Rat repair.

[swamp rat]

Last night i researched the factory service manual on the stock proportioning valves and found a pic with a stock valve that looked identical to my stock valve but with the exception that it had the extra forward port on the 45 angled surface just like the one i got from Inline Tube, that port and the one on the bottom are both front brake ports in the pic. I called Inline Tube today and talked to them about the extra port on my proportioning valve and they said that was the only one they carry for a rear disk conversion (and some other applications) and he agreed with me that the port in question is a front port along with the forward bottom port which feeds my front brakes, he said it would be fine to plug that port and that would feed all the volume and pressure from both ports to the other port on the bottom. So i ran to an auto parts store and found the proper 3/8 NF inverted taper plug.

I also prepped and primed my power booster and painted the master cylinder today, just used cast iron grey on the master cylinder, i will paint the booster black, or maybe i should just use up the can of cast iron paint?

I am debating on running some new rear steel brake lines to the calipers to the single flex hose instead of reusing the old stuff, not sure just yet. My stock rear steel lines have a coil spring like shield slipped over them the full length, in a couple places it was mucked on pretty tight with 40 years of crap, I cut the outer flair nuts off which needs to be done for the disk conversion and got the spring like covers worked off and are now in a bath of CLR

I spent some time under my truck today working on removing the front flex hoses from the frame, with the headers its one tight son of a gun! I finally got the passenger side off but i was fighting existing brake lines as well as the rear gas tank line i ran up to the fuel pump, i was finally able to get it off after struggling for about 1 hour, between the tight space, my hand cramping up and limited vision it was just a bear, my right thumb is still cramping just typing this.. but the other side should go quicker.

Had to wrap up and head off to work..

[swamp rat]

Finished painting the Booster and Master Cylinder today, decided the cast iron grey paint looked just fine.. clean stuff first, then on to the dirty work.

Figured i'd better get the Dana 44 filled with gear oil now that its back together.

Got the flex hoses mounted to the frame both front and back, the driver side was way easier and much more room.

Then i dumped the fluid out of the Eaton and pulled the cover off, everything looked fine, just the usual sludge in the bottom, covered the gears with paper towels and scrapped the gasket then using an old large pair of hemostats i used paper towels to clean out the bottom, final clean up with a bit of brake fluid, then covered the gears again with paper towels then an old T shirt wrapped and taped around the axle housing followed by a sheet of plastic also taped up, don't want any crap to get in there while the cover is off. I cleaned the inside of the cover but still need to clean all the rust off the outside and get it painted up as well.

Oh, I got my dial indicator out and measured .010 backlash between the ring and pinion, i don't know what the tolerance is just yet, anybody know? I may end up taking the truck to a ring and pinion place in the long rin but its ok for now.

I spent the better part of almost 2 hours looking for a couple parts in the last 2 days.. sure enough the parts were in plain sight, i hate it when that happens!

I called on my lift kit, they said that BDS had to Make the rear full arch springs but have the rest of the kit ready so don't know how long that will take. Hopefully not too long. Also no word yet on the conversion disk repair or replacement.

I'll try and get a few more pictures soon.

[swamp rat]

Got a call today from the 4X4 place, My lift kit was shipped today! I expect it about mid week next week. Also got an email from the disk conversion company and they also shipped my brackets today so i should have them probably Monday.

I bench bled the master cylinder then mounted my Master and booster then hooked up the new Proportioning valve, i included a pic of the old master cylinder, showing that is did have a gasket on it, anyone else ever seen one? i discovered that a thermostat gasket is a pretty close fit, but i didn't use one when i put it together, i had one and was just curious it it would work.

Stripped all the rust off my rear cover and then cleaned it with brake cleaner followed by acetone then hit it with some Phosphorous acid and it will be ready for paint tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm gonna paint the cover and head up town before work, I need an easy day, just hope its a nice day tomorrow!

[cmabolt]

Lookin awesome! Stay at it.
Chris

[swamp rat]

I have a question, can you pull the inner fender wells out underneath the fenders? or do you have to take the fender off to get at them? it will be a while till i get to that but i need to do a little rust repair where that bracket is welded on by the frame rail. I figure i an try that first before i try a door or rocker.

[Crash_OK]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I have a question, can you pull the inner fender wells out underneath the fenders? or do you have to take the fender off to get at them? it will be a while till i get to that but i need to do a little rust repair where that bracket is welded on by the frame rail. I figure i an try that first before i try a door or rocker.

You can remove the inner fender with removing the fender without any problem.. Great Job so far..

[swamp rat]

Short update.

