Out of the Ditch = The Rebuild Begins ('72 GMC)

[Ol Blue K20]

You definitely have some good karma going on. It's nice to see it on the slots again.

[swamp rat]

That's great news! I agree on the weather, i took Friday and Monday off to get a few things accomplished myself!

[GASoline71]

Today is one month from the day I ordered this kit. It arrived on my doorstep yesterday evening.

I guess all the talk of CPP having lousy shipping and customer service is correct. Even though I ordered through Summit Racing, I had to have Summit contact CPP 3 times to get any details about my order. Taking a month to ship in stock parts is a joke.

But, I have them and will install them this weekend. CPP will not ever get another dime from me.

Gary

[swamp rat]

Next time Porterbuilt? Anyway i saw that other pic on Facebook yesterday and i gotta agree.

[kehstr]

I agree with the Superbowl thing!!

[flashed]

Super Bowl ,whats that ? Never watched one ,never will .

[GASoline71]

Pulled the springs out of the 1969 front end yesterday. Now I know why there were a crap load of adjustment shims in the upper control arm and hard rubber spacers in the spring on the passenger side. The spring was broken.

Here is a shot of the drivers side stock spring next to the CPP lowering spring.

Gonna do ball joints today and paint some stuff like the 1972 spindles. Pic is the 1969 drums and spindles sitting next to the 1972 disc brake spindles.

Gary

[med.bronze]

Just ran across your build today and enjoyed reading thru your progress. I noticed you have the same black seat cover as mine and you got some samples from SMS. Did you go ahead and order from them? I just sent them an inquiry for some samples. Ive ordered some NOS vinyl from them in the past for another project and was very happy with there service.

[GASoline71]

Hi bronze... I haven't gotten that far yet. My seat is stripped apart, but the donor 1972 GMC I bought has a really nice seat in it with a decent cover, so I will just use that for now. Then down the road I will get a more factory looking cover.


Gary

[GASoline71]

More progress over the weekend. Plus today is my day off so still screwing around while the sun is out. Which has been a rarity lately.

The front end has been a nightmare. Taking apart 40 year old stuff always has bad things rear their ugly head. One of the lower control arms on the '69 frame is cracked from eons of rust where the shaft goes through it. The upper control arms were rust welded to the point they don't even move.

When I removed them the studs that hold the upper arms to the frame pretty much stripped all the threads away. So I'm sure it's just a matter of beating them out and beating new ones in. Fun times.

The arms from the '69 are all not in that great of shape, whereas the stuff from the '72 are in really good shape. So the '72 arms will get a cleaning and be used for this build.

Also the lower control arm cross shaft saddles came off the crossmember and the rivet that centers the shaft fell apart from rust. I'm sure there is an easy fix for this, but maybe I'm just over thinking things. So I have to address that too.

Getting the rear coils out was a bigger job than I wanted it to be. I had to grind off the bolt heads of the lower bolts as they were rust welded into the cups. They've been sitting for 4 days with PB Blaster soaking them. Still nada... so out came the grinder. I got the passenger side coil out and the upper cup off. But the drivers side upper bolt and nut is not budging. So the hot wrench and grinder will probably be used on that one too.

I keep telling myself how much fun this is.

But progress is being made!

Gary

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

Getting the rear coils out was a bigger job than I wanted it to be. I had to grind off the bolt heads of the lower bolts as they were rust welded into the cups. They've been sitting for 4 days with PB Blaster soaking them. Still nada... so out came the grinder. I got the passenger side coil out and the upper cup off. But the drivers side upper bolt and nut is not budging. So the hot wrench and grinder will probably be used on that one too.

I keep telling myself how much fun this is.

But progress is being made!

Gary

I somewhat recently dropped my truck. The front end went OK because I did a rebuild like 12 years ago and did a refresh to it while it was apart.

That back I had never touched and was an absolute nightmare that made me wish I had a set of torches!!! And this was a south carolina truck, frame just has surface rust, but those rear coil spring bolts/perches were damn near rust-welded together!

My impact gun couldn't do squat with this, and I saw why after I had it cut out (this was the DS upper spring bolt)...

[steelhorse]

Can't wait to see it done.

