Shouldn't it really be 2018, since the '69 model year would have been released in '68?
Crap.
You are correct. Looks like my own schedule just got a year shorter.
-G
Last edited:
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
'74 K5 build: Smurf
- Thread starter dremu
- Start date
Crap.
You are correct. Looks like my own schedule just got a year shorter.
-G
It's been bloody hot here, so I've not gotten a lot done on the trucks. I have, however gotten laundry done WITH the trucks. Use #372 for roll cages / lumber racks:
The comforter doesn't fit, well, comfortably
in my dryer, so I made use of the weather
-- A
The comforter doesn't fit, well, comfortably
in my dryer, so I made use of the weather -- A
I had this bright idea that I would pull the front axle shafts and replace the U-joints, to see if this would help my wobbly steering. I've heard that worn U-joints can bind up and wreak havoc, as they rotate a bit even in 2WD due to parasitic drag.
This idea snowballed into an epic project, coupled with an incompetent vendor and a bit of "Might As Well"-itis on my part.
The ears on my factory shafts were deemed to be bent beyond repair (see this thread with gnarly pix) so I thought I'd splurge and get new shafts. Figuring I'd step up a bit and go chromoly, I happened to remember Superior first... I wish I'd picked Randy's. It took the bozos at Superior a month of "special ordering" things, shipping me wrong things (twice!), not bothering to call me back and being unable to tell what had shipped when from where. Their people are mostly useless and their music-on-hold sucks ass. Buy from Randy's, enough said.
Anyway, eventually I got a set of shafts that match my axle and Spicer U-joints (not pictured):
They are pretty, I'll give them that. They're also set up for the full-circle clips, so I had an excuse to go out and buy some big honkin' snap ring pliers. Moar toolz is always good.
-- A
This idea snowballed into an epic project, coupled with an incompetent vendor and a bit of "Might As Well"-itis on my part.
The ears on my factory shafts were deemed to be bent beyond repair (see this thread with gnarly pix) so I thought I'd splurge and get new shafts. Figuring I'd step up a bit and go chromoly, I happened to remember Superior first... I wish I'd picked Randy's.
It took the bozos at Superior a month of "special ordering" things, shipping me wrong things (twice!), not bothering to call me back and being unable to tell what had shipped when from where. Their people are mostly useless and their music-on-hold sucks ass. Buy from Randy's, enough said.Anyway, eventually I got a set of shafts that match my axle and Spicer U-joints (not pictured):
They are pretty, I'll give them that. They're also set up for the full-circle clips, so I had an excuse to go out and buy some big honkin' snap ring pliers. Moar toolz is always good.
-- A
Last edited:
While tearing down the outers, I also discovered that one of the spindle nuts was loose, barely finger tight. Which would explain the wobbly front end, grrr. This is not the first time it's happened and over the years I have developed a loathe-hate relationship with the spindle nuts. I decided to be done with this once and for all, and threw some money at the Stage 8 X-Locks:
http://www.stage8.com/xlock.html
They are also pretty, and I am confident that the outers will shatter long before these come loose. Here's one are mocked up on a spindle on the bench. Yes, that's a bloody huge snap ring holding down their magic eight-fingered lock washer.
The only tricky part is that the big honkin' nut that sets pre-load has TWO grooves -- the outer one has the yellow goo in the pic -- and you're supposed to use the inner one. Even after aligning the magic lock washer, I had to motivate it in towards the star washer a bit with the mallet. Then -- and only then -- could I use my new big snap ring pliers (see? Moar toolz!) to get the ring into the inner groove.
Stage 8 makes them for the D44 / 10b, seen here, and also for the D60 and 14B. I'm gonna look at the new-style 14B factory nuts with the square key to lock 'em, but I might splurge on a set of the Stage 8's for the rear as well.
-- A
http://www.stage8.com/xlock.html
They are also pretty, and I am confident that the outers will shatter long before these come loose. Here's one are mocked up on a spindle on the bench. Yes, that's a bloody huge snap ring holding down their magic eight-fingered lock washer.
The only tricky part is that the big honkin' nut that sets pre-load has TWO grooves -- the outer one has the yellow goo in the pic -- and you're supposed to use the inner one. Even after aligning the magic lock washer, I had to motivate it in towards the star washer a bit with the mallet. Then -- and only then -- could I use my new big snap ring pliers (see? Moar toolz!) to get the ring into the inner groove.
Stage 8 makes them for the D44 / 10b, seen here, and also for the D60 and 14B. I'm gonna look at the new-style 14B factory nuts with the square key to lock 'em, but I might splurge on a set of the Stage 8's for the rear as well.
