Frankentruck

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Cool that shoul do it. Nice work.

Thank you!

[cwcarpenter98]

Today's progress:

Steering gear reinforcement plate was bolted in then welded in various places. I also did a couple of plug welds in the center areas not near a bolt to help tie everything together a little better. Hopefully, I won't have any more frame flex while turning now that the frame is doubled up in that area.

While waiting on paint to dry, I started on the lower control arm. With the arm moved 3/4" forward, I had to grind down the arm a smidge. To center the arm, the factory shop manual said to have 3/4" from the outside lip of the arm to the shoulder for the dust boot on the shaft. Well, of course, the shoulder is at a different spot on the new AC Delcos. For my application, the arm centered up needed to have 1 and 1/4" on each side. Got everything bolted in after several install, hit saddle, remove arm, grind for clearance, and repeat until clear. LCA shaft u bolts torqued to 85 ft lbs, shaft torqued to 125 ft lbs. I did not have to hammer in the crossmember to tighten the u bolt nuts like I've seen others have to do. The only trimming needed was on the LCA. Didn't need to trim anything else.

It's dark now, so I'm throwing in the towel tonight. If the weather is nice enough tomorrow afternoon, I'll get the UCA in, put all the suspension and brakes back together, then reinstall the steering gear if I have time. Once the driver's side is done, I'll start the passenger side.

[SkinnyG]

Is that a clearancing on the a-arm to fit the caster mod?

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Is that a clearancing on the a-arm to fit the caster mod?

It is. I didn't want to trim the saddle where the shaft sits in, so I took a little out of the arm itself. I don't believe the little bit I took out will negatively affect the structure of the arm

[SkinnyG]

It will probably be fine.

I beat the crossmember in with a 5lb sledge.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

It will probably be fine.

I beat the crossmember in with a 5lb sledge.

Yup, I'm not concerned about it. I didn't notice any clearance issues with the crossmember itself, but was definitely hitting on the saddle that the LCA u bolt goes through. That's why I chose to trim the arm rather than mess with where the LCA shaft mounts to the crossmember.




Today's update:
I pressure washed as much of the frame that I could get to. Might as well sling some paint while most of the parts are off the truck. Make it look less rusty, but it'll get dirty real quick from driving it

[cwcarpenter98]

Yesterday, I decided to finish tearing down the passenger side. I wanted to make sure I get all the mud off from the control arm mounting areas before some rattle canning.

Was going to finish the pressure washing today, but it's cloudy, windy, and not the warmest, so I decided to catch up on some CPA studying instead

[SkinnyG]

Perfect opportunity to pancake the crossmember, just saying...

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Perfect opportunity to pancake the crossmember, just saying...

Definitely would be if I was lowering the truck, but through all of this, I'm staying with the stock height

[cwcarpenter98]

Put lipstick on a pig today. Only the best for my tractor with windows

I ran out of paint, so have to spray the rest of the suspension bits tomorrow afternoon

[cwcarpenter98]

The front yard paint booth wins again

Hopefully doing some assembly tomorrow

[cwcarpenter98]

Almost back together. Only have to torque the steering stuff and reinstall shocks and sway bar. I'm going to get an alignment done right after it's back together.
A shop and a lift would be so nice right now, but the at least we had some nice weather today. It was around 70 degrees out

[cwcarpenter98]

Today's progress began with finishing everything up.

I stopped last night with getting the steering stuff in place, but I had to torque it all to spec this morning. After that, I loosely installed the sway bar. Since it was all apart, I decided to go ahead and put some fresh grease in the front bearings. The bearings looked good still, so I opted only to regrease. I also replaced the inner seals. Once that was back together, I got some new bolts for the lower shock mounts, bolted the wheels on, and took Frankentruck for a test drive.

Test drive went well with no major problems. The steering felt tighter after fixing the crack in the frame. I'll be taking Frankentruck to the tire shop tomorrow for a tire rotation and an alignment. I'll report back with the alignment numbers once it is done

[Getter-Done]

You got a Lot done in a Short period of time.

Great Job

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

You got a Lot done in a Short period of time.

Great Job

Thank you!
It only took 17 days from start to finish, but that was mainly because I took several days where I didn't touch anything truck related and most of the days I actually worked on it were only around 4 hours of working time. Definitely could have got it done in a week if that was the only thing I did all day, every day. There's more to life than just trucks though

[cwcarpenter98]

Ok, big problem with the caster mod. For the details, please go to this other thread -> https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...52#post9012252

[cwcarpenter98]

Hey guys, guess what, I did a BIG dumb. I put the upper control arms on the wrong side

Just gotta laugh about it at this point

I know what I'll be doing in the morning.

