Project: Custom 71 4x4 hotrod

[silver7]

This past Friday was a busy day. My 12 bolt rear was ready from powder coating so I drove over at lunch and picked it up. Besides some pitting from the casting on the pumpkin it looked great. Time to begin the rebuild.

Also realized Friday my steering arm is stock so I need to replace it with a 4" arm. There was a kit on my truck when I bought it so I thought it had an increased turn radius arm but it did not. That is what I get for thinking. My 4" Superlift raised steering arm is on its way from Summit Racing but now I need to figure out how to get my old steering arm off the knuckle. I tried the William Wallace method to no avail. Next step - PB blaster.

After some more 3M scratch pad, and wax and grease remover work, I was able to primer my frame Saturday and Sunday. I used Nick's HVLP gun and everything went well considering it was my first time painting.

6-1-10 update - Prepped the primer with a scratch pad tonight and devised a plan with Nick to hoist the frame from Nick's garage rafters next Mon night so we can shoot 3 base and clear coats all over.

[silver7]

We - I mean Nick - got the frame painted last night. But I busted my tail mixing paint and cleaning up. Two coats of single stage Kirker Carbon Fiber Metallic and two coats of Nason clear. It looks great and is a very, very close match to my Prismatic Powder Subway Black/clear coated front and rear ends. The heavy fine metallic absolutely pops when the sun hits it. Perfect color for a lifted truck.

Next steps before beginning reassembly:

1. Powder coat the remaining suspension parts (Most will be Subway black with a few red)
2. Rebuild my 12 bolt and Dana 44

[msgross]

that steering arm is the hardest item to get off.... BFH is about the only way... I ended up drilling small holes into the washers in order for them to loosen up...

frame looks good.

[Conroe trucker]

Frame looks really good.
I wish I had done a graphite color for my 2x4.
Good contrast.

[my67chevytruck]

Nice progress.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice job on the frame! Have you tried using a chisel to spread those pesky cone locks? Try to get those to turn a little and work them back and forth if you can.

[silver7]

The rest of frame/chassis parts are at Unique Coatings. Everything but my steering knuckles and U bolt brackets will get Prismatic Speedway Black. The others will be red.

Started rebuilding my rear end when I discovered Strange Engineering sent me the car kit not the truck kit. Went with Strange because they advertised only using Timken bearings. I was surprised when I received National bearings which I was told is a company Timken bought. At least it is a US company. . . Waiting on the correct set now.

I wasn't ready to start my Dana 44 yet because I don't have set-up bearings yet. My Motive Gear rebuilt kit came with Timken bearings so I need to find two more new Timken carrier bearings (#25590) to help me set-up my backlash without damaging my bearings pressing them on and taking them off multiple times. Looking for a new set now so I can complete this before my correct 12 bolt kit arrives.

[VA72C10]

cool. looking forward to seeing it all come back together (as I'm sure you are )

[silver7]

Ya man. We just had a baby girl a month ago, and I'm helping coach my 8 yr old son's All-Star baseball team right now so time is a little scarse these days. But it is real close to some serious progress. . .

[Dieselwrencher]

Congrats on having your daughter!

[silver7]

Thanks Diesel - she is a sweet girl. I find it tough to step away and go work on the truck. Having said that, I have been chopping wood - slowly but surely.

My 12 bolt truck kit arrived from Strange Engineering so I put my posi differential together. Thought I was SOL when I went to put my ring gear on the carrier and it didn't fit. After double checking to ensure I did not have a 4 series carrier, and making sure I had the right part from Summit Racing, I checked my old ring gear and discovered it had the same inside diameter. After popping the carrier in the freezer for about 20 minutes the ring gear popped right on. Now I need my yolk back from the powder coater so I can set my back lash and pinion depth.

On the Dana 44 I didn't want to deal with removing the press fit carrier bearings so I could set my back lash multiple times. I was surprised to find my new Timken set-up bearings at Amazon.com. Can you believe that? Amazon has them but the local big name bearing warehouse does not. The sign of the times I guess . . .still seems crazy to me. They arrived last week so I ground the inside diameter down enough to where I have a press fit. Now I need to set the back lash and pinion depth.

