Wampus Cat

[TxCajun]

I decided to completely rebuild the front suspension while switching from a manual to a power steering gearbox.

I had previously installed 2 inch lowering springs and new upper ball joints when I rebuilt the brakes. At that time, my inspection had led me to believe the rest of the suspension and steering linkage was in pretty good shape. However when I started disassembling things, I found more wear than what I could find with the suspension or steering all assembled. For example the rear bushings on the lower a-arms were worn very badly even though I could not feel movement or wobble in the a-arm. Fortunately the threads in the a-arms for the bushings were not damaged.

I’m currently in the process of cleaning and painting all the parts and installing new Moog parts.

I’m also making the modification to improve caster by moving the A-arms 3/4 inch forward. I decided to compensate for that by modifying the shock absorber mounts on the lower a-arm to move them back to their approximate original position to maintain the original shock orientation.

Oh, I also recently found a basket-case, badly used/abused 20-ton hydraulic press and refurbished it for use in the shop (rebuilt the hydraulic jack; found or made replacement parts; straightened bent parts; fabricated a caster base). The press worked great for removing the old lower ball joints.
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[Braunschweiger]

This is going to be good

[Grizz1963]

I recall rebuilding my upper and lowers.

My one lower is a replacement as the truck must have had a serious hit at some point in its past.

Looking good.

[TxCajun]

I finished the installation of the power steering gearbox and the rebuild of the front suspension which were started in posts #175 and #176 above.

I used the collapsible steering column section that was attached to the Wrench-A-Part ’84 C10 power steering gearbox. I cut my existing three-on-the-tree manual column a few inches below the shifter mechanism and used a cut off wheel to rough cut the ¾” DD shape, then finished it with a file to get a nice tight fit in the Unisteer U-joint.

I initially planned to do the caster improvement modification by moving the A-arms 3/4 inch forward, but when I mocked this up I found that the coil springs rubbed on the inside of the upper spring pocket. When I bought the 2 inch lowering springs they were described as heavy duty, higher rate springs and I suspect that they are larger in diameter than stock. In any case, when I drilled the lower A-arm shafts, I only moved the locator pocket by ½ inch instead of ¾ inch. That seems to work with the springs, and I get at least some of the caster improvement.

The power steering gearbox adapter plate from Captain Fab and the Moog “The Problem Solver” front suspension parts all made these tasks go pretty smoothly.
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[TxCajun]

Cab Removal

I've been doing all of my rust repair and metal work with the cab on the frame, and hadn't planned to remove it, but then I realized that in its current state of disassembly it only took removal of about a half dozen bolts, wires, and steering column to set it free. So, after seeing some other posts about applying Raptor Liner to the cab underside, I decided I wanted to do that to protect all of my work.

I made a simple wood support frame to fit inside the cab, and notched it to fit around the weatherstrip flanges on the door openings. I then attached that to my overhead hoist (see post #111) and lifted the cab. After rolling the frame back out of the way, I then set the cab on the floor and moved the hoist straps to the two inner-fender attachment points on the front of the cab, and hoisted from those points so that I could pivot the cab on its back on to a pallet with casters.

This worked really well to single handedly remove the cab. I did bend one of the drip rails slightly with the lift strap, but this is an easy fix, and I'll add some features to the wood frame to prevent that before the next lift.

Next up is wire brushing the bottom of the cab, degreasing, cleaning, and applying the Raptor Liner.
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[TxCajun]

Cab Bottom

Cleaned, Primed, and Raptor Lined
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[65truckowner]

Looking good. You do good work

[TxCajun]

Rolled the cab back upright after coating the bottom, and mounted it on a cart for body work.
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[SCOTI]

Very nice effort going on here. You've got some good momentum going 😎

[duramax55]

txcajun why did you want more camber ? is that a problem with these trucks? 3/4 of an inch sounds like a lot or is that what is recommended? I don't understand front ends much so what dose the extra camber do to the driving quality? Thanks Denis

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by duramax55

txcajun why did you want more camber ? is that a problem with these trucks? 3/4 of an inch sounds like a lot or is that what is recommended? I don't understand front ends much so what dose the extra camber do to the driving quality? Thanks Denis

Caster. Increasing Caster improves tracking. The mod gets one get closer to 'modern' Caster specs w/o a bunch of shimming to get there.

Negative Camber vs. positive Camber is also an improvement that allows for better tire contact when navigating corners.

