68 C20--->Red Velvet

[Meatman]

I have to go see Randy, Teeitup in the morn. When I pulled off spindles and rotors off disc brake front, I was under impression all I would need to swap them to my truck was outer tie rods and ball joints. So I just scraped the rest. Turns out I need inner tie rods, no biggie buy them and adjuster new. Also need the drag link.....which I scrapped. So I gonna go get another disc brake front, still cheaper then buying one new at parts store.

[Shaun1162]

Looks like a great project! Sure did clean up nice (inside and out)!

[trac209]

Yeah been there done that with the brake swap some trucks use smaller dia tie rods and therefore you need more than just outer rod ends because of it. I just swap all the newer stuff in to save hassle. Nice truck you got going.
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[Meatman]

Well turns out I didn't need the 71-72 drag link. Too bad I already went and got it before I figured it out.....

Anyway got alot done today. Got outside about 7 am and starting getting to it.

Front before. Bye bye drums

Rear. Nasty. Leaking wheel cylinders and axle seals. Got the hubs off, they were nasty too. Found out why later.

[Meatman]

Getting the drum spindles off sucked. Ball joints were stuck pretty bad. Gave the sledge a good workout. Turns out my truck has been down a gravel road or two. Pretty foul, think she lost about 20 lbs of crud.


Drums. Scrap now.

[Meatman]

Pressing out lower ball joints was fun. Tite, tite, tite, tighter.....bam and the ball joint press scatters across driveway. And yes, I could have taken time to paint this and that, but thats not goal of this project right now. Just want to get it on the road.

Ready for new ball joints.

New ones in.

Spindles on.

[Meatman]

Then if got irritating fast. I had already noticed that even though ball joints were all the same brand, uppers and lowers both were totally different. Same number on the box but like they were made by two different chinese men. Idk, thanks Oreillys. So I get rotors on and start putting on caliper. Sob wont go on for nothing. Turned the rotors so this should be easy right? Go get other caliper and what do ya know, ones different then other. Damn reman junk. Make trip to parts store and all is well.....for time being.

Still will need to do a quickie setting of the toe.

[Meatman]

Moved to the rears. One side at a time. Learned you always leave one side together for comparison. I hate putting together drum brakes.

One side all cleaned up ready to assemble.

Put together. Dont worry, I said 10 to 12 curse words while assembling. Threw a couple things too.


Move to other side. Tear it down, clean it up. Then discover wheel cylinder is wrong. Like terribly wrong. It would bolt up, but bleeder would be on the bottom and line would never connect. So I had to call and they will order another that should be here tomorrow. Hope its right. Jerks.

Was able to get rear rubber line on. Went ok. Managed to get all the hard lines loose with out rounding or twisting anything off. Thanks PB blaster.

[Meatman]

So went ahead to popped rear cover off diff. Drained it the other nite or well pulled plug. Not much came out, but what did looked like roofing tar. Now I know why.

I for sure said a four letter word that started with an F and ends with a K when I saw this.



Two cans of brake clean helped. Its good Dana 60 has a drain plug cause Im gonna need to use it several times to flush this sucker out.

[Meatman]

Thats about it for today. Im beat. Hopefully I can get brakes finished Friday afternoon as long as parts get here. Still need to change out booster too.

[bgwss]

Wow, great work! Looking good!

[Ackattack]

Good work man. Aren't the parts stores a pain in the butt some times. I swear I always get the new guy that doesn't know where anything is or how to do whatever and the guy that does is helping someone else....so I'm just standing there. A 5 min stop ends up taking 30 min.

[Meatman]

Ya there is some dummies that dont know anything. I have a buddy that works at one across from my work, but hes not always there.

Got the brakes finished the rest of the way up this afternoon. Got the drivers side rear assembled. It took a week to track down the right socket to install the nuts on my Dana 60. Everyone said they were 2 9/16 but they ended up being 2 3/8. So I finally got socket that then its frickin 3/4" drive so I had to make a trip to harbor freight and get dang adapter.

Got hubs cleaned up and new seals in. Thats a $35 seal right there.




Passenger side was easy. Installed inner nut, just past finger tight to put a slight resistance on bearings. Install lock ring, bend tabs. Then install outer nut and torque to 50 ft lbs. Easy. Drivers side was not. Took 30 minutes. It was either sloppy and hell or so tight it would rotate and the difference was about 1/64 of a turn in the nut. Eventually got it but was mad as hell.

