Father-Son build

[lawnman50r]

My Son (11 Years old) and i just bought this truck last weekend and began work on it this weekend. We have 5 years before he is driving so we have the time to save $ and the time to get it ready. I think i am more anxious than he is.

I am also working on restoring a 1934 1.5 ton chevy.

I have spent alot of time on this site and love it, I know i will be needing help with a few things before this build is done.

Thanks

[drivethechevy]

it looks like a nice solid project!
what are your plans for it?
care to share some info about the truck
noticed the spare cab setting in the snowbank, is that a replacement or a parts doner
good luck on both restorations your son is very lucky to have to oportunity to restore a truck with his you

[msgross]

very cool project.. maybe my son (or daughters) and I will have a build someday...

[lawnman50r]

Thanks, it is really a solid truck i think we lucked out finding this one. As for our plans we are going to keep it simple for now nothing radical, we are taking it down to the frame and planning on rebuilding every componet as we go back. After we strip both cabs we will decide which is best and use the other as parts doner. It came with a 350 engine, 350 trans, 44 front 12 bolt rear, 205 transfer. We were able to strip body off frame this weekend. start pulling drive train out next week.

[msgross]

that bed is worth a pretty penny.. don't mess it up.

[drivethechevy]

nice and simple sounds like a great plan
sounds like your making good tare down progress already
nate

[CARZ1968]

Bought my 72 highlander the week my 12 yr old son was born, told my wife it was for him . He has decided he would rather have the convertible! Although he really likes the suburban.Probably because he could fit 20 of his closest friends in it. Good luck on your build.Treasure the time you guys spend together

[lawnman50r]

The time with them is mostly why we are doing this, last weekend we took it down to the frame, i will have pictures this weekend had to go buy new camera. As we tore it down everything is looking good. We will start rebuilding all drive train asap.

spw

[lawnman50r]

Ok,we got alot done and now the real work starts and the questions. We striped both cabs and found the donor cab to be the better of the 2. We will now set all that aside and start on the drivetrain rebuild and frame. My first question on the front end, I want to have disc brakes. I have done some research and found that a front end out of a 1973 blazer will work, can i get some advice. I will rebuild the rear end, transfer case and the transmission myself. First auto rebuild so may have more questions. here are some progress pictures. Like i said the easy part is done.


Thanks

[lawnman50r]

Can i use 1972 blazer axles so that i can have disc brakes on the front.

[msgross]

What year is your truck? I would have thought that it did have disc brakes...

The answer is "yes" you can use any solid axle form a chevy up till IFS in the late 80's. I have an 82 corp 10 bolt in my 68. Be sure to match the gearing with the rear end though... pull the differential cover and look at the numbers stamped on the big ring gears to be sure (ie 41:11 = 3.73, just divide the numbers). The axles tubes are 3" on mine though so I had to pull a new top leaf plates to fit as well... and now I have a sway bar that came form the donor that works!!

[lawnman50r]

The cabs are 72 i assumed the frame was also but i may be wrong. it has a dana 44 with drums.

[msgross]

72 should have had disc... check your VIN on the frame to see if it matches the CAB... It's just inside the driver wheel on the top plate of the frame, near the PS pump area...

[lawnman50r]

Thank you I will do that. Is there a place i can use serial# to check the year of frame, hopefully just wrong axle.

[msgross]

serial # is only the sequence for the rest of the VIN (which had the year in it I think) so it might not give you any answers...

[lawnman50r]

Thank you sir, If anyone can help me identify this frame I would sure appreciate it, I have pictures of it and i will be getting all #'s off of it. Thank you!!!

[84 400]

you got a great one to start with. It is good to have him involved with the rebuild after all that time wrenching and rebuilding it he will have a real appreciation for the time and work you both put in.

It is kinda the oppest with me. I got my dad into rebuilding trucks and we currently have 3 projects going on. It can be fun some times and really piss you off at others but I am guessing in the end the long nights and agrivation are worth it. None of ours are done yet so I don't know but at least 2 are on the road.

Good luck with it and have fun!

[drivethechevy]

im not sure if there is really any differences between the frame but i am guessing the your frame is either from a 70 or someone swaped the axle from the 70
69 older had closed nuckle axles and there was a big ball right before the drums and that ball concealed the axle u-joint
in 70 the changed the design to open nuckle which made the u-joint vissible and gave 4x4s better turning radiuses but they still ran drum brakes
in 71 front disk brakes became the standard
from the pictures you have put up it looks as best as i can tell the you

have an open nuckle front axle which leads me to belive that the axle is a 70 if it has drum brakes

to confirm this for yourself just look and see if you can see the axle shaft u-joint inward from the drum setups

good progress on the tare down, you were lucky that your truk came with a good cab, locating nice cabs is getting to be a bit of work

[msgross]

you know what.. you can change the drums on the open knuckle axle over to disc without removing the axle...

You need everything from the donor axle from the spindle out.. Or you could pull the enite knuckle off and put new ball joints in as well.. That's what I would do unless you are lucky enough to find the same gear ratio...

You need
1. spindle (6 bolts holding it on the knuckle
2. hubs with bearings (rotor usually installed)
3. Caliper mounint bracket
4. Caliper
5. New rubber brake lines
6. adjustable proportioning valve or factory one to replace the distribution block below the MC

There are a few tech articles online.. I have some spindles and one caliper mount but it's not worth the shipping cost (heavy).

Find any dana 44 from a chevy for donor parts!

[lawnman50r]

Well I got lucky again and i found a 1972 front end on craigs list with springs and all steering linkage in awesome shape for $100. So now I am back on track. I sure appreciate everyones help.

[Burt4x4]

looking at your frame it has to be 70 or higher. On the drivers side, the front spring hanger looks to have a strap welded across the front of the hanger. This was a factory change as the 69 model had a re-cal for that spring bolt braking and the driver loosing control of the steering. There was aslo a bolted on stop at the rear of that front spring. Years ago on an old site blazer-net.com someone had posted up a scanned copy of the re-cal letter from late 1969..anyway as for the front axle you can litereally bolt up any D44 or D60 from the 70's & 80's pickup or Blazer

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Wow that's an awesome looking project truck especially a father/son project! You have a great start on it for sure. Going to be an sweet truck when you get it all done. Keep up the good work! Good to hear that you scored a front end for it.

[lawnman50r]

well, during the last year we haven't got alot done because of work being incredibly busy but i guess without work we wouldnt be able to do this. we got frame stripped, blasted and painted. front and rear end rebuilt, rebuilt the transfer case. hopefully we make enough money to install a newer 5.3 or 6.0 with 700r this fall. In the meantime we will get the cab ready for paint as we will be doing alot of little custom work to the cab. here are some pics of progress.

[Conroe trucker]

Great truck to start with.

You don't have to be in a hurry, he won't be driven too soon.....