[Braunschweiger]

Good progress

[TxCajun]

Originally Posted by duramax55

txcajun why did you want more camber ? is that a problem with these trucks? 3/4 of an inch sounds like a lot or is that what is recommended? I don't understand front ends much so what dose the extra camber do to the driving quality? Thanks Denis

My understanding is that our trucks were designed with almost 0 degrees caster for typical road speeds of the day, and for lower steering wheel effort. The modification to the lower A arm pivot shaft adds caster for better tracking and stability.

This is one of the better threads that I found on the subject: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=501241

[TxCajun]

Thank you all for your kind words regarding progress!

With the help of my brother who is visiting, we finished a little metal working, clean-up, and epoxy primer on the bed this week.
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[TxCajun]

After the primer cured, we installed the bed front and the tailgate.

I plan to leave these installed with the bed on the cart while doing the body filler work and sanding in preparation for the next primer stage.
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[rbruno68]

Not exactly truck related, but sort of. How much of a total run do you have in your copper pipe air dryer in the background. I will be building on of these in the spring. Does it work well for painting and anything you would have changed? Just looking for advice before I build mine.
Rob

[TxCajun]

Originally Posted by rbruno68

Not exactly truck related, but sort of. How much of a total run do you have in your copper pipe air dryer in the background. I will be building on of these in the spring. Does it work well for painting and anything you would have changed? Just looking for advice before I build mine.
Rob

Thanks for the question! Most visitors to the shop don't know what that is. :-)

The 8 straight vertical sections of 3/4” diameter tubing are 5 feet long each so I would estimate that the total length including all of the fittings is about 45 feet.

It can be pretty humid here in central Texas, and this arrangement works well so far. I don't get any moisture out of the last drain valve, and you can progressively see less moisture from each drain valve as you get further from the compressor. When I'm running the compressor hard for painting or sandblasting, I generally drain the compressor tank and all the tubing drain valves about every hour.

I've only done primer painting, some Raptor Liner, and sand blasting with this arrangement so far, but I have had no water issues. I do have a small filter dryer at the end of the run as a final stage backup.

With regards to changes I would make, if a person had a way to bend the tubing and eliminate some of the solder joints/fittings, that would make the assembly easier and reduce the number of potential leaks. Also, I'm thinking of adding an automated drain valve for the main compressor tank. Beyond that, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Just as an fyi, I bought the long runs of tubing in 10 foot sections locally at a big box store due to shipping costs. All of the fittings were sourced from Zoro.com as they appeared to have the best prices, and I think all of the ball valves used for the drains were Harbor Freight. Three years ago, the parts were around $80 total.
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[franken]

Maybe my logic is flawed, but my air setup is long horizontal runs rather than long verticals. The runs are angled down slightly ~.25"/foot. Water has to drain back to the tank or blow through the water separator. I don't like the 5 valves that have to be drained after water condenses or it gathers and turns real nasty.
I used black 3/4" pipe and made it modular with unions in the verticals so I can add 40' sections easily. The filters, regulator and dryer is also attached w/ a union so they come off as a ~3' section.

[rbruno68]

TxCajun,
Thanks for the info. In MD where I am, it also gets very humid in the summer. I will check the online source for the fittings. Copper has gotten very high at least where I am. for the 3/4 inch pipe, it is going to cost me more then that. I too was figuring I would need a filter/dryer of some sort at the end of it just as a precaution. I don't plan on opening a paint both or anything like that, but do want things to look decent. I have other painting projects besides the truck stuff.
Thanks for the info.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by franken

Maybe my logic is flawed, but my air setup is long horizontal runs rather than long verticals. The runs are angled down slightly ~.25"/foot. Water has to drain back to the tank or blow through the water separator. I don't like the 5 valves that have to be drained after water condenses or it gathers and turns real nasty.
I used black 3/4" pipe and made it modular with unions in the verticals so I can add 40' sections easily. The filters, regulator and dryer is also attached w/ a union so they come off as a ~3' section.

It prob works just fine w/your angled horizontal runs but the vertical runs would seem better to me. I would think gravity favors each vertical 'run' (2x uprights into a drain) vs the angled-horizontal w/o as many drain accumulation points. I

I did this using cheap Northern Tool China sourced 50' neon-orange airline on my garage wall after looking into a copper plumbed arrangement. I figured while the copper would offer better cooling vs the plastic hose, the hose should still be effective & was much cheaper/faster @ the time. I originally routed the airline in angled sloped runs but changed it to vertical runs w/drains @ the bottom of each loop like TxCajun.

