What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II

[snipescastle2]

I changed my differential lube to 80w/90 and added the posi additive last night, gonna take it out tonight and see where I am with the noise in my rear end.
I inspected the carrier/ring and pinion, no unusual wear/damage to speak of.gear teeth were clean, and the gear wear pattern looked exactly as it did the day I rebuilt it.
The oil was pretty clear with no metal or debris in it.
so, cleaned her up, new gasket and replaced the gear oil and added the posi additive.
Have a Great Day!!!
Ben
Posted via Mobile Device

[matthamby]

Originally Posted by kilrcady

Believe it or not go with a ford starter solinoid.

Any particular part number?
Would you do that in lieu of an aftermarket electronic starting system?

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm open to any help!

[matthamby]

Let me start by saying I'm not a gear head. So I did a little snooping to see why you would want to put a Ford solinoid on. From what I can tell that only helps if you are having "hot start" issues. I'm not having an issue with hot starts, I had a problem with loose wiring. I do have a 5.7ltr that I have to do a little work to and I am going to be upgrading to a fuel injection system and upgrading the starter and multiple other items. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[kilrcady]

it also pulls all the wires at a point where you could access them.Only one fat wire to the starter.You could bump the motor with a screwdriver.And yes it primarily used for hot start problems.I had that problem with my Big block with headers.

[In The Ten Ring]

Long day! Borrowed dad's truck, drove 70 miles, bought a set of NOS front inner fenders from a board member.

Drove another 25 miles, left those with the media blaster for cleaning and epoxy priming.

Came back. All day adventure but worth it.

[matthamby]

Kilrcady, thanks, probably won't do that to the 305 in it, but will definitely look at it fir the 5.7ltr

[sKnNyPpY]

Modified up a nifty little bracket to keep the new a/c lines away from the alternator pulley and buttoned up installation of my CPP front sway bar. I've just taken it for a short ride to work and it feels real good around corners and even feels better over bumps and railroad tracks. Drivers side mounting bracket needs a little tweaking to get the a arm connector more upright and I didn't use the one inch spacers so it wouldn't interfere with the steering components and keep the bar level with the truck/ground.

[Already Gone]

Finally went to the local wrecker and got a 1 1/4 inch front sway bar for my Highlander. I already have new from ECE polyurethane bushings with brackets for lowered ( my truck is not lowered ) trucks that will be installed with this sway bar. The Highlander came with the factory front sway bar but I believe those are 7/8th's of an inch thick.

[WorkinLonghorn]

Replaced the broken hood hinge for $10.

Looked in a local classified and found a guy giving away a 1968 GMC 2500 Custom Camper so I took a look. If only I had more room or some parking space I would have snagged it or at least gotten the doors or the Dana 60 etc.

[Ekliptix]

sand blasted the trailing arms, rear drums and rad fan to brand new condition. Painted them all right after and are back in the truck now. Can't believe how quickly this stand blasting works. All done in 15 minutes for $40.

[In The Ten Ring]

I tell you what, the ability to sandblast would be one heck of an advantage! You'd just have to have a lot of space to do it because I've read it goes everywhere for hundreds of yards.

Are you going to paint, epoxy prime, or powder coat those tailing arms?

My radiator came in from Rock Auto, 2 days in advance! I have to go look at it though as I shipped it to my parents' house. I'm too fearful of the drug heads to allow anything to be left at my house and me not home.

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

I tell you what, the ability to sandblast would be one heck of an advantage! You'd just have to have a lot of space to do it because I've read it goes everywhere for hundreds of yards.

Are you going to paint, epoxy prime, or powder coat those tailing arms?

My radiator came in from Rock Auto, 2 days in advance! I have to go look at it though as I shipped it to my parents' house. I'm too fearful of the drug heads to allow anything to be left at my house and me not home.

I media blast all my door jams and anywhere I can't reach with a sander But I turn down the pressure to 80-90 psi ,Those guys in the picture are running 175psi and that will seriously warp any sheet metal but it will clean a frame in minutes well worth the cost .

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by Already Gone

Finally went to the local wrecker and got a 1 1/4 inch front sway bar for my Highlander. I already have new from ECE polyurethane bushings with brackets for lowered ( my truck is not lowered ) trucks that will be installed with this sway bar. The Highlander came with the factory front sway bar but I believe those are 7/8th's of an inch thick.

