Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

hey man is you even sure that's where it was a leakin' from in the first place, I mean what else have you done with that there new(er) transmission, sometimes guys replace the speedo cable and put it in just hand tight and forgit' to tighten it all the way with some TOOL, just sayin' bra, not saying that could possibly be the case here, but you know you may wanna crawl under that rig with a light and take a looksie

oh by the way try crawlin' under from the driver side, there's a bit more clearance on that side minus the gas tank and all, I've noticed you put on a few pounds lately on the account of the Soft Serve Season, just sayin' bro just sayin'

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by Gregski

fear not it's already been lowered, so you may be liking it after I already lowered it, LOL

Oh, I indeed did end up liking it. But when I saw that front end dropped further than the rear before you fixed it. I almost cried.

[deejaaa1]

well just dang it! sounds like some of my projects. fix one thing that ain't even broke.

[Woodyboat]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Chevy's don't leak .. They just mark their territory.

My Harley has that same attitude.

[Gregski]

so the saga of the leaky transmission continues, though as you shall see the hand tight speedo cable was not the problem

after further investigation the leak does come from the speedo gear housing, so it was time to yank it out, not only to fix the leak but to see if we can replace the speedo gear with one that is a bit more accurate, as my truck says I went 6.5 miles for every 6 I actually drove (tested with another vehicle)

it appears I have a 40T tooth gear, so with it being 8% off I think I need the 43 tooth one.

6.5 divided by 6 = 1.08

40 teeth times 1.08 (carry the circumfrance of the earth) gives us 43.3333333333333333333333333333333 approximately

[hatzie]

Looks like your MY6 uses a similar speedometer gear carrier to the NP208 in my 76 & M1008 and some, but not all, TH350 & TH700R4 from that timeframe.
There's an O-Ring round the large part of the housing and a seal around the cable end of the gear. Either one can leak but usually it's the seal inside the threaded end around the gear stem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1511809...&ul_noapp=true
I believe part #s are as follows
12440382 SEAL, SPEEDO DRIVEN GEAR (the orange seal in your pic)
1361618 OIL SEAL RETAINER, SPEEDO DRIVEN GEAR (C-Clip in your pic)
I believe it's # 326563 SEAL, SPEEDO DRIVEN GEAR SLEEVE (Black o-ring in the gear carrier)

You can find the orange seal online and probably locally.

The GM 43 tooth driven gear is Purple and probably around $25.
More than you want to know about speedo gears in the 73-87 trucks. http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/drivetrain/speedo.htm

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Looks like your MY6 uses a similar speedometer gear carrier to the NP208 in my 76 & M1008 and some, but not all, TH350 & TH700R4 from that timeframe.
There's an O-Ring round the large part of the housing and a seal around the cable end of the gear. Either one can leak but usually it's the seal inside the threaded end around the gear stem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1511809...&ul_noapp=true
I believe part #s are as follows
12440382 SEAL, SPEEDO DRIVEN GEAR (the orange seal in your pic)
1361618 OIL SEAL RETAINER, SPEEDO DRIVEN GEAR (C-Clip in your pic)
I believe it's # 326563 SEAL, SPEEDO DRIVEN GEAR SLEEVE (Black o-ring in the gear carrier)

You can find the orange seal online and probably locally.

The GM 43 tooth driven gear is Purple and probably around $25.
More than you want to know about speedo gears in the 73-87 trucks. http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/drivetrain/speedo.htm

You are my Saviour!!! thank you so much, I just spent an hour at NAPA looking for this stuff and only came away with the large rubber O-ring part number 1-3895 from a TH350 I believe

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

...There's an O-Ring round the large part of the housing and a seal around the cable end of the gear. Either one can leak but usually it's the seal inside the threaded end around the gear stem...

I am beginning to think the same thing!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

More than you want to know about speedo gears in the 73-87 trucks. http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/drivetrain/speedo.htm

Nonsense, I love this stuff and you have no idea how much I appreciate you helping me out, thank you very much.

ok so I checked and I have the blue drive gear ie 18 teef so using their formula it validates that I need the 43 tooth driven gear.

