1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[Coach529]

More parts came in today. I ordered aset of seatbelts from http://www.seatbeltstore.com/.

The stuff looks great. I know I could have saved some cash pulling seatbelts out of a junker, but sometimes time is money!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Is that a 3rd/lap belt only in the plastic? Let us know if you're pleased with the ease of installation and how they "feel"?

Mind if I ask what the total bill runs? I see the $120 for the two shoulder belts, but looks like you've gotta buy all the hardware ala carte(?)
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Is that a 3rd/lap belt only in the plastic? Let us know if you're pleased with the ease of installation and how they "feel"?

Mind if I ask what the total bill runs? I see the $120 for the two shoulder belts, but looks like you've gotta buy all the hardware ala carte(?)
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Yes the 3rd lap belt is in the plastic package. So far I am impressed.

Total bill came to around $220 if I recall correctly.

Qty 2, 3 point belts with hardware included.

http://www.seatbeltstore.com/product-p/jupb3ptret.htm

And 1 lap belt, this belt does not included hardware.....

http://www.seatbeltstore.com/product-p/ju0.htm

[Coach529]

Huge progress today due to a beautiful December day and some help!!

The story of the day was this:



Broken bolts. Uggghhh. Everyone of them was seized, but what do I expect out of such old iron.

No chance of getting the bed bolts out, so a skinny wheel was put to work right away. Cut and chisel the head off, and use a punch to push the bolt down and out. Worked great on the 8 bed bolts!!



After an hour or so the two of us had the bed off and then removed the fenders. No suprises at all.









Up next. Research on a small C notch. Removed existing axle, axle flip. Shock mounting, new brake lines. Fun, Fun, Fun!!

[ejn74]

Truck looks awesome! Keep up the great work and you have a great eye for pics!

[Coach529]

I spent a couple hours this afternoon attempting to strip my 1949 GMC 1/2 ton donor axle. Someone really took care of it, the bearings looked great!!



I found 2 castor shims on the drivers side spring mount. That seems odd. None on the other side.





Of course the tie rod ends are seized. I doused with Knocker-Loose to try again another day.



The brakes were in amazing shape. This truck was a driver when it was torn down.

[Yewhi]

I'm loving following this thread. Nice work and will love to see the finished product!

[Coach529]

OK......lets talk King Pins.





From my understanding you remove the retainer bolt and proceed to beat the hell out of the kingpin until it is out.

Any advice? I plan on using a press.

[Dan in Pasadena]

These links may be a help to you for kingpin rebuild and for general stuff on AD trucks:

Indexes of Information:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/
http://www.chevytrucks.org/tech/index.htm

King Pin Rebuild:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/kingpins.htm

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

These links may be a help to you for kingpin rebuild and for general stuff on AD trucks:

Indexes of Information:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/
http://www.chevytrucks.org/tech/index.htm

King Pin Rebuild:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/kingpins.htm

Thanks Dan!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

You're welcome
(But if you're anything like me you'll get stuck reading a million of the articles on those sites! I do EVERYtime I go there, lol)

[NEWFISHER]

Remember to reinstall the zerk fittings before you reassemble everything. The 45 degree ones go on the bottom and if you just install straight ones, you can't get a grease gun onto them with the steer arm interference, speaking from yesterdays experience grrr.

Your project is looking/comming along great. I tune in to your thread to keep up and to check out the great pictures. The one of the ball bearings made me feel guilty that I threw away such a beautifull, mechanical item haha.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

These links may be a help to you for kingpin rebuild and for general stuff on AD trucks:

Indexes of Information:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/
http://www.chevytrucks.org/tech/index.htm

King Pin Rebuild:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/kingpins.htm

That PDF from Stovebolt is amazing. Thanks again.!!

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Remember to reinstall the zerk fittings before you reassemble everything. The 45 degree ones go on the bottom and if you just install straight ones, you can't get a grease gun onto them with the steer arm interference, speaking from yesterdays experience grrr.

Your project is looking/comming along great. I tune in to your thread to keep up and to check out the great pictures. The one of the ball bearings made me feel guilty that I threw away such a beautifull, mechanical item haha.

Don't feel guilty.....I just tossed those bearings into the trash right after I took the picture!!

[blue 72 gmc 4x4]

Looking good! Love those AD chevy's!

[Coach529]

King pins are out and the axle is prepped to send to SID to be modified!!

droppedaxles.com

I had used the PDF below as a guide to pull these apart, but they were quite a bit different.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/kingpin.pdf

My spindles (out of a 1949 GMC) did not have retaining rings. Directly below the dust caps was the kingpin.

