1958 3200 Long Bed 5.3l/Jag IFS

[NoClassic]

The weather has been bad here so no chance to drive the truck yet. We did change the oil and let the motor run long enough to accumulate any fault codes that may have been pending. It registered a P0785 which was an issue with the 3-2 downshift solenoid in the trans. I checked the engine harness and all was good there so the trans pan then came off. The trans shop forgot to plug in the solenoid which made for an easy fix but did not give me warm fuzzies about the rest of the work they did.

The repaired heater core is also leaking. It must be hard to get these things sealed because this is the third time we have had one leak even after using a different shop than on our last project.

With the bed installed I ordered tubing to fabricate the gas filler neck. It will be going in the rear portion of the drivers fender.

[NoClassic]

The tubing for the gas filler neck showed up so I got that done yesterday.

I took the truck for a short first drive and all seems well. We will get it registered this coming week and finish up painting the patched areas.

Once all of the paint is done I will get some video and images posted.

[yossarian19]

Curiosity - can you take a tape measure and get the distance from the front fender's lip to the centerline of the hub? Trying to compare ride heights and see if there's an IFS right for me

[NoClassic]

Originally Posted by yossarian19

Curiosity - can you take a tape measure and get the distance from the front fender's lip to the centerline of the hub? Trying to compare ride heights and see if there's an IFS right for me

It is right at 12".

If I were to do it over again I would notch the frame or subframe a couple inches and bring it up a bit. As it sits right now front suspension travel is a bit less than I would like.

[NoClassic]

The front suspension settled at little so we pulled the wheels to re-shim for camber before having the toe set.

When doing that I noticed both front brake calipers had a slow leak from the pistons. This is the third time we have had to deal with reman jag calipers leaking. Whoever is building these things for oreilly autoparts is doing something wrong or just does not had access to good cores. We are waiting to hear back on a refund so we can try another vendor.

One of the window regulator guide wheels also broke so my Dad pulled that and repaired it earlier today.

[NoClassic]

My dad did the registration and picked up some new calipers today. He also had some new glass cut for the side mirrors so those will go back on soon.

I was just able to drive it a bit more and the rear end is making noise under load. I did some reading and it seems like it may be the pinion bearing failing or a pre-load issue. Would it be worth checking the pre-load value and tightening it if out of spec, or should I just pull it and have it gone through?

I am also considering painting the hubcaps the same white as the wheels so opinions on that would be great.

[Kim57]

Truck looks real nice.
I like the contrast of the caps. Maybe just paint the logo area.
Kim

[ChuckDriver]

Love the caps! You might add a 1in 3 rib trim ring!!

[NoClassic]

I am not really a fan of the trim rings, but I think you are right about keeping the caps how they are. I may still go ahead and paint the bow tie black or white.

We are going to go ahead and pull the axle and have it looked at. I am sure it will need at the very least a pinion bearing and will likely just end up getting a complete rebuild.

[RockinKees]

Nice stance!
I only would paint the Bowtie and leave the rest.

[ChuckDriver]

This looks nice!

[NoClassic]

We ended up pulling the rear axle and having it rebuilt. The housing is already back in the truck and we are picking up one of the shafts from having some bearing wheel bearing wear tomorrow. It should be driving by Wednesday.

We are taking it to Austin for the Lonestar roundup if anyone will be there and wants to check it out.

[BC Toy chest]

Nice, lovin' that stance and tire wheel combo.

[NoClassic]

We ended up pulling the cut coil springs and installing slam specialties 5.5" bags. The cut springs were too soft and caused the suspension to bottom out easily.

The freshly rebuild rear end also had a leak at the pinion seal which prevented us from being able to drive it to Austin for the Lonestar Roundup. We were however able to take my Dads 5.3L 1951 3100 and brother in laws LS1 1955 F100. The trucks both made the drive from Dallas without any issues even through some pretty heavy rain.

The axle is being dropped off for a new pinion seal tomorrow and we should have it back in before weeks end.

[NoClassic]

The pinion seal is fixed and I just finished up using CLR on the rest of the truck.

We should have the paint matched next week and the primer areas covered.

[Kim57]

Looks real sharp.
Kim

[NoClassic]

Sorry for the lack of updates. We finally got the paint matched to what I think is a close as it will get considering the state of the original stuff.

We have just been driving the truck around and fixing small issues as they come up. Mainly just rattles and a small coolant leak from a heater hose.

One issue we can resolve though is the headliner panel falling down. With the heat we have here adhesive is not working. Does anyone have a solution that works?

The truck is also for sale if anyone is interested.

[Kim57]

Looks real nice.
Kim

[RockinKees]

Looks good, stance is super!

[ChuckDriver]

Love the patina!