18 x 3.42 x (20168/29) = 42.76 or round up to 43

[Gregski]

so while we wait on the speedometer housing seal, o-ring and a 43T tooth driven gear I might as well tell you what else I was up to

couple days ago Pick N Pull had a 50% off sale, so I went a huntin' for a few things and scored a thermo nuclear 7 blade fan for only $12 bucks, which we will clean up, paint and mount some day, for now we just brought it up for show n tell

a kind '78 happened to be the organ donor in this case

[Gregski]

also got some grille brackets off the same truck in case I ever find and or decide to go to a newer style grille, this time they only wanted $6 bucks per bracket unlike that other dude who wanted $16 each or something like that in Chico, CA

these also will be cleaned up, and painted green to match the grille some day, (or maybe black, donno)

shoot I just remembered I should have grabbed the center hood latch support bracket too, as it also be different than my '74, oh well

[Gregski]

now I hate sitting around waitin' for parts and it is a 3 day weekend on the account of Memorial Day and all, so I decided to pull out the 1-1/16 anti sway bar I picked up a few weeks back, also a Pick N Pull score for $30 bucks, the plan is to soak it in acid/water bath to get the corrosion off, than wire wheel it, prime it, paint it cast iron color and the brackets black, and clear coat it, NICE

this one came off of a '79 GMC

TOP TIP: when you go a pullin this thing, bring a battery powered drill to drill out the rivets to get the front brackets, something I did not do thinking they was bolted on

[Gregski]

I got the front anti sway bar brackets from that expensive yard in Chico, CA since I worked so hard to drill the 4 rivets out in the field, I decided to pay the $11 bucks a piece for them, I know my local yard would have charged me half that

these came off of an '84 GMC and I think it had a 1-1/8 sway bar, I don't recall if it was still on when I got to it or if someone already bought it, if I knew it was the bigger kind I would have bought it also, well depending on the Devil's price

[Gregski]

pulled the anti sway bar out of the acid bath this morning and hosed it off, than wire wheeled it clean, it really takes both acid and abrasives (wire wheel) to get the rust completely off

[Gregski]

the brackets that come rivited to the frame from the factory was next, can any of youz tell me what the V is for, is that V for Victory or hey my name is Victor and I made these, LOL? or is that an arrow and I have two left ones or two right ones, ha ha

[Gregski]

and soon enuff both of those were clean

i was thinking / comparing media a blastin' to wire wheelins and I think you can get in the came for a whole lot cheaper with a wire wheel (Harbor Freight $15 bucks) than media blasting which you need an air compressor $250 for plus a media bucket $100

[Gregski]

and than I got started on the small brackets

[Gregski]

and soon enuff those was down to bare metal

now Greg why you is working so hard taking them down to bare metal, well cause I gotta tell you in my experience 100% of the time or more, (LOL) they got rust beneath the paint, I kid you not, so I exterminate that cancer

[Gregski]

another question time (AQT)

is they supposed to a have those indentations in the brackets, cause either they forgot to put some in, in all the brackets or these are just wear marks I can't tell the difference non

so is that by design or is they supposed to be nice and flat

[Gregski]

all clean and ready for the paint

[hatzie]

Urethane bushings come with Yellow Zinc galvanized U-Straps. Yellow Zinc looks similar to the old Cadmium bolt and hardware coatings GM used at least till the 80's and probably into the 90's. Much better than the old clapped out rubber bushings or even new rubber bushings. They change the character of the sway bar operation enough that you may not miss the slightly larger piece.
This is a set of Red 1.125" (1-1/8") Greaseable Urethane Bushings. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ens-3-5176r/overview/

Pick your sway bar diameter and get a set... They are available in Black if you aren't looking to draw attention to them.http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/search.asp

[Gregski]

this is sorta what we are going for, not quite the hammered finish as they call it, but just cast iron grayish contrast of the bar to the semi flat black brackets

money

[flashed]

As you always do please take good pics of installing the sway bar as I need to do one when I am able to work again .

[Gregski]

I chose the Dupli-Color [ahem] Wheel Coating "System" of Primer | Paint | Clear for the following two reasons:

1. they offer Graphite base coast

2. they offer Matte clear coat

and so we start with two medium coats of primer (although they call for 4 light ones)

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by flashed

As you always do please take good pics of installing the sway bar as I need to do one when I am able to work again .

LOL, this is how it came off, glad I took these pics