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70 Jimmy--Rusty Rebuild

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Had a productive night tonight.

Started out by loading up the front axle and took it down to the car wash to give it a spray down. Knocked most of the dirt/grease off of it. Should only take a little bit with the wire wheel to get it paint ready. Have to take off the 8 lug hubs and get a set of 6's ready (I have 3 sets to choose from). Will check out the bearings/balljoints/u-joints while I have it apart. It was in my 76 K5 before I put the D60 in....so I know it's in decent shape.

What I started with. Not sure if I'm going to keep the dual steering stabilizers or go with a factory style single. I have a Hickey under axle truss that I may use. Having the truss and dual stabilizers may be too many axle accessories and make it too busy. The raised steering arm will probably stay. Will see once I get the steering box on to see how the drag link falls.



Popped the cover off to drain the fluid, looked much better than the stuff I pulled from the rear axle. Couple years ago I put in the locker when I changed over to 4.10's, haven't a clue as to what brand it is....but it works very well and is a full case style.





Painted the rear calipers. Used the Duplicolor caliper paint. Mainly wanted to paint them to keep the rust at bay....aesthetics was just the side effect. Here they are drying.





Finished the shock mounts, put the cover on and filled with gear oil. Those are not the shocks I'm going to use (plan on Bilsteins), just some I had on hand to line up the mounts on the axle. It looks like they are at different spots, but they are inline with the upper mounts and don't bind any.





When I was up on the loft I grabbed a wheel to toss on to check clearances. I'm going with 17" wheels, but for anyone looking to do this style of discs on the rear....15's are probably out of the question.

This is a 15x10 aluminum turbine wheel, I'd guess 4-4.5" backspacing. The bracket almost touches the wheel. No way the caliper is going to fit in there. I didn't try on of the 15x10 steel wheels I have, but I don't think it'd open up much more room.




This one is an aluminum 16.5. I don't know the width, but I'm thinking it's an 8. There is more room (about 3/4" more than the 15...imagine that). The caliper would probably fit, may need a bit of grinding. Going to try getting these wheels on when I roll the frame back under, might need to leave the calipers off for a bit.





If I have time tomorrow I'll get going on the front axle and try getting that painted.
 
Striped down the axle and shot some paint on it this afternoon. Only took about 10 minutes with the wire wheel to get it ready.




The got it under the springs and bolted in. Torqued the u-bolts and cut the extra off as I don't plan on having it back out anytime soon. I cleaned/painted the cover, bolts and spring plates last night while I was waiting for the calipers to dry (which are still tacky to the touch).




Axle shafts/spindles/hubs will get cleaned/painted before going back on. Waiting to that until I make up my mind about front brakes. But, with the frame on jack stands now, I can start getting the engine crossmember in. Then drop a motor/transmission in to get the transmission crossmember where it needs to be.
 
Last update for the weekend.

Dug out the bellhousing for my Nv4500 and put that on. For final assembly I'll need to get some better bolts. The ones I have are low grade and could stand to be a few MM longer to get full engagement of the threads in the bell. The shift tower on the Sm465 is 11 3/4" from the face of the bellhousing, Nv4500 is 15 1/2". That works out to be 3 3/4", that would have put the shifter in almost the same spot as factory had my plans for the engine crossmember worked out.





With the frame off the sawhorses I was able to get the engine crossmember in and a motor/trans set in place to finalize where I want it. I was originally going to move it forward one bolt hole (the old front hole would be the new rear one), which would have been 3 1/2" or so. But that far forward put the ballancer into the front crossmember. By the time the pulley got on there it would have made it too much. So I went back to 2", which seems about right.

This is before I dropped the motor in the first time. Only had one bolt on each side holding it in. You can sort of see the hole behind the bolt in the drivers rail that I ended up moving back to.





Set the block/trans in place. Grabbed one of the "W" transmission crossmembers from the loft. I'd like go to the older, flat style, but would have to build a spacer for the mount. On the plus side I was able to use an existing hole on each side to bolt it in. This picture give a good shot of the clearance between the front crossmember and the balancer too.