I pulled the dust caps and removed some of the excess grease in preperation to press the king pins out the next day at work, where I have access to a press. After I had them cleaned up, out of curiosity I grabbed a hammer and punch and gave the king pin a good whack. To my suprise it moved. 15-20 well placed whacks and the king pin hit the floor. Same with the other side.

Both sides were clearly well lubed, so I am sure this played a huge roll in there ease of removal.



How do I know f I need oversized Kingpins when I replace them?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Please take detailed, close up photos of it all going back together!
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Please take detailed, close up photos of it all going back together!
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Sure will.

[Coach529]

Finally got enough furniture moved out of the garage and organized that "Henry" was able to move indoors. Not sure for how long. For now he will have to remain mobil.

First stop was a quick trip to the carwash to clean off the rear frame rails. 63 years of dust and dirt had packed into everything. Plenty of looks on the way to and from the car wash. Even had a couple gawkers while I was washing.



Once I got him home I back him into his temporary parking spot and went to work right away. Removing old mufller brackets, lever shocks and overloads was first on the agenda. Of course nothing come apart easy. A 4-1/2" grinder and a skinny wheelis the most used tool for the day.



After the rear rails were free of excess I turned my attention to the drivers side floor

I got the cab mount bolt out after some persuasion. I got the e-brake pedal disassembled and was ready to cut the floor out when I ran out of time. Tomorrow is another day!!



Trying to figure out what I am going to use for paint on the floor, interior and rear frame rails.

POR-15?
KBS coatings?

There is some surface rust in the cab floor, door jams and interior door panels. Not sure if I can just wire wheel it of and prime or if I should use a special paint.

We are going with a non tradition paint color in the interior. Flat or Satin Black

[Dan in Pasadena]

Both the black & white and the color shot in the garage are super nice. Excellent photography work!

I bought a qt. of KBS and though I haven't used it yet Ive heard great things about it including it isn't as UV sensitive as POR is. After wire wheeling have you considered using Ospho to really permanently kill the rust bug? I'm a little unclear on whether you remove the white-ish residue it leaves but do a quick search here on it and see for yourself. You're making a lot of progress fast and putting us (well, ME) to shame, ha ha.
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Both the black & white and the color shot in the garage are super nice. Excellent photography work!

I bought a qt. of KBS and though I haven't used it yet Ive heard great things about it including it isn't as UV sensitive as POR is. After wire wheeling have you considered using Ospho to really permanently kill the rust bug? I'm a little unclear on whether you remove the white-ish residue it leaves but do a quick search here on it and see for yourself. You're making a lot of progress fast and putting us (well, ME) to shame, ha ha.
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Thanks.....my goal is to have it drivable by spring. I think that should be managable as long as I can afford it. That seems to be the toughest prt of any project.

I will do some research on Ospho.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Coach529

Had a little drama when I found a pool of oil underneath. Turned out to be deteriated lines to and from external oil filter housing. Picked up some fittings at the parts store and a chunk of fuel line and patched that up.

Was reading this just now and thought I'd throw in my opinion that you need to rethink this. Fuel hose does not tolerate oil well at all. You can get 3/8 power steering return hose at the parts store for under 2 bucks a foot and it will not swell and get soft over time.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Was reading this just now and thought I'd throw in my opinion that you need to rethink this. Fuel hose does not tolerate oil well at all. You can get 3/8 power steering return hose at the parts store for under 2 bucks a foot and it will not swell and get soft over time.

Thanks. This is still a patch fix and on my punch list to fix permanently eventually.

[NEWFISHER]

Originally Posted by Coach529

Thanks. This is still a patch fix and on my punch list to fix permanently eventually.

After adding headers and a powerbooster/master at the firewall of my last build and permantly finding a location for the filter canister I used steel 5/16 fuel line and bent up 2 pieces to tuck in and around the block to the canister. Worked well and no swell.

[El Campo]

Truck looks great! I do not remember seeing in here if you cleaned the fuel tank out? Bound to have a ton of varnish and rust in it. I always clean the heck out of them and coat them with Kreem as I have had horrible luck with rust in tanks. Usually I fill up with a mixture of phosphoric acid and water and a day or so later you have beautiful bare metal. Even on a 98 GMC truck I had terrible rust and varnish and had to replace the tank. Good luck I like your vision with this one.