear and it didn't all come off even after two showers/scrubbing...

Red lines are blood from imbedded metal

yeah i have done this too! it went into my forearm. that doesn't feel good

[brian69longbed]

i don't think you need that rear end.. you should just give it to me...
ha ha looks awesome man

[fletch4x4]

i want rear discs...

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by brian69longbed

yeah i have done this too! it went into my forearm. that doesn't feel good

It didn't but the funny thing was, I pulled about 20 of them out and hadn't even noticed them until that one....

Originally Posted by brian69longbed

i don't think you need that rear end.. you should just give it to me...
ha ha looks awesome man

Sure, you trade me cabs and I'll give you the rear

Originally Posted by fletch4x4

i want rear discs...

I wanted them too but thought they were out of reach. Mike (camtoys1) gave me a deal I couldn't pass up and now that the rear is painted and the brakes are on I am STOKED!!!

[Hart_Rod]

What high temp paint did you use on the calipers? Also, if you plan on running a super track bar, I would recommend cutting off the mount where the original track bar bolts to. This will give you some much need clearance if you plan on taking the exhaust over the axles.

[gcburdic]

Jonathan,

did you change the rear axle seals and bearings as well???

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

What high temp paint did you use on the calipers? Also, if you plan on running a super track bar, I would recommend cutting off the mount where the original track bar bolts to. This will give you some much need clearance if you plan on taking the exhaust over the axles.

They are actually powdercoated black. I am going to dump the exhaust before the rear. Good advice for someone running it all the way back though.

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Jonathan,

did you change the rear axle seals and bearings as well???

Mike did before he sold it to me

[VA72C10]

I'll have the pictures later....uploading them to photobucket and watching a movie with my wife first.

[VA72C10]

Intermission.....

Had another productive day today. Jason had the lift up when I got there after church. Helped very little with getting some details done. He tested it with his chevy shortbed and all works well.

[VA72C10]

Took off all the E-brake lines since I won't be running one in the rear. Cleaned up where they went and painted it up. So I decided that I wanted another coat or three on the frame. Went ahead and painted two to three coats on top of the three or four for a nice thick hammered finish and repaired a few areas I had damaged. Came out even deeper black and more sheen which I like.



Then started painting the last few components so I could put the rear together.

[VA72C10]

For future reference, I got 5" 3/4" bolts for the trailing arms. I thought they would be too long, but with the two flat washers and the lock washer, they work fine.


Then I mocked up the brackets for the ECE super trac bar


And mocked up the bar itself...make sure the angle of the bar lines up with the arms. It's a bear to get in and out of the mount. I used a screwdriver to make sure the bushing was centered in the hole and the bolt would go through.

[VA72C10]

Started assembling the rear....


At this point I hadn't started centering the rear...


Getting it centered


Driver's side with the trac bar


Pass side

[VA72C10]

Looking good


Started moving it up and then.....uh oh.....

[VA72C10]

The U-bolt is hitting the front of the C-notch. I thought this might be an issue because of the 2" lowering blocks and the 1/4" the ECE Super trac bar brackets space it up.






Passenger side has a tiny amount of room but not enough to make a difference once I go to center the rear, both sides will hit before the rear goes all the way up.

[VA72C10]

I will center the rear up tomorrow or Tuesday when I get back over there with some rims. That will tell me more about how much clearance I will need.
The plan to fix this is to move the trailing arm crossmember forward...but first, we are going to mock up the driveshaft and see how the carrier bearing will be affected.

I think we can shift it forward a bit and if not we can modify that carrier bearing mount. Moving the trailing arm crossmember will also allow us to have the wheels centered in the rear wheel wells when the truck is lowered to ride height so we will work from that setting. Going to take a little mock up and a little work and some touch up painting, but it will be worth the end result. The other option is to shim out the mounts for the trailing arms on the crossmember. I will take a look at all the options and try to come up with the best overall solution.

[VA72C10]

Even though I ran into a small snag, it was still a productive day. I also got the front crossmember back in. Had leftover grade 8 bolts from the C-notches that we welded in and those work great for the crossmember. That's good money saved because I just spent almost 60 on bolts for the bags and bag brackets.

Here's the frame with the crossmember


And the money shot from today

[VA72C10]

Forgot that I also put the shock relocator brackets on..... Backwards the first time