[silver7]

Bought my rear drum-to-disc conversion kit from 'tomsclassics' on ebay. The guy was great. I wanted a 6 lug kit with drilled/slotted rotors and e-brake, but since he did not have my rotors he created a kit for me minus the rotors. $299 was a good deal and the parts look to be of very good quality. For about $450 I'll have everything I need with the drilled/slotted rotors. He told me he uses 88-91 chevy K1500 front rotors for his regular rear conversion kit.

[msgross]

nice

[silver7]

Just picked up my 90 miscellaneous parts from 'Unique Coatings' today. Everything had two coats (base and clear) and looked fantastic! The red parts were a little brighter than I hoped ('fire engine red' instead of 'rio red') but the powder flowed out well and had nice depth and high gloss.

My son's All-star baseball went late tonight and we have a double-header tomorrow night, but I should be able to do some work this weekend. Can't wait!!

[Dieselwrencher]

It's sounding like it's coming along nicely!

[silver7]

Finished building my 12 bolt (set to a backlash of 0.010" as shown on my Richmond pinion gear and 0.039" pinion shim) and I am also about 1/2 way complete on my Dana 44. I might shift to cleaning my rear axles and assembling my leaf springs together this weekend so I can start getting this thing back together.

The 'old' 3.08 and 'new' 4.56 ratio pinions side-by-side really highlight the significant gear change made to better support the 383 stroker.

I had to use the stove (bearing) and freezer (pinion) on more than one occasion to get the pinion bearings to fit over the pinion shaft.

[VA72C10]

nice progress.....leggo my eggo....

[silver7]

The Dana is a lot more work because the pinion shims go under the race inside the housing. PTA to change and is taking a lot of changes to find the correct depth. I'm up to 0.070" and I'm not there yet.

But I was able to get from front springs back together and discovered I still have a few small forgotten parts which need powdercoating.

Slowly, but surely it is getting done.

[msgross]

hate to see your PC bill... yikes.

[silver7]

Near $1K so far, but it does look fantastic - especially when the sunlight hits it.

Imagine what it would have been had I powder coated the frame as well. . .double yikes.

[Dieselwrencher]

It's almost a toss up anymore. PC can be expensive, but if you buy high quality paint, that isn't cheap either. I like PC but I never have anything done done to get it PC'd.

[silver7]

These rebuild kits from Motive Gear are terrible. Although I like the fact the bearings are Timken, I keep running out of shims for the Dana and the 12 bolt kit. I already had to buy an additional kit from Randy's Ring and Pinion and I may have to buy another.

[silver7]

As usual, I ran into a couple of snags with the 12 bolt and the Dana 44. I had just gotten my contact pattern for the 12 bolt correct and was trying to crush my 'crush collar' to the recommended 20-25 in/lbs and ended up stripping my pinion nut. Luckily I was able to remove the nut, but I'm waiting on a replacement to come in the mail. After asking around it seems this happens more often than you would expect. Apparently new crush collars are a bear to crush to the proper load so a lot of guys choose to use old ones and just tighten them more than they were before.

As if a stripped pinion nut wasn't enough to chap my ass I discovered after numerous trial and errors and finally calling Richmond that when you go to a 4.56 ratio on a Dana 44 you have to change to a 4 series carrier. Explains why I was at a 0.070" pinion depth, and all my carrier shims on one side and still couldn't get the correct backlash and contact pattern. I found a new 4 series carrier online for $55 and received it yesterday. I got my backlash correct and I'm on my 2nd pinion depth setting and will run the contact pattern tomorrow.

[msgross]

I thought that they made special 4.56 gears for the 3 series carrier as well... You should have just picked up a set of CUCV axles and been done...

[silver7]

I thought so too. Maybe I ordered the wrong part from Summit. . .Hey, you live and learn. That's what makes doing it yourself so fun. It fits like a glove now.