Put the transfer case on to get idea of what the driveshafts are going to look like. I kind of figured (and confirmed tonight) that I would have to add a shim to the rear axle. When I set everything back in next time I'll put the angle finder on the t-case output and the pinion yoke to see what degree I need. I will also clock the case up. Probably order those parts from Diy4x in the next week or two.





A shot from the loft. Looking like the driveshafts will be about the same length unless I do a hack-n-tap to the rear output to gain some more length.





After all of that I pulled everything back out so I could drill the rest of the holes for the crossmember and painted all the parts. Once they dry I'll reinstall them and drop the whole thing back in place. Will get my driveshafts done while I have easy access from above.
 
Reinstalled the engine crossmember and put the rear calipers on tonight.

Paint dried a few days ago but it's been so cold lately (single digits) that I haven't wanted to go out to do anything. That and I came down with something early in the week. With the wife and kid both sick (I probably gave it to them)...I sacked up and went out back to get away from them.

Tightened all the bolts except for the ones that hold the crossbar in, they are still loose. Dropped the motor/trans/case back in after that.

Things painted up/re-installed.





Put the rubber o-rings back in the calipers, greased the pins then put the calipers on for good.





With the calipers actually bolted on, I tried on of my 15" wheels again. They almost clear. Some very minor grinding would be all that is needed. So it looks like I'll be able to use my 16.5's as rollers for awhile.





Measured my pinion angle to see what kind of shim I'll need. I might be able to get away with out one. T-case is 3* down and pinion is 2.5* up. Going to wait till I get the body back on to sink the suspension some and check again. With how short the drive shaft will be I don't think I'll have a lot of wiggle room.

Ordered my front caliper brackets last Thursday. Once they get here I can re-assemble the front axle. Will start getting things gathered to run brake/fuel lines when I buy the rest of the front brakes.
 
Spent the night cleaning/painting parts for the front axle. My caliper brackets came in Friday from ThorParts. Pulled appart the axle shafts to paint/replace u-joints. Dug through my pile of hubs to find a set of big bearing 6-lugs. I wanted to use the big bearing style because 1) it's stronger and 2) I put a new set of bearings/races in the 8lug hubs I took off that I will reuse. Knocked the old studs/races out of the 6lug hubs and ran everything through the parts washer. Will pick up some new seals when I get the u-joints.

Not much for pictures this time, just a shot of the new brackets.





Still need to turn down the hubs, get some rotors, calipers and new lug studs. Should have that stuff in the next week or so.
 
Turned down the hubs, pressed the new studs in, assembled the axle shafts, painted some parts and replaced the pinion seal tonight.


Started off by painting the spindles and assembling the axle shafts. While that stuff was drying I turned down the hubs and drilled the holes larger for the new studs. I used a grinder w/flap wheel for this. Only had to take about 1/16 off the diameter for it to fit inside the rotor.

Shot of the hubs after they were painted.




Had to drill out the holes in the rotors for them to slip over the new, larger studs. The H3 rotors are only slightly bigger than the stock 1/2ton stuff. The extra braking power comes from the 4pistion calipers.






With the axle shafts in, I put the spindles on along with the new caliper brackets.




Got both side put together




Had to stop before I could pack the wheel bearings and put the hubs/lockouts on. Will try doing that in the next few days. Still looking for the best price on some calipers, but other than that the front axle is done for the most part.


It looks like some of the pictures may have gotten messed up when they were uploaded....might have to come back and fix that.
 
Clocking ring came in from Diy4x the other day. Front driveshaft clears the crossmember, but just barely. Don't think I'll need to go all the way up with it.




Going to try getting out there tomorrow morning to get the front hubs together and the case moved up.
 
Packed the wheel bearings, put the hubs/lockouts on and moved the transfer case up.


Everything back on the spindle. Not having the 20 extra pounds of rotor made it so much easier to put the outside bearing and adjuster nuts in.




And with a rotor on.




The clocking ring was one of the easiest installs I've done. Bolt it on and screw the studs in and it was ready to go back on the transmission. Went with the first position.