-- A
Last edited:
In my time working on the trucks, I have found that it is generally worthwhile to clean parts while they're off. Further, it's often a great time to paint them -- a nice glossy surface makes them easier to clean, easier to locate leaks, easier to identify parts or problems ... and adds a certain amount of visual accent. There was some great discussion in Ryoken's build thread about the aesthetics of color choices 
I absolutely detest chrome or even shiny colors, that 80's purple-shock-boot crap makes me cringe. But a mild grey, for instance, brightens up the undercarriage without being overpowering:
That backing plate took a surprising amount of abuse from the wire cup brush on the grinder
Finally, since they get mentioned with some frequency, I took a picture of my source of motivation and occasional gastric distress. I think my ass is Muslim, because it reacts with unholy violence to pork
That actually is not the biggest burrito from this particular taqueria And yeah, I splurged on a strawberry soda (ooh, carbonated!)
(Yes, that's the cordless impact on my kitchen counter. I'm still baching it for now, so I'm making use of it while I can )
-- A
I absolutely detest chrome or even shiny colors, that 80's purple-shock-boot crap makes me cringe. But a mild grey, for instance, brightens up the undercarriage without being overpowering:
That backing plate took a surprising amount of abuse from the wire cup brush on the grinder
Finally, since they get mentioned with some frequency, I took a picture of my source of motivation and occasional gastric distress. I think my ass is Muslim, because it reacts with unholy violence to pork
That actually is not the biggest burrito from this particular taqueria
And yeah, I splurged on a strawberry soda (ooh, carbonated!)(Yes, that's the cordless impact on my kitchen counter. I'm still baching it for now, so I'm making use of it while I can
)-- A
Sweet! I need everything you are installing now. But I wont order from Randy's!
Looking good!
Looking good!
Thanks.
But, uh, DO order from Randy's. The other guys, Superior, are the bozos.
The burrito you can order from Los Panchos. Except it's a bit of a drive for you
-- A
Gotcha! Thanks. And that burrito looks good!!!
TheBeast_88K5
Banned
Mmmmmm..... Chromoly, and burritos.
Nice work my friend.... 
Warms my heart to see a fellow CK5er with the same attitude: "if I'm going to tear something apart to fix it, I'm also going to address the source of the annoying problem with a BETTER solution". Those Stage-8 locks look pimp. I've got a set of their header lock bolts and they should permanently prevent any header leaks.
You are a real rennaisance man. Laundry, truck repair and gastronomic delights!
-G
Warms my heart to see a fellow CK5er with the same attitude: "if I'm going to tear something apart to fix it, I'm also going to address the source of the annoying problem with a BETTER solution". Those Stage-8 locks look pimp. I've got a set of their header lock bolts and they should permanently prevent any header leaks.
You are a real rennaisance man. Laundry, truck repair and gastronomic delights!
-G
Thank you all for the good words!
After a discussion on venting the tranny, I got industrious -- and a serious case of MightAsWell-itis, seems to be going around -- and figgered I'd do organized vents for the entire drivetrain. I do NOT intend to play U-Boat Commander, but this gives me one less thing to worry about should I encounter water. (Which, yes, would be predicated on me actually going wheeling I do want Tankie to be my foul-weather vehicle, since I sold my CUCV, but I don't anticipate encountering two-feet deep rain puddles on the way to the grocery store! )
Anyway, built up some breather mounts for the various drivetrain components. I had some nice thick angle aluminum scrap from a computer rack (yes, some of us keep rack-mount servers in our spare bedrooms ), and the local hardware store has brass tubing in a plethora of sizes.
Here's the tranny, tapped to 1/8 NPT with a hose barb fitting in it (left side, to the right of the gas pedal.)
Ebay provided me some "crankcase" breathers for the ricer crowd which were pimpy and blue, both requirements for this truck
They're right about 2" in diameter on the outside, if the requisite can isn't good enough a reference for scale The rubber gizmo on the bottom is 5/16"-3/8" ID, depending on type. (They say 8mm or 9mm, but, well, what does one expect for eight bucks shipped from China, accuracy? )
I was just gonna drill an appropriately-sized hole into the aluminum angle and friction fit the tube, as it's thick enough. But I thought I might try to solder or otherwise attach the tube to the angle solidly. A bit of Googling on brazing brought me to this stuff called Alumiweld (http://www.alumiweld.com/ ), which conveniently can be had at the local Harbor Freight.