I have posted a question about the Eaton rear cover here if you can help, Thanks!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...33#post6279533


I noted that my rear diff cover plug was a leaker too so i decided to try and make one, i found a piece of pipe and ground the threaded portion down to a rough knife edge and punched out the OD, then i found that that old ball joint adjusting sleeve was as close as i could get to matching the ID so i also ground the threads and spread it open with a chisel, the end result is a crude gasket that i hope will seal ok. After i made it tho i removed the old gasket to find that it appears to be a conical shape and not flat, I may reinstall the old seal and put my new homemade seal on top of it, not sure yet.


EDIT: Forgot to add that altho the parts place said i didn't need a gasket between the master and booster my Chiltons or Haynes manual (one or the other) clearly shows a picture with a gasket, but i don't think i need to bother with pulling it apart and adding one, the master and booster are sealed units after all.


My read disk conversion plates arrived and i picked them up today, the guy welded the hole shut and redrilled it, i hope its gonna be ok, one thing i didn't like was he ground the front and back surface of both plates so now they measure .010 thinner. I guess the calipers will have enough give in the rubber bushings.

I decided I'll reinstall the old dist shields after the disk conversion plates are back on and mocked up so i wire brushed the back side to remove rust, hit them with some phosphoric acid then painted the back side, i also wire brushed and painted the old protective spiral brake line cover.

I decided I'm going to give my hand at rebending some new rear brake lines rather than try to reshape and reuse the old ones, I've bent line before but not the large arc that would be stock around the diff cover. Need to go pick the lines up soon.

[swamp rat]

Quick update pic's later..

I got my plates back on for a mock up and they are fine. I don't like the slap up paint job that's on the brackets so i'm sanding them down and repainting.

While the caliper was on i decided to have a look at the flex brake hose that i ordered along with the kit, The hose kit came with Banjo bolts 7/16-20tpi, its not the same thread as the calipers so i went to the auto parts store thinking it must be metric, its not a 10MM or a 12MM its in between and a fine thread so if it is Metric it has to be close to 1.25 pitch 11MM but not sure, the parts guy didn't have a listing for an 11MM banjo bolt ether. In an attempt to ID the thread we dug around and found a brake line that has a 7/16-24tpi and it looks like it should be the correct but it would only thread by hand about 1 turn, I asked if he would mind if i bought it just to take it home and put my pitch gauge on it then return it later. I have homework to do tonight..

Any suggestions on common Banjo bolt sizes?

Then i discovered the flex hoses in the kit have a smaller diameter female inverted thread than the stock steel brake lines, so i had to buy adapters for that too.

:p If i had to do it allover again i think i'd rather piece my own kit together..

[mjensen]

Everything I've read states that the 44 had 7/16 and the 10b had 10 mm. I'm not sure about the pitch. I couldn't see anything on that.

[l79m20]

The dana 44 has 7/16 for sure. I got lines from Rough Country that were the wrong diameter for the banjo to fit through. I drilled them out and they worked fine. But they are %100 supposed to be 7/16.

[swamp rat]

The thing about this rear disk "Kit" is they don't give information about what parts they use, but from what i understand is all the conversion brackets are suppose to use a front caliper which is the same as the Dana44, so if i cant figure out this Banjo bolt deal then i'll have to call them. I have a pitch gauge set at home but its hard to access the hole on the caliper but i'll take the blade's out of the set and use needle nose pliers if i have to and figure it out. The parts guy thought the threads just needed a tap run thru them but i'm pretty leary of any slivers of metal being left inside the port. The diameter sure looks like 7/16 tho.

[swamp rat]

Ok, I got it taken care of, after work i checked the pitch of the caliper, it sure looked to be 20 tpi, so i scrounged thru my nut and bolt pile and found a grade 8 7/16-20 bolt and nut, tried the bolt and it would go in one of the calipers a couple turns by hand and stop, so grabbed a wrench and worked it in a bit more and pulled it out, no damage to the threads so continued the process until in the length of the caliper threads, did the same on the other caliper and they both turned out OK, glad that's over with!

These are the short hoses i got with my kit, i did my best to hold them by hand without a Banjo bolt to see how they might work and take the pic's with the other. pretty tight bends trying to figure out where to weld the kit's brake hose bracket to the housing, the bracket is only about 1.5" long so the hose is only about 1/2" from the U bolts. Its looking like it will only fit right between the U bolts and fit even better if i moved it upward onto the spring mount, i could pull it to the inside of the inner U bolt but i think that will bind the hose and caliper too much. I may have to find a piece of strap and extend the bracket a bit.

Pic's of the conversion bracket and caliper mock up.. I'll be pealing that Frog Tape off one of these days! Brake pads are in full contact with the rotor as far as the moved hole is concerned.

