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1968 C10 DD, project "New Tricks"

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Also, I jacked my S10 up in the air and turned the wheels side to side, simply grabbing them and twisting. The '68 is HARD to turn. I mean, I have to lay down and push the driver tire with my foot and pull the passenger tire with my hands to get it to turn. I'm sure this is where my problem is, what's causing the "No-return-to-center" and touchiness. So I think the best way to figure it out is start taking the steering apart one by one and find what's binding. Visually it all looks great.
 
So CPP says the reason my rear passenger side pad wear pattern is off is because the caliper bracket that mounts to the axle is crooked. They are blaming the axle flange, saying someone probably hit something with it in the past and tweaked it. Ok, fine I guess. So they are sending me the shims to fix it. I guess the kit came with shims and I either lost them or never got them. I'm hoping this cuts down on some noises. The pads, however, have worn crooked and are now sitting flat against the rotor. I'll be replacing those too.


When I put the front swaybar on I was, again, disappointed. This is a CPP swaybar with CPP tubular control arms.
Well, the bar is too wide, about 2" too wide I'd say. So the end links don't line up perfectly over the holes. I wonder if there is a way to pull the ends of the bar in 1" per side. This would help a lot. I'm not sure if another company will work with these arms and if they do, is the bar any different or is it the same?

check out the bent link bolts and smashed rubber, all less than 1,000 miles of use. Not to keep harping on CPP, luckily they are ~40 min drive away and I can exchange this stuff, but how much more of these problems will I find? I'm already turning in the front wheel bearings and races.

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Damn sorry to hear your bad luck with them! I got there 5 lug axle conversion with drums and right out of the box they where warped. I turned them on the Hunter brake lathe at work took 2 pass to get them in spec.
 
All problems With your CPP parts I am glad I went with ECE springs for her truck and stock arms. To much $ money for to problems from a Big supplier there. Truck is look good though.
 
I have a coworker that has the same issues with the brake kit on his 57.. I would not purchase or take CPP part if they gave them to me.. To many other alternatives for big brakes. oem at that. Just not as pretty.
 
It sucks that you spent so much money on all these parts and are having so much problems.

Oem is a better idea. Most cars and trucks now a days come with floating dual piston calipers. I'd try to retrofit an oem caliper and rotor. This way no matter where you are with the truck and you break down, you can get a replacement at any parts store.
 
Yeah, I've stuck with OEM with the Blazer, even if it's other makes. I'm still giving this a shot. If it doesn't work out, I might go C5 corvette retrofit or Wilwood. At least the spindles and hubs are made to work with everything, I think.

I pulled the tierods off today and the steering wheel was free as a bird. :/ So I grabbed each spindle assembly and found them both CRAZY hard to turn. I'm talking harder than my blazer. I'll bet, with both the '68 and blazer in the air, the '68 would be harder to turn the steering wheel..... with or without the engine running. That means, my blazer, with hydro assist, is easier to turn LOL

So I emailed the same guy over at CPP. Let him know what I found today so he can take notes. After I pull the wheel bearings out, he's going to send me a bunch of stuff to fix the issues. (I hope) I'll post up what he says is wrong with the steering. It's gotta be ball joint related. The upper joint is bolt in but the bottom is pressed. What a bitch.

Dammit
 
Ok, now I'm at a loss again. I checked the spindle resistance with the suspension at full droop. With the ball joints at ride height, the spindles move freely.

With the tierods off the spindles, the steering wheel spins with little resistance. I think the droop was making the steering wheel hard to turn with everything together.

BUT, now I'm stuck. Why is the steering so hard to turn while driving? The larger port on the steering box is the pressure port correct?
I wonder if there's a way I can drain the box. Then run the pump back into itself. Test drive the truck without any assistance from the pump.

Frustrating. This truck is not easy to drive the way it is now.
 
'68 turning ratio is 3.25 turns lock to lock
S10 turning ratio is 2.25 turns lock to lock (zq8 box)

The S10 is still far easier to turn with the wheels in the air.

Also, why is my wheel bearing grease black? Inner and outer on both sides. It's only got ~900miles. Cause it's all new parts? Dunno :(

 
This is all cpp stuff? I'd park it in front of their place and tell them to figure it out.