I came off the compressor discharge & straight into the cheap hose. Each run up the wall had a brass drain tied in @ the bottom (180° loops top & bottom). The very end of the line had a drain as well & the discharge routing back into the compressors tank was 'T'd inline18" above the 'end of loop' drain. It was all tied together w/serrated fittings & worm-gear style hose clamps. Worked well & allowed using my plasma cutter w/o issue (that was my main reason for the set-up. PC's apparently DO NOT like moisture).

I took the set-up down when I moved out of the house. it lasted far longer than I expected given the hose quality (~9yrs w/o issue).

[TxCajun]

My original chrome bumper was very scratched, dented, bent, cracked in several places, and rusty.
While my brother was visiting, and I had a second set of hands available, we used my 20-ton hydraulic press to do our best at straightening it and pressing out the dents. I then welded and ground the cracks. Afterwards, I stripped the remaining chrome and rust with an abrasive fiber wheel, and finished with 120 grit sandpaper.
I applied Krylon primer, then a couple of coats of Krylon “metallic aluminum”, which looks pretty sharp, but is maybe a bit too bright. I then applied Krylon “gloss, crystal clear coat”, and that turned it into more of a subdued finish, which matches what I’ve done on my rear step bumper.
The things I’ve read on the interweb say that Krylon Clear won’t yellow in the sun, so we’ll see how it holds up.

[Braunschweiger]

Great Job, looks really good.

[TxCajun]

Bench Seat Pivot Bushing/Spacer

I received a seat upholstery order from ricksupholstery.com, and I'm excited to see what it looks like installed, so I've jumped ahead to preparing the bench seat. There wasn't much left of the old upholstery/foam, several broken springs, frame rust, and a few other issues.

The previous owners/drivers of my truck must have been big people because the bottom seat frame where the back attaches and pivots was cracked on both sides, and the weld nuts on the inside of the frame for the pivot bolt were either broken or missing.

I welded the cracks in the frame and made some nut plates for welding on the inside of the frame to replace the original square weld nuts.

One of the bushing/spacers that fit between the seat bolt and the arms of the seat back was missing and they don’t appear to be sold by the usual parts vendors.

I don’t have access to a lathe so I went looking for something that is near net shape that I could easily modify. I found that a piece of 1/4 inch schedule 40 pipe is the correct outer diameter to fit in the seat back frame hole, and the inside diameter only has to be opened up slightly with a 3/8 drill bit to fit the pivot bolt. All you then have to do is cut a short piece to the correct length and file or sand the end square, and you have an almost exact copy of the original steel bushing/spacer.

A short piece of quarter inch schedule 40 pipe or nipple is only about two bucks.
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[TxCajun]

Bench Seat Tracks Modification

I’m 6’ 2” and decided I’d like the bench seat to be a little lower and moved further back. I’ve seen the “fixed” brackets that are offered by some vendors for lowering the seat, but I wanted to retain the adjustability.

I made a fixture from steel angle to which I could bolt the stock seat track to retain the orientation of the mounting bolts. I then scribed a line about 1” up from the bottom and cut the supports with a grinder cut-off disc. I then hammered the remaining “feet” flat and then trimmed them to match the width of the vertical supports. (Since these supports are angled, when you cut them off, the resulting mounting points are narrower, so the “feet” have to be made wider.) When re-mounting the seat tracks, I also moved them rearward about ¾” relative to the feet. I tacked the seat tracks to the modified feet, and then mounted the seat tracks and seat in the cab for a test fit to make sure everything aligned.

After I was satisfied with the fit, I finished fully welding the feet to the tracks, cleaned them with a wire brush and pressure washer, then a spray coat of semi-gloss black.

This modification lowered the seat about 1” and moved the rear most adjustment position about ¾” back.
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[TxCajun]

Seat Frame

Replaced a few broken springs by bending new ones from some "S shaped" seat spring material that I picked up somewhere in the past.

Wire brushed and pressure washed the frame, then primer and paint.

The old foam is deteriorated and smelly. The 18 support wires in the bottom of the foam are rusted and broken. I've ordered some .045 diameter music wire, and I picked up some upholstery foam to try to make a replacement.
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