The updated front axle/brakes project is again taking longer than desired.
I got impatient and fixed the original front axle yesterday, it wasn't that big of a deal.
The right front kingpin had worn the axle oversize, thus all the slop, bushings were pretty good. The axle cleaned up about 90% at 0.010" oversize which is all I could find for an oversize kingpin kit, would have used 0.020" of available. NAPA is where I get most of my drivetrain and chassis parts but no luck this time, 1 ton kingpins (from NAPA) are obsolete now, even standard size.
I did find a NOS 0.010" oversize kit on ebay thankfully not that far away in Virginia and Cosmo was able to pick it up and meet me Tuesday while he was running other old truck errands.
All I did was replace the right side kingpin and added a little loctite 660 to hopefully help with the little bit of fit that was lacking. Reamed the old bushings to fit the oversize kingpin, cleaned, greased, and reused the thrust bearing.
Left side kingpin and bushings are good and tight so I left them alone.
I had previously found a set of NOS front brake shoes which I installed yesterday.
Now I'm ready to drive it Friday to a friend's house an hour or so away, possibly a couple hours if I take some even more remote back roads.
Lately I've been itching for a good long road trip, I really like road trips...
Took one for work in the modern car a few weeks ago to and from Michigan. On the return we avoided the highway for 90% of it and that was a lot of fun with all sorts of neat things to look at.
I've always enjoyed taking the local roads/non interstate but that recent trip got me thinking I should take a trip and not only avoid the highway but try to take the even smaller roads that still generally point in the direction I want to end up. That kind of trip would be even more interesting and enjoyable in the old truck, thus the renewed enthusiasm for working on the GMC.
Grigg