Well, i've come to the conclusion that i will be removing and flipping the cover over to move that fill hole up a bit, I just cant see it hurting anything and i feel it will allow the hub bearings to be better lubricated.

[swamp rat]

Well reversing the cover may be wrong but i figure i can always keep the gear oil level below the plug level, there is a vent on the body too so i don't see pressure build up being a problem. I'm not worried about sticking my finger in the hole to gauge the level. After the pic was taken i mounted the bracket for the brake line and bolted the brake line to it.

I did a little paint work today may have time for a second coat before i go to work but one thing is for certain, the weather around here has definitly changed, its the fall rainy season.

Well the lift kit should be in tomorrow, hopefully!

[swamp rat]

I woke up today and the sun was out!~ first time in about a month now it seems, so great time to get some work done right? Nope! I have an appointment up town so i took off with enough time to do a little hardware shopping, then after my appt i had to head across town to my local 4X4 shop and pick up part of what i have been waiting for for almost 2 weeks, My lift kit has arrived! More detail pic's later.

I was also looking at my rear caliper/hose and conversion bracket, looking at a new idea to mount the hose bracket to the bracket instead of the axle tube, this way it will keep the hose from binding but will also require enough room to make a sharp 90 degree be3nd in the brake line, i think it will work out ok, i'll just have to remember to disconnect my battery before i start any welding.

I have had this for about 3 weeks now, still waiting on my seat cover..

[Vintage Windmills]

Looking great, I am glad you found my thread and pointed me to yours! We're fighting a lot of the same battles. Love that master cylinder setup, nice work for sure.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Vintage Windmills

Looking great, I am glad you found my thread and pointed me to yours! We're fighting a lot of the same battles. Love that master cylinder setup, nice work for sure.

Thanks for the comp's and thanks for stopping by!

[swamp rat]

-I had this post all ready to post with pic's and it just vanished off the screen, forum maintenance?? Grrrr.

I got the conversion brackets remounted then put one caliper on temporarily so i could start working on bending up the rear brake lines with my cheesy tubing bender with a 4" handle, I really need a better one, its a pita with my arthritic hands but i got them done less the caliper end I'll cut and flair them when they get installed for the last time. They may not look like much on the bench but i bent them to have an arch that follows the rear diff cover when looking from the rear, so it looks clean from the rear..

I abandoned the brake hose routing shown in post 64 in favor of the one shown in post 62 but i decided to add a couple inches of strap to the weld on brackets to make the hose relax a little. But before i could do that i realized i had yet to install the new plug on my 30' extension cord so had to do that first. My first time welding in almost 2 years, not too bad for a rookie.

Glad i decided to save and reuse the old slinky's from the old brake lines, i think they look pretty good.

[swamp rat]

Today was a super sunny day, kinda rare around these parts...

Started the day installing both rear hubs, prepped and slid an axle into place and stopped dead in my tracks, i never noticed it before partly because i read other posts about reusing the old wheel studs and I also called the conversion place and he said I'd be fine too, but i figured i'd better go get one of my wheels, sure enough the old studs were too short, there is a taper in the wheel, but between the taper and the 2-3 threads sticking out i was only good for about 1/2" of threads, not good... crap! wish i had checked that earlier, so off come the freshly torqued hubs, pressed a stud back out of one of the hubs and head up town

Napa had to order the studs, Plus they came in boxes of 10 so i had to pay for 4 extra lugs, i didn't argue i needed studs, they said i could get them tomorrow as it was past the last window to get them in today, i asked if it was possible to have there parts runner make one more trip and they agreed! Thank you Napa, I had my new studs about 2 hours later. 1 box of Dorman 610-189, and 1 box of Balkamp 641-1067, the same studs but boxed differently.

Once home i pressed out the old studs and new pressed back in in about 1 hour and then got the hubs reinstalled, it was now past sunset so out comes the trouble light so i could install the axles, rotors and my new brake lines.

Another setback but not my fault, when i ordered the lift kit they needed to know if i had 56" or 52" rear springs, they asked me to measure from one eyelet around the bottom of the bottom spring to the back eyelet, i got 53" and they said that was a 52" spring so i said all i cared about was not having blocks, i wanted full springs in the rear, not a problem they said. I checked the part numbers of the rear springs yesterday against the webpage and they were the 56" springs, the same springs that held up my order the last 2 weeks..... So they are ordering the 52" springs..

[swamp rat]

Well, i shoulda known not to try and reinvent a wheel, as i posted earlier i mounted my diff cover upside down on purpose to be able to add a little extra lube, yea it fit against the housing just fine without the fill plug but when i installed the cover with the plug in i didn't realize it seated against the ring gear, so, had to back up and flip it.. lesson learned.