Nice, now to figure out where I can get the rear from.

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by toolboxchev

Nice, now to figure out where I can get the rear from.

Apparently late 80's and early 90's IROC Camaros and or Firebirds have a rear sway bar that can be adapted to ours trucks pretty easy. Do a search on this site and I'm sure you will find a thread or two on the subject. Hellwig makes a nice bolt on sway bar for our truck and its around 200.00

[Ekliptix]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

Are you going to paint, epoxy prime, or powder coat those tailing arms?

I gave them 2 coats of underbody spray and a coat of medium gloss black paint.

[Metaldoc]

Originally Posted by Already Gone

Finally went to the local wrecker and got a 1 1/4 inch front sway bar for my Highlander. I already have new from ECE polyurethane bushings with brackets for lowered ( my truck is not lowered ) trucks that will be installed with this sway bar. The Highlander came with the factory front sway bar but I believe those are 7/8th's of an inch thick.

Can that be delivered to my place if you don't mind, I'm in Canada. Just joking I'm still looking.

[JJ's Sierra Grande]

Originally Posted by Ekliptix

sand blasted the trailing arms, rear drums and rad fan to brand new condition. Painted them all right after and are back in the truck now. Can't believe how quickly this stand blasting works. All done in 15 minutes for $40.

Is that place in the SE? I used to use a place over there years ago, wasn't sure if it was still there. real convenient and yes cheap.

[In The Ten Ring]

Thanks man. My trailing arms look a bit rough (everything on my truck does) so I might do this same thing at some point.

Yesterday I test fitted my 3 radiators and removed all the outside bolts on the driver's side inner fender. Only one clip broke, one of the bolts I was actually able to spray with some break free (irony?). I was able to get the bolt out with the use of vise grips and my ratchet. Fortunately the one that broke was reachable with the vise grips.

I took my original radiator over to the rad. shop and found out it was worse than I figured, it needs recored.

I also dropped the bolts into Evaporust soak.

[In The Ten Ring]

I got a lot done today! I removed my driver's side inner fender, with only one snapped retaining clip and one broken free tacked-on nut. Vise grips really come in handy! I also went ahead and removed my driver's side outer fender.

I want to get the outer fender painted and replace the inner with the NOS one I bought.

I have all my hardware from those in Evaporust. I also cleaned up my locking gas cap and carb filter inlet bolt thingie I got from a member.

[VWNate1]

I wished I was driving it ~ I'm in Kingman , Az. , on my way to N.M. .

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by VWNate1

I wished I was driving it ~ I'm in Kingman , Az. , on my way to N.M. .

Same here brother! I keep plugging away at it though but most times I'll get one thing done and then realize there is something I missed. Like removing the driver's side fenders......I hadn't wanted to do that but was told those needed to go off to help get the body lines back right. The inner fender was pretty abused and rather rusty, the outer could use a paint job and has two rust holes the painter says he can fix.

Today I noticed rust holes all the way through my driver's side upper A arm. It's likely been that way since the late 1980's and those arms are rather beefy, I'm pretty sure those can wait.

[Metaldoc]

Originally Posted by VWNate1

I wished I was driving it ~ I'm in Kingman , Az. , on my way to N.M. .

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

Same here brother! I keep plugging away at it though but most times I'll get one thing done and then realize there is something I missed. Like removing the driver's side fenders......I hadn't wanted to do that but was told those needed to go off to help get the body lines back right. The inner fender was pretty abused and rather rusty, the outer could use a paint job and has two rust holes the painter says he can fix.

Today I noticed rust holes all the way through my driver's side upper A arm. It's likely been that way since the late 1980's and those arms are rather beefy, I'm pretty sure those can wait.

Not to rub it in but yeah it is nice driving mine after the 3 year build.

[VWNate1]

NOT ' rubbing it in ' ! you're giving us encouragement to keep going , one baby step at a time..... .

[In The Ten Ring]

I'm just happy for you sir!

Mine is a "job" that's for sure but it's a learning experience too and for that I am grateful.

[Jarvis-69 GMC 1500CK]

Rewired the rear lights of my 69 GMC 1500, just need to hook it all up at the firewall in the morning!

Also spent a good few hours cleaning out 30 years of prairie dirt from under the truck! Still need to take it to a pressure washer to get the surface stuff off, you would not believe just how much dirt and mud was under that truck.