The Kraken

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by daveshilling

RELEASE The KRAKEN!!!!

I'm the lucky new owner of this sexy lady... Still working diligently on Lucky the Trucky, but how do you pass this up??

I'll be getting her cleaned up and post some updates here and there. Excited to make some tweaks and get her daily-driver ready!

You bought this from my friend JP in PA. I was trying to help him sell the RS chassis he has a result of selling you the truck. I like this one. Great patina.

Marc

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

You bought this from my friend JP in PA. I was trying to help him sell the RS chassis he has a result of selling you the truck. I like this one. Great patina.

Marc

It's a very good looking ride, that's for sure! It will be fun cleaning it up and enjoying the cruises.

[Kevin_C]

congratulations. The truck has some attitude.

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by Kevin_C

congratulations. The truck has some attitude.

Thanks! Patina Black just can't be beat... it looks so good. And will probably need A/C cause it gets hot out here as it is

[Rickysnickers]

So when did you acquire the truck? I just cruised through the build thread. Quite nice

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

So when did you acquire the truck? I just cruised through the build thread. Quite nice

I've barely had her a few days, and so far she just needs some stuff like tired ball joints, new R&P, and tires replaced and she'll be ready to hit the streets as a fair-weather daily.

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by daveshilling

I've barely had her a few days, and so far she just needs some stuff like tired ball joints, new R&P, and tires replaced and she'll be ready to hit the streets as a fair-weather daily.

Nice

[NorCalGal]

Congratulations on your new purchase….. super cool truck!

[daveshilling]

Congratulations on your new purchase….. super cool truck!

Congratulations! That truck was a major inspiration for my build!

Thanks, yall!

[59chev]

Congratulations! That truck was a major inspiration for my build!

[daveshilling]

Although this is a functional truck already, it has been thoroughly enjoyed for a decade and needs some attention.

I've been working on some little jobs, and some bigger jobs.

The hood latch/radiator cover thing (what is this panel called?) had both corners broken off and I couldn't understand why... but I replaced those. Holes drilled and a little black paint and they're serviceable again.

Then I figured out why they broke...

[daveshilling]

...the entire radiator support was only connected to the inner fenders by these two corner bolts. No hardware at the top (usually has two bolts there) and no hardware at the bottom!!

I have no clue why this was done, but I reconnected the front end so it was actually one piece again with some high grade bolts.

Unsurprisingly, this had a positive impact on my ability to adjust and correct the door-to-fender gaps, which were very close and rubbing when the doors opened and closed.

[daveshilling]

I also found a MAJOR problem up front.. the Front Crossmember was cracked on both sides around the drivers lower A arm mount... i ground that out, welded it closed, said a prayer, and moved forward.

I didn't add any bracing/gussets as I had a time-sensitive deadline to return the truck to a drivable state, but I may do so in the future.

[dsraven]

for the body issues also check the cab and rad support mounts for worn out, broken, missing or cracked out mounts. the cab sits on rubber at the rear but is metal on metal at the front mount. the rad support also sits on rubber. this creates a seesaw effect so having good integrity on the rubber mount material and also the steel around those mounts is more critical. my 57 and 58 both had badly rusted rear cab mounts and also really bad rubber mounts. to get the doors adjusted properly and have them last it is crucial to start off with solid doors. these doors have a habit of being rusted at the spot welds where the lower door hinge bolts on (and also the upper hinge pockets, webs that hold the inner and outer panels together etc) so what i usually do is grtab the open door and try to twist it. it will soon be apparent if the door is solid or if it allows a twisting action. next upis to have good tight hinges. i highly recommend to rebuild the stock hinges if you are using the original doors as they may have been bent to fit at the factory. i have several doors for the task force trucks, all original, and they all fit differently on the same set of hinges on the same cab. after you get that stuff figured out remove the front fenders and adjust the doors to fit the cab. then install the fenders and adjust them to fit the cab and doors. shm the front cab mount and the rad support mount as needed to get the gaps straight and even. then install the hood and adjust that remembering that the cab can be pivotted on the driver's front cab mount in order to get the hood gap at the firewall to be the same.
here is a lnk to a guy who has a youtube and explains body gaps and fitting the parts together
https://youtu.be/RgUwd9PdWiA
for the crossmember, holy cow! please post up some pics with a better reference of the material thickness and size of the cross member. was the control arm possibly bottoming out causing the stress cracks? is the material under-spec's for the related stress?