It sounds like there's some definite geometry issues. Wish I was down there to help.

Have you adjusted the backlash on the steering box at all? It may be worth it to loosen it up and try it out just to rule out that possibilty.

I wouldn't worry too much about the grease unless the spindle looks like it's being ground on or its discolored.
 
If you have the lines backwards on your steering box you'd notice. Have your tried laying under the truck while someone turns the wheel? Maybe something will jump out at you while things are moving that you can see otherwise?
 
Well, I'm going to sand down all the brake surfaces and re-assemble everything. If it still squeaks and still drives tight, I'll be going back down to CPP with some demands.

On a good note, I picked up a new hood to replace my damaged one. This new hood is absolutely beautiful. It is dead straight on top (better than my other one). This time I will be filling in the holes for the lettering, good thing this came off a GMC so there's less holes!!! Not bad for $120. For now, I'll pull the letters, sand it down some, and spray some gray paint on it. It wont match the primer of the front end up it's better than green. Or.... should I leave it green? LOL That would make 6 total colors for the truck hahahaha




 
So check these rear rotors out. 930 miles of use. This is the good side, not the wobbly side. :(

 
bummer man. Just had to replace the warped rotors on my car.
 
That's a steal for a hood in that kind of shape. Nice find!
 
So one day, couple months ago on my way to work, I had a pretty scary incident. Nothing got crazy or out of control, but it could have.
Had a hard BANG sound while applying the brakes, then lots of lighter banging. I pulled over and found the lower caliper bolt had come out. Once the brakes were applied without the bolt, the caliper pivoted up and struck the rim. The first bang was it braking the wheel weights off the rim, the others were it bouncing off the lip where the rim's spoke meets the outer rim.

Walked back to the last light I came to, knowing that was where I stopped last. I managed to find the bolt in the middle of the street but couldn't find the washer or lock washer. Had AAA come out so I could barrow a Cresent wrench and also jack up the truck. Put the bolt back in and the AAA dude drove off. Started it up and tried to jump out into traffic but only got a couple feet.

Bolt, with it's missing washer and lock washer, was now too long. I had to wait another hour for a flatbed cause....



 
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I had taken that bolt out so many times, trying to fix the focking front end, that the crappy grade 5 lock washer had flattened out and I didn't even notice it.
$100 later and I've got a new rotor. But I wasn't going to rip the thing apart just for the rotor this time.

Pulled everything apart, including arms and springs.
Bought new AC Delco pads for the front. New upper and lower ball joints. New bolt hardware. Pressed out the joints. Fixed the spring rub on the crossmember spring pocket. New lock nuts for the lower A-arm U bolts. Reassembled everything and hit the road. Well..... after jump starting it. Not sure why my battery was dead, that blows. The blazer is left alone longer than this thing.

Truck runs great. I have RTC now and for the short few miles I drove it the brakes where quiet. I'm not even calling CPP out for the BJ issue or crappy brake pads, just fixing and moving on.

I don't see my mention of the rear axles I installed. I found my passenger side bent and that made the disc wobble. Went ahead and replaced both axles with some Moser units. Also found the pinion seal leaking and replaced that too.

Been busy. I started hating to work on this truck, so I took some time off and used my weekends for racquetball. I also started working on the Blazer in preparation for BB.

Truck feels good at the moment.
 
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Next couple things to work on is the front swaybar and cold air intake.

The sway bar is off the truck currently. I need to find someone that can bend the arms in about 1". Only then will they line up correctly with the holes in the lower A-arms. Then I can install the new rod links and bushings.

I've noticed the intake temp getting up to 150* at times. I don't like this. I know boosted engines will see much higher temps but those are all calculated in the tune. I do notice a change in the engines behavior when the temp is around 100 vs. 150. Right now the filter is just open to the engine compartment. Aside from drilling a 4" hole in the core support, I don't think I have another option. I bought Spectre's new enclosed filter housing for a 4" system. I figured I can push that through the core support a little and have fresh air from the grill area.

My other option might be to get fresh air from the cowl or where the blower motor used to be. I don't think rain will be a problem, I'm just not sure I want to drill a 4" hole in my firewall.
 
Do the 67-72 trucks not have firewall holes for air intakes?
 
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