It's basically like electrical soldering, but the stuff flows less than solder, bit more like welding in that regard. (I'm used to wire-feed welding, so it may be just like stick welding, I donno.) I did have to be careful with the MAPP torch as it can get hot enough to melt aluminum -- and vaporize the brass -- but in the end the results were decent. It's strong yet can be filed or ground, and doesn't need a TIG welder. Just a proprane or MAPP torch, the appropriate gloves, and patience
Here's a ~5/16" piece of tubing set into the angle bracket:
A bit of filing and sanding and it cleans up nicely. The breather mounts to the top:
And then the vent line runs off the bottom. Sure, I coulda just re-used the factory plastic breather caps, but these are ... fun. I loudly protest anything blingy but do have a secret place in my heart for shiny, what can I say? [And I like to build things.]
I made three: one for each axle, and one combo unit for the tranny and t-cases. They got a coat of aluminum primer and then the now standard Rustoleum Dark Machine Grey:
After a discussion on venting the tranny, I got industrious -- and a serious case of MightAsWell-itis, seems to be going around
-- and figgered I'd do organized vents for the entire drivetrain. I do NOT intend to play U-Boat Commander, but this gives me one less thing to worry about should I encounter water. (Which, yes, would be predicated on me actually going wheeling I do want Tankie to be my foul-weather vehicle, since I sold my CUCV, but I don't anticipate encountering two-feet deep rain puddles on the way to the grocery store! )Anyway, built up some breather mounts for the various drivetrain components. I had some nice thick angle aluminum scrap from a computer rack (yes, some of us keep rack-mount servers in our spare bedrooms
), and the local hardware store has brass tubing in a plethora of sizes.Here's the tranny, tapped to 1/8 NPT with a hose barb fitting in it (left side, to the right of the gas pedal.)
Ebay provided me some "crankcase" breathers for the ricer crowd which were pimpy and blue, both requirements for this truck
They're right about 2" in diameter on the outside, if the requisite can isn't good enough a reference for scale
The rubber gizmo on the bottom is 5/16"-3/8" ID, depending on type. (They say 8mm or 9mm, but, well, what does one expect for eight bucks shipped from China, accuracy? )I was just gonna drill an appropriately-sized hole into the aluminum angle and friction fit the tube, as it's thick enough. But I thought I might try to solder or otherwise attach the tube to the angle solidly. A bit of Googling on brazing brought me to this stuff called Alumiweld (http://www.alumiweld.com/ ), which conveniently can be had at the local Harbor Freight.
It's basically like electrical soldering, but the stuff flows less than solder, bit more like welding in that regard. (I'm used to wire-feed welding, so it may be just like stick welding, I donno.) I did have to be careful with the MAPP torch as it can get hot enough to melt aluminum -- and vaporize the brass
-- but in the end the results were decent. It's strong yet can be filed or ground, and doesn't need a TIG welder. Just a proprane or MAPP torch, the appropriate gloves, and patience Here's a ~5/16" piece of tubing set into the angle bracket:
A bit of filing and sanding and it cleans up nicely. The breather mounts to the top:
And then the vent line runs off the bottom. Sure, I coulda just re-used the factory plastic breather caps, but these are ... fun. I loudly protest anything blingy but do have a secret place in my heart for shiny, what can I say?
[And I like to build things.]I made three: one for each axle, and one combo unit for the tranny and t-cases. They got a coat of aluminum primer and then the now standard Rustoleum Dark Machine Grey:
Last edited:
The front axle breather went up by the radiator. I'm thinking I should move the charcoal filter back up as it was moved down to make room for an earlier battery tray. I've since reverted to the factory one, so I've got more room to shuffle things.
The rear axle breather is inside the cab, attached to the toolbox, to the right of the (empty) tail light. (Why is the tail light out? Hint: I will shortly issue an angry diatribe about previous owners and idiots who don't know how to wire.)
Finally, the drivetrain breathers are all together up front in the engine compartment. For the moment I've got them attached to my York, as it was the only obvious free space, but that may change. For location reference, yes, that is the master cylinder to the upper right.
The blue hoses are the vent lines to the tranny, NP203 range box and NP205. (The green hose is the airline to the front ARB; you can see its solenoid on the far right.)
Though they may appear haphazardly run, the hoses are actually all secured in place, away from moving parts, the exhaust manifold, and any other ill that could befall them.
The rear axle breather is inside the cab, attached to the toolbox, to the right of the (empty) tail light. (Why is the tail light out? Hint: I will shortly issue an angry diatribe about previous owners and idiots who don't know how to wire.)
Finally, the drivetrain breathers are all together up front in the engine compartment. For the moment I've got them attached to my York, as it was the only obvious free space, but that may change. For location reference, yes, that is the master cylinder to the upper right.