Before. The CV part of the shaft is real close to the crossmember. I could probably clearance it, but I feel this was the better solution.




After. May or may not need to clearance the CV now, I didn't put the shaft back in to find out.





I didn't try the support rod before moving the case up....so I don't know if it was the correct length or not. As it is now, I'll have to extend it a few inches.

 
Got a few hours out in the barn tonight.

I started cleaning the gas tank a few weeks ago. Drained the last couple gallons of old gas out. I'm guessing it was probably 15 years or so old by the date on the license plate. Wire wheeled all of it and got the bottom painted. Had to wait to do the top half because the retainer that holds the lock ring for the sending unit was coming loose. Today I welded it back on. Did a full bead around it and put some sealer on for good measure. Waiting for that to dry before I paint it. Picked up a new sending unit awhile back as well. Will modify the outlet for either an AN fitting or an NPT fitting as I plan on running some kind of fuel injection and would rather not have a piece of plain rubber hose clamped on (even if it is before the external pump).




Put the front drive shaft in and the support rod. After bending the support down some, it was only about 1/4" from the bellhousing. Added a small spacer to the end and bolted it up. Front drive shaft fit perfect too. Cv needs no grinding and has plenty of clearance for when the suspension droops. It's the stock shaft from a rolled truck I picked up last year. Had a round pattern 465/208 (where I got this t-case too). Will do new u-joints/clean/paint when it goes back in for final assembly.




Rear drive shaft came from the truck I bought for the 6lug SF14 bolt. Being a long box truck, I had to shorten it quite a bit. Cut the rear yoke off about 6 from the weld. Ground out the factory weld, made a relief cut in the tubing and it popped right out. After some careful measuring and truing it up I got it within 1/32 runout. Built it with about 3.5" of the slip in the transfer case, should go in a little more as there is basically no weight at all on the rear suspension right now. If I have any problems from it I'll look into getting a shaft built or 241 w/SYE and a longer rear shaft, possibly a CV on it it if I'm going to be spending money. Again, like the front, new u-joints/clean/paint will happen before it goes back in for good.

I thought I took some pictures of the building process, but apparently I didn't or my phone didn't save them.





Plan on running some brake and fuel lines then I might be able to pull everything back off and roll the frame back under the body. I'd like to do the exhaust (or at least up past the transfer case as it's a little tight there), but I have to buy headers before I can do that.

Did order my front calipers last week so I should be able to get those on once they show up then the front axle will be done for good.
 
Calipers showed up today. Things are massive compared to the stock ones (heavy too!). Might try getting out in the barn tomorrow for a few hours after work.

That's a regular 12oz Pepsi can for referance.

 
USSkoval said:
Maybe I missed it, what application are those calipers meant for?
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06-09 Hummer H3 calipers. They are 4 piston fixed mount. Truck should stop pretty good when I throw the anchor out.
 
bent72 said:
Nice dog
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Thanks! He's my baby, absolutley spoiled. Super calm and well mannered for his breed. We've got another husky too, but she's a wooly, and loves to stay outside in the winter. At one point we had 4, just down to the two now. We would have a litter about once a year and sell the puppies for some decent money. That got to be too much of a hassle so now we just hire him out for stud service.











Always interested in what I'm doing.



 
nocoasthardcore said:
Neat! With the H3 calipers what master cylinder will you be using?
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I've got a new master cylinder/booster from a mid 70's Corvette I might try using. It's a disc/disc straight bore. I haven't looked into what size an H3 uses for the front portion yet. An adjustable proportioning valve is in the plans no matter what master I end up with.
 
Tossed the calipers on and put a couple coats of paint on the top of the gas tank.

Might need to pull the one side off again and hit the hub a little bit more. Once I put it on and had a solid point of referance, noticed that the rotor wasn't completly seated. Still have to get some pads too, but those can go on without pulling the calipers I believe.




Just for fun I set a 15x10 wheel on. Even with an extensive amount of grinding I don't think they'd clear.

 
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