All sealed up


Then just had to put on brake booster, master and prop valve. All used but came off running Eagle truck that Randy had. So my truck is part Eagle now!!!
Before

After

[Meatman]

Now I just need to hook up lines. But....sizes are different on new prop valve. Guessing I am going to have to get new fittings and reflare em? Really hope I can find adapters but guessing its not gonna happen. I hate doing double flares. Especially on factory brake lines cause they are hard as hell. All the aftermarket stuff you buy is soft and its easy.

Anyone have any input thats done disc brake swap??

[Low Elco]

Try a napa for adapters. Lotta work there, looks good!

[Meatman]

Got all the fittings and adapters tracked down last nite. Got everything right on the first try amazingly enough. Had to do some tweaking and bending on the lines to get it all to work. Ill take some pics tomorrow, its not pretty, but I didnt have to flare anything thank god. Had wife come out and help me bleed them. No Leaks!! Was really happy about that!

So goal for tomorrow is to get in back on ground and do quickie set on the toe. Then I need to finish repair on tail light wiring and get rear bumper on. If I have time also need to change out lock cylinders on doors, I dont have a correct key for it. Still need to fab a bracket for TH400 kickdown switch but can be driven without that.

Then biggest goal is......to get it titled and tagged!!! Got insurance on it today, so should get it tagged even if its only half way drive able. Just have to make it mile or so from home to highway patrol office to get it inspected and cleared to be tagged as an antique.

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the disk brake conversion. I want to do the same setup on my old 3/4 one of these days.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by Meatman

Got all the fittings and adapters tracked down last nite. Got everything right on the first try amazingly enough. Had to do some tweaking and bending on the lines to get it all to work. Ill take some pics tomorrow, its not pretty, but I didnt have to flare anything thank god. Had wife come out and help me bleed them. No Leaks!! Was really happy about that!

So goal for tomorrow is to get in back on ground and do quickie set on the toe. Then I need to finish repair on tail light wiring and get rear bumper on. If I have time also need to change out lock cylinders on doors, I dont have a correct key for it. Still need to fab a bracket for TH400 kickdown switch but can be driven without that.

Then biggest goal is......to get it titled and tagged!!! Got insurance on it today, so should get it tagged even if its only half way drive able. Just have to make it mile or so from home to highway patrol office to get it inspected and cleared to be tagged as an antique.

Did you buy it out of state? In not, then why does it need to be inspected?

[Meatman]

Yeah after a bunch of reading it doesn't need to be inspected unless I bought it out of state or I bought it on bill of sale only. Which sucks because I could have gotten it titled yesterday if I would have known that.

Its a running driving truck now!!! Spent most of the morning messing with wiring and had to run a wire to every light for ground to get everything to work right. Got new door locks in, which was easy but had to drill out several of the lower door panel bolts cause they were rusted in.

Took it around the block several times to make sure it would get up to temp and not overheat. Did great but one of the heater core hoses sprung a leak and was spraying all over. But that was an easy fix. Runs well, needs carb and timing tuning though, falls on its face pretty bad if you get in throttle to fast. Shes still got some balls though. Theres some tiny black marks in some places in my neighborhood.

Couldn't get the metal they had welded to frame for camper loose with my tools, so buddy brought over his torch. Still took about 45 mins with torch, sledge and air hammer to get them off. Got bumper on tonite.

-Still needs speedo cable fixed. Bought a new inner cable just need to put it on.
-Needs all the new heater ducting installed that I bought.
-Needs tag light. Ran a wire just need to buy one and put it on.
-Will need exhaust soon. More I drive it the worse the small leaks get.
-Has a big oil leak. Pretty sure its rear main. Not be fixing that anytime soon.
-Still needs cleaned up before the big car show in 3 weeks. Will do that when it gets closer.
-Fuel gauge still isnt working right. Stuck at 2:00 or so.
-Would like to swap in my tach dash sometime too.

Most of that is easy. Exhaust will be a big job. Plan to do longtubes and duals just dumped before the axle. Header install will be worst part of that. But that will be a summer project.

[Ackattack]

Is the truck ready for the show? hoping to check it out there.

[Low Elco]

Still alive? I was wondering what happened? Let us know!

[Meatman]

Ive been busy as all get out. We moved about two months ago. So its been crazy getting settled in. Truck is still doing good. Haven't drove it since the cruise. Its leaking pretty bad. Like leaking everything bad. Rear main and tranny are both leaking.

Plan is to pull motor and trans here in the fall and get it resealed back up. Then do set of cheapy headers and some exhaust. It has a terrible exhaust leak at collector on passenger side too.

Here she is soaking up her garage spot/being piled upon.

[Low Elco]

Hey, congrats on the move! Hope the new place is good. Looks good with the wheels!
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[eagleuh1]

Anything new on this. Truck turned out nice. Like the C20's. jim