[GASoline71]

Installed the rear 4" drop springs with new clamp/retainers and hardware. Springs are from CPP and the clamp kit was from LMC. Bolted in EZPZ. Way easier to bolt in then it was to remove the stock springs and clamps.

Installed new upper and lower cross shafts up front. The lower shafts were a tad different, but after I started to install them it made sense. The seals are a bit different and improved over the stock shafts so they needed to machine a deeper shoulder on the shaft. Still bolted in and lined up just fine. You can see the difference in the pic.

I bought new 9/16" grade 8 lower control arm U-bolts from Summit Racing. They are actually for later model trucks but will work with my 1972 shafts. The holes through the crossmember and through the cradles of the 1969 frame are already large enough for the bolts no problem, so I didn't have to drill them out. The thick grade 8 washers did not come with the bolt kits. I sourced those locally (Ace Hardware) and they will have to have a tad bit of grinding done to them to line up correctly in the crossmember.

If anyone is interested, the U-bolts are made by Dorman and here is the Summit Racing part number: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-13503 They are only $8 bucks per side. So for $16 bones and $5 more for shipping you're done. Nice and cheap!

Will install the front drop springs soon. Just gotta get new disc rotors and calipers and I can then bolt everything up front back together.

Gary

[GASoline71]

Got what was left of the lower control arm crossshaft centering rivets removed from the frame.

Have them mocked up with the new 9/16" U-bolts I got from Summit Racing. Have to work swing shift today so will probably have the arms installed tomorrow or Monday.

Gary

[GASoline71]

More progress...

Gary

[flashed]

Looks good .

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks like someone is swapping to discs. Looks good.

[GASoline71]

Thanks you'se guys! Yep... swapping all my old 1972 stuff over to the 1969 frame. I used the 1972 upper and lower control arms (installed new Moog ball joints) and put new cross shafts and bushings in them. I used the stock 1972 spindles and 2" CPP drop springs. I just bought new rotors, bearings, calipers and pads today.

I also picked up new Moog inner and outer tie rod ends today as well. I'm using all the 1972 steering linkage and the 1972 power steering box too.

I had bought new upper cross shaft mounting studs that go through the frame, but ended up just using a thread chaser on the old ones and bought new locking nuts for them.

It should be sitting on all 4 paws very soon.

Gary

[RRR18]

Cool man. Nice progress.

[GASoline71]

Some more done today before swing shift. New rotors (and new bearings), new shocks, and calipers mocked up. I cleaned up and painted the disc brake backing shields as well.

The 1969 frame has the brake hose tabs on the rear of the crossmember, so I need to weld on new tabs in the front of the crossmember to run my disc brake hoses like they were on my 1972.



Gary

[flashed]

It's looking good under there .

[GASoline71]

Lotsa stuff happened over the weekend. Ol' Creeping Death is sitting on its own paws bearing it's own weight. Been almost 2 years since those ET's were bolted to it.

Got some new bushings and grade 8 fasteners for the stock 1 1/16" sway bar too.

Gary

[flashed]

Sway bar looks great ,I need to get one for my 72 .

[Low Elco]

Good to see it back on it's feet!

[GASoline71]

Working swings this week so got a little more progress done in the last couple of mornings.

I got pretty much everything I need off of the old bent frame with the exception of removing the bed, the front 2 saddles for the bed mounts, and the rear bumper. Everything else frame related is being cut up and going to scrap. The empty rear end housing, leaf springs and drop shackles might be spoken for, but I won't know if he's serious until I finally unbolt them from the frame.

I am going to use the driveline and original style carrier bearing and carrier bearing mount from my 1972. So I removed the rivets holding the 1969 carrier bearing mount and mocked up the bolt in one from the 1972. So far it looks like it will fit fine. But I won't know if I need to modify the length of my 1972 driveline from the leaf sprung truck to fit the 1969 coil sprung truck until I get the engine and transmission set into place. Luckily there is a driveline service shop just over an hour from my house that can do all the modification I might need. Or even build me a custom unit.

I have a couple more threads going in the main section only because I wanted help and opinions away from the build thread. But here they are if anyone might be interested.

Paint code thread: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=700867

Moving or not moving the fuel tank thread: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=703245

That's all for now...

Gary