[65Custom]

I was looking at the pictures and thought they looked wrong but then I tried to look at some of your old pictures and thought they looked like they were the same so I didn't say anything because I thought nah you didnt do that and I'm just being dumb and some of your old pics seem like they are the same

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by 65Custom

I was looking at the pictures and thought they looked wrong but then I tried to look at some of your old pictures and thought they looked like they were the same so I didn't say anything because I thought nah you didnt do that and I'm just being dumb and some of your old pics seem like they are the same

Well, you got me thinking, and the best picture I could find that showed the UCA was back on page 5 with the slot mag mocked up. Sure enough, the previous owner apparently flipped them around. Probably happened way back when he replaced the ball joints.

So the bump stop should be more towards the rear of the truck in a stock application. Since I have owned the truck, it has been more towards the front of the truck.

I guess I technically didn't put them in wrong from the way I was remembering them when I took them off! I'm still going to flip them around to the correct, factory way. Yay

[cwcarpenter98]

Ok, I got the arms flipped around to the correct side. It drove way better to the alignment shop, and overall just looks better. You learn something new every day!

[65Custom]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Ok, I got the arms flipped around to the correct side. It drove way better to the alignment shop, and overall just looks better. You learn something new every day!

Guessing the alignment turned out ok this time.

[cwcarpenter98]

It turned out much better this time.
The truck no longer wanders between the lines like it did before, and there's no bump steer.

I highly recommend the caster mod, even on a bone stock truck. Every other c10 that might come along in my future will get the caster mod

[cwcarpenter98]

I "cleaned up" the wiring under the hood by wrapping it in electrical tape. It was just the wires ziptied together before, so you could see all the different colors It looks less sloppy now

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

I replaced the rear shocks after over a year of driving it. The front shocks were replaced when the disc brake kit was installed.

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

It turned out much better this time.
The truck no longer wanders between the lines like it did before, and there's no bump steer.

I highly recommend the caster mod, even on a bone stock truck. Every other c10 that might come along in my future will get the caster mod

So you used a disc brake kit using you stock A-Arms and crossmember?
The reason I ask is I wonder if the caster got increased with the 73+ trucks in that they all had power steering. The way I understand it is the older non-power steering trucks had less caster because more caster makes them more difficult to turn the steering wheel without power.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

So you used a disc brake kit using you stock A-Arms and crossmember?
The reason I ask is I wonder if the caster got increased with the 73+ trucks in that they all had power steering. The way I understand it is the older non-power steering trucks had less caster because more caster makes them more difficult to turn the steering wheel without power.

When I was looking for a kit over 6 years ago, I didn't find a kit that had a spindle using the stock ball joints and tie rods. The kit I chose came with a set of stock height, Western Chassis spindles manufactured to squarebody specs. The kit also came with new ball joints and outer tie rods to squarebody specs, a tie rod adapter sleeve, and new inner tie rods to work with the adapter sleeve and my stock centerlink. Since those wear parts needed replacing anyways, it worked out well.

I'm not sure on the squares if additional caster was used compared to the 63-72 stuff that was more commonly manual gears. What I do know is that the steering feel on the road at speed has improved so much that I wish I had done this years ago. How much it has affected the parking lot/low speed turning, I haven't done enough to really tell, but hasn't seemed too bad yet. As I drive the truck more and break the trailer out of hibernation if the back yard isn't too soft, I'll update on how it feels in parking lots and dealing with a trailer.

I believe I have what I need on the engine side of things for a power steering conversion if I decide to go that route, but since I replaced the manual steering gear with a Redhead gear, I'm not too inclined to change it just yet. If the manual steering with additional caster ends up being too much of a pain, I will probably convert to power steering before I revert to stock caster.

Another note on the steering feel. I've really only driven my truck, so I haven't felt how a truly stock suspension c10 drives. When I bought my truck, the previous owner had put the upper control arms on backwards at some point. I did not know that at the time, and since I didn't remove the uppers until last week for paint and new control arm shafts, I didn't know that they were on backwards. I only found out when I ended up with +11* of caster on one side and +9* on the other. The shop couldn't align it like that. I also can't find the alignment sheet from when I first got it aligned after installing the disc brake kit. It's possible that I already had some additional caster, but camber was more on the positive side of life. That might, and I mean might, be why the steering input doesn't seem more challenging that before.

Sorry for the essay, but I hope that answers your question!