But after that i got the wheels mounted and the back end on the ground, tomorrow i'll start on the front spring install right after i put some gear lube in the rear diff.

[swamp rat]

I don't mind saying that this rainy weather we have been having here is kicking my ass into the dirt, oh what I'd give if i had just a car port right now.

Had to build some lift stand blocks today to get the front of the truck high enough to start the lift install, by the time i had the truck lifted i was soaked so came in and put in dry stuff, rummaged around and found my old Gortex fishing jacket then went out and made a make shift rain cover, by the time that was accomplished my pants were soaked again so one more dry cloths change.

Started on the driver side, supported the axle with my floor jack, unbolted the spring mount bolt nuts , it quickly became apparent that the bolts had rusted tight inside the steel sleeve, no amount of impacting, jacking or hammering with my mini sledge would budge the bolts, i gave up and got my Sawzall and put a metal blade in it and sliced thru both sides of the bushings and mount bolts front and back to get the first spring off, at that point i realized that the stock shackle bushings in the frame are pretty warn too so i'm not going to assemble without new bushings or possibly replace with heavy dust shackle kit from ORD:

http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/hdshackles.htm

I'll call them on Monday and see about ordering both front and rear shackle kits, sure wish i had thought about this earlier! If anybody has another solution for just bushings or shackle kits or advice I'm all ears.

I decided i may as well at least mount the spring to the front mount point and to the axle I got the front bolt in with a little dead blow hammer persuasion to the spring to get it in place, but having a little trouble with the thru bolt on the spring pack going into the hole in the axle housing, but at that point the weather started getting pretty nasty with gusting winds so i decided to wrap it up and call it a day, then cleaned up and took my wife to a nice restaurant for dinner. Tomorrow after i try to devise a better rain cover i'll get back to that spring pack bolt issue then hopefully get the same done on the passenger side.

[swamp rat]

Had to string another tarp before starting today, the driver side spring came out much easier, was able to drive out the front bolt and then unbolt the top of the shackle and pull the spring out, the bottom shackle bolt is froze solid. Got the new spring in place and popped the front bolt in and snugged up the U bolts, i'm going to have to cut the length off the inner U bolts a little to keep my socket all the way on the nut.

Good place to stop till i get the new bushing and or shackles for the rear of the springs. In comparison the BDS front spring is 6 leaves with slipper pads in between each leaf tip, made in Canada, the old Rancho has 5 leaves that are thicker with no slippers, made in Brazil.

[swamp rat]

Called and talked to ORD today to get info on the greasable shackles with the frame bushings, if course i find out that to get the greasable bolts for both front and back of the new springs i'll have to pull the springs and remove the stock bushings from both ends and reinstall ORD's bushings. I could have given up and just ordered a set of Prothane bushings for the frame elsewhere and run the stuff i have, but as frozen as some of the Rancho hardware was and how much it rains around here i decided it was worth the money and wait to get the ORD stuff, besides maybe this storm front will blow over in a couple days?

There was a possible tornado just 10 minutes down the road from the house this morning, tore portions of the roof off a couple businesses and lifted a car up long enough to have building material get logged under the wheels..

http://q13fox.com/2013/09/30/funnel-...#axzz2gP2lEP1o

In the mean time i found out yesterday that i still have a leak problem, my carpet and underlayment is pretty wet so for the time being i tied a tarp over the cab and cowl area but i know pretty soon i'll probably have to pull the seat and get the carpet out so it will dry out.

[l79m20]

Once the water soaks the padding underneath its a bear for it to dry. You will most definitely want to pull the seat and pad to let it dry. That will also help show where some of the moisture is coming from. Have you checked your drip rail moldings and made sure you arent missing any of the fasteners?

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by l79m20

Once the water soaks the padding underneath its a bear for it to dry. You will most definitely want to pull the seat and pad to let it dry. That will also help show where some of the moisture is coming from. Have you checked your drip rail moldings and made sure you arent missing any of the fasteners?

Drip rail molding fasteners?

I found one of them being the antenna hole /grommet is not sealed well enough,, I'll have to pull the cowl again and get the seam sealer. but there also seems to be a leak coming in from above the antenna hole when looking up under the dash so it could be the window seal or possibly a leak coming from the drip rail? I planned on resealing the drip rail next spring or summer when it gets warm out.

While i like the stock antenna I'm beginning to think about sealing that hole shut and find an internal antenna, any suggestions??

[l79m20]

The drip rail has hex head screws that hold it on. At least they do in mine, but its a 76. I guess I wouldnt be 100% sure if the 67-72s do, but I had one missing on mine and when it rained hard it would leak pretty good through it.