The blue hoses are the vent lines to the tranny, NP203 range box and NP205. (The green hose is the airline to the front ARB; you can see its solenoid on the far right.)
Though they may appear haphazardly run, the hoses are actually all secured in place, away from moving parts, the exhaust manifold, and any other ill that could befall them.
The lights have been intermittently failing on me, so I've been working through the nearly-40-year-old wiring to clean up the mess. Fixing grounds is easy, but then you find stuff like this:
Yes, that's two sets of crimp splices a few inches apart -- and some of those dastardly crimp-on vampire taps. They're notoriously unreliable, plus they crack the insulation and leave the wire exposed ... aargh. There's actually a few more places where the insulation either cracked or MORE of those damn taps were used
However, after careful removal of the crimp stuff and cutting to uncorroded wire, I proceeded to solder the connections and then heatshrink the whole thing, hopefully providing protection from further damage for the foreseeable future.
Mind you, that was just one of several catastrophes, one of which, the main junction on the left frame rail, is truly ... creative. I forgot how time-consuming automotive electrical is. There's the removal (ugh ... decades-old black tape is NASTY sticky), then patching it, then putting it all back together ... I figure I'll have a coupla hours into just the two taillights. While I'm in there I'll put in a four-pin trailer connector, Just In Case, and as a final statement against those damn crimp tap abominations. (Well, that and there's another top secret project afoot, for which the foundation must be laid.)
-- A
Yes, that's two sets of crimp splices a few inches apart -- and some of those dastardly crimp-on vampire taps. They're notoriously unreliable, plus they crack the insulation and leave the wire exposed ... aargh. There's actually a few more places where the insulation either cracked or MORE of those damn taps were used
However, after careful removal of the crimp stuff and cutting to uncorroded wire, I proceeded to solder the connections and then heatshrink the whole thing, hopefully providing protection from further damage for the foreseeable future.
Mind you, that was just one of several catastrophes, one of which, the main junction on the left frame rail, is truly ... creative. I forgot how time-consuming automotive electrical is. There's the removal (ugh ... decades-old black tape is NASTY sticky), then patching it, then putting it all back together ... I figure I'll have a coupla hours into just the two taillights. While I'm in there I'll put in a four-pin trailer connector, Just In Case, and as a final statement against those damn crimp tap abominations. (Well, that and there's another top secret project afoot, for which the foundation must be laid.)
-- A
Last edited:
And I seem to have re-done the lightbar as gutter-mount, since the truck is now half-cab instead of full convertable.
Because, really, I need more lights Call it my one concession to the 80's monster truck motif, in lieu of eighty-seven shocks with purple boots.
I have a separate thread about it, due either to the shame or silliness involved.
-- A
Because, really, I need more lights
Call it my one concession to the 80's monster truck motif, in lieu of eighty-seven shocks with purple boots.I have a separate thread about it, due either to the shame or silliness involved.
-- A
lectric80
3/4 ton status
I found almost the same thing on Krusty, but for an entirely different reason. I was attempting to figure out why my trailer lights were not working on Krusty, but worked great on my Dad's Ram. Sure enough I found that pretty main plug on the left side frame rail, with Scotch-lok 'connectors' basically in contact with the big black plug. In the end, I rewired the entire tail light system in Krusty, moving everything inside the body with labeled and easily repairable connections. Talk about making troubleshooting easy! 
Nice work, keep it up and keep in mind I may be stealing your lightbar design.
Nice work, keep it up and keep in mind I may be stealing your lightbar design.
TheBeast_88K5
Banned
It looks cool....
What, angle iron and flat stock is a "design" now?
Seriously, that's great. That's one of the reasons I do these threads, besides the usual BS'ing about burritos, is to stimulate discussion and ideas, maybe help out the next guy. I spent an hour or so Googling for gutter mounts (apparently lots of Cherokee people do it for their roof racks.) I saw some amazingly bad welds, some clever ideas, and some overpriced stuff for sale, so I set about to do it myself simple & cheap.
If I had a bender, I woulda done two hoops of small tube, like, I donno, 3/4" or so, and then two feet on each side, maybe 1" wide instead of 2". Figure space the hoops maybe 3-4" apart and either do flat stock between them or just tabs for the lights, and that would give more strength against the torsion from the weight of the lights.
But I don't have a bender, and while beautiful, that woulda been a week-long project instead of an afternoon... so this works.
-- A
Not trying to rain on your parade, but do you really think you will ever use them? I have always wondered why people put all those lights up there. I always assumed it was almost always purely cosmetic.
Martin
Martin