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by dsraven

for the crossmember, holy cow! please post up some pics with a better reference of the material thickness and size of the cross member. was the control arm possibly bottoming out causing the stress cracks? is the material under-spec's for the related stress?

Doors aren't rubbing the fenders and gaps are closer to where they should be, so its a done deal for now. Fine-tuning gaps is a job I'll save for when I've no other big jobs to do on either truck (=

The LCA cannot bottom out, the UCA would hit the frame before that would happen. It was just driven hard! No plans to remove/replace it (its the No Limit Engineering Wide Ride IFS if you want to see specs on it), but I may add some additional bracing/gussets/triangles somewhere within the structure to stiffen it up a bit. It's metal, so it's fixable!

I did notice a lack of a front bar between rad support mounts and usually I see guys adding something there to stiffen things up, so I'll likely work on that at some point. The original leaf mounts are still there for some reason (the ole "not hurting nothing if we leave em" strategy I think) so I need to take those off first before I add any bracing.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice. Do you know how to set the backlash and preload? Looks like that's a difficult job to me.

[Daze57]

setting backlash and preload isnt that difficult IF you have the correct equipment and a good reliable guage

[6DoF]

on the 9", if just changing the carrier, it's super easy. there aren't even shims involved. the pinion stays in and doesn't change because the ring gear center doesn't change. then the carrier has threaded adjusters on each side to set lateral location and preload. only real tool needed is a dial indicator to check the back-lash before pulling things apart ... when going back together, just match it and good to go.

i love my trutrac, great diff! and solid detailing on the truck sir, all great finds.

[daveshilling]

I chose not to learn something new for this one, seeing as it's a well-known truck with some provenance, and let a shop handle this for me...I also dont have a press to handle bearing changes, and this needed fresh bearings.

Plus side to that is it's done right and was done in 24 hours. The rear is back under the truck and the Kraken has returned!

I definitely want to tear down a 9" third member some day and learn, though. If only to have an excuse to buy one of those awesome third member bench ount things that let you turn it and such.

[6DoF]

the swiveling 9" mounts are wooooorrrrth it!

[dsraven]

nice to have it all back and workable in short order but, wait, you built all tghis other stuff but draw the line on a swivelling 3rd member carrier? (yeah, I get it, you want it done by some pros who get it done right away and no farting around building the tool for a week first. thats why my truck isn't finished yet. too many rabbit trails)

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by dsraven

nice to have it all back and workable in short order but, wait, you built all tghis other stuff but draw the line on a swivelling 3rd member carrier? (yeah, I get it, you want it done by some pros who get it done right away and no farting around building the tool for a week first. thats why my truck isn't finished yet. too many rabbit trails)

Yeah, since I have Lucky the Trucky that I'm building, I figure I've got all the hands-on opportunity there if I want it...and I better not need to get into that 9" for a long time!! It took some strength to hand over the parts and the $$ but the turnaround was worth it... more time driving!

[G&R's57GMC]

Congratulations Dave on the Kraken !

You beat me to driving a NoLimit chassis , mine is still in limbo since 2010 … but thing’s are moving forward , I sold the van a couple of months ago and the GMC moved forward to take its spot in the garage .

Enjoy the Kraken and keep it long enough so I can take it for a spin

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by G&R's57GMC

Congratulations Dave on the Kraken !

You beat me to driving a NoLimit chassis , mine is still in limbo since 2010 … but thing’s are moving forward , I sold the van a couple of months ago and the GMC moved forward to take its spot in the garage .

Enjoy the Kraken and keep it long enough so I can take it for a spin

Yeah I beat ya a long time ago bud, I used to own the Jackalope for 4 years, Krakens sister. I think this one will stick around for a lil while since I can park it outside and not get nervous about paint and such, but once I have two running driving patina LS trucks, we'll see which one gets driven more I guess!

Bout time you get started on that GMC! You're probably a year away from driving it on the new old chassis.

[daveshilling]

I replaced the water pump when it started leaking, and it had a terrible wobble to it... it was definitely time. In my haste, I forgot to plumb the steam line to the back of the pump!

Not wanting to pull the pump again, I added this port into the upper rad hose from ICT Billet along with a 90 degree barbed elbow. Some GM hose clamps and GM steam line from the junkyard that somehow jumped into my toolbag finished it off and it replaced the hose-and-nut cap that was added when the radiator was replaced by the previous owner but was missing a steam port.