Grandpa Joe's Truck

[Dakcrew]

Back in May the wife and I found out that her grandpa's truck would be going on the chopping block due to some issue within the family. It has been with her Mother since Grandpa passed in '02 and we were really sad to see it go to another person that did not have the history with it that she did. So, we made some plans and went and picked it up over the Memorial holiday.
Details of it that I know is that it is a 1973 Cheyenne model with a 350/Auto. It has been updated to run on both gas and Propane and all of the parts are there to run both although the propane has been disconnected long ago. It is a 2wd Long bed that appears to have been lowered a bit, not sure exact measurements, but it sits pretty nice.
This is where it has rested for at least the last 10 years.

I am not really sure how long it has sat, but the tags expired in 2005 and I know that it was registered as a non-op prior to that for insurance reasons.
It is pretty straight except for the drivers fender where the bro in law backed into it with another truck...

Also the hood had some paint chipping issues from a repaint several years ago that caused it to completely peel off the passenger side of the hood!

Got that all ground down on the passenger side and shot a quick coat of etch primer on it to stop the rusting and hope to paint it some time in the future.
We loaded it up on the rental trailer and drove over to the Sis-in-laws house and proceeded to try to get it running.

Dad-in-Law and I worked on it for about 20 minutes and low and behold it fired and ran like a top! was super excited to say the least.
Anyway, got a couple more pics to load, but will have to wait til tonight.

[brakenit]

Looks like a pretty great truck, it's good it got to stay in the family.

[JWall]

Glad you got it & kept it in the family!

[mrolds88]

Glad to see you could keep it in the family. Love the colors.

[Keith Seymore]

Glad you were able to save it and heartily agree with your plans.

Looks like stock ride height to me (I don't believe that one has been lowered).

K

[Dakcrew]

It just might be. I didn't think that he was into lowing things, but it sits so low I had no idea that these trucks were this height from the factory! Thanks all for the comments and yes I am very happy that we got to save this one as it means a lot to us to keep it in the family.

I did have a couple questions though. I am having to slam the doors to get them to shut properly and hate to do this. I looked at the seals and they are all nice and soft and not torn or worn in any way. Also the striker/catch seem to be in working order as well. is there something that I can do to correct this issue? I have seen some refer to a fix for this, but haven't been able to locate a "how to" on it yet.

Also ran into a brake light issue last weekend when I had to slam on the brakes to miss a car with no signal who was turning...(hate that people can't use their signals!). Anyway seems that the proportioning valve may need replacing or the lines bled? am not sure if or when the last time either of these were done. Any tips or hints on correcting this issue would be greatly appreciated as well.

[Keith Seymore]

Re: door closing effort - try rolling the window down some. If it closes easily after that then you know you are trying to push too much air (ie, a sealing issue or pressure relief issue). If it still closes hard then you know it is a mechanical issue, like a misaligned latch or hinge pin friction.

Note that these doors don't have much length or mass so you will probably never be able to just swing them and have them close all the way.

Re: brake light - make sure there are no fluid leaks and that the front and rear reservoir is full. It may have shuttled the prop valve - or - maybe something as simple as the ebrake pedal dropped down.

K

[MountainGoat1966]

First, make sure the doors are aligned properly.
Next, look at the striker pin, it should have a nylon bushing thingy on it.
If it's gone, here is the fix:
Cut a piece of PEX (Thinwall 1/2" PVC pipe) to length, just under 3/4" (I forget the exact length) to match the striker pin length where the original bushing went, and slit it lengthwise with a hacksaw blade.
Work it onto the striker pin.

[Gordonr1973]

Nice truck, I really love the slot rims on it!!

[DBLSPRT68]

Glad you got it! Love the colors and the slots!!!! Repaint original style, white letter tires on the polished slots; oh and remove the sun visor Just my opinion.

[Dakcrew]

Originally Posted by MountainGoat1966

First, make sure the doors are aligned properly.
Next, look at the striker pin, it should have a nylon bushing thingy on it.
If it's gone, here is the fix:
Cut a piece of PEX (Thinwall 1/2" PVC pipe) to length, just under 3/4" (I forget the exact length) to match the striker pin length where the original bushing went, and slit it lengthwise with a hacksaw blade.
Work it onto the striker pin.

MountainGoat! you are the man!!! this is exactly what I have been looking for. sorry i haven't responded recently I was kinda discouraged by the brake issue and took a leave from it...

[Dakcrew]

So over the weekend I was determined to get the truck back on the road if it killed me! I picked up all of the parts to do a brake job and while in there decided to do the wheel bearings as well.

the list of parts included:
brake cylinders (both wheels)
brake hardware replacement kit
brake shoes (both sides)
wheel bearings (both sides)
axle/wheel seals (both sides)
gear oil
brake fluid

well got it partially torn apart on Friday and realized that the driver side brake/wheel cylinder was leaking like a sieve. well that is likely where all of my brake fluid went before, so I buttoned things back up a bit and called it a night.
Saturday I got to it again and began by replacing the worn out cylinder. once that was done I pulled the driver axle and found that the bearings look nearly new! I think that it even had the original seals in the axle tubes! well I decided to not do the bearings, but would replace the seals since I had things apart and it wouldn't hurt.
Got the seal in and proceeded to replace the brake parts. holy hell! I had completely forgotten how many moving parts and hands you need to put these brake drums back together! fortunately I left the passenger side together and was able to use it as a reference to get the driver side back together...
Once that was done I repeated the process on the driver side. I replaced the brake cylinder (although it wasn't leaking), pulled the axle shaft and realized that the seal on the passenger side had been leaking a bit. again OE and not changed, so I pulled it out, took a long look at the bearings and noted that they still looked really good. So, leave the bearings and replace the seal on this side as well. after that I got to fight with the drum brake springs and plates again, oh joy!
Now I have all the parts back together and get to bleed the brakes. it took a lot of time and fluid to get those things working properly again. Wow! did not know that there was that much fluid in the lines beyond what is in the reservoir.
Put the cover back on and fill the gear oil. finally after the seal cured over night (didn't put any oil in until Sunday) I took it for a spin and guess what No Brake Light!!! also the pedal is way more responsive and the gears seem to be running well as well. So, all is good and well again.

Next up, fix the door pin and STOP SLAMMING THE DOORS!!! thanks for watchin...