1950 Chevy 6400 2-Ton Tear Down is complete after sitting untouched in a western Oklahoma pasture for 24 years. Paid too much now that I've got it torn down and have a good look at what I need. Ouch! Every system and component needs attention. From a broken leaf spring to king pins and steering linkages (cobbled together with washers instead of the ball seats), to the Hydrovac and a few rust-thorough's in the cab bottom corners where mouse poop was 8" deep. Brakes had to come apart from the backside as no way to get the linings retracted and off the grooved drums. The engine is an early 1954 261 (without oil filtration) but already bored to +0.060, mains ground to -0.020, rods ground to -0.030 and the cam bearings are pitted. Lifters are bad, cam is flat and piston rings have very large end gaps. Will bore to +0.080, and 0.030 over 0.040 on the crank, new pistons and rings. Tranny looks good, internals and differential gears looks good. Other than purchase price, there have been no expenditures to date, but that changes starting now. Lots of photos and a wealth of knowledge gained over the last month and a half.
A few more pics of tear down to the chassis. Broke out the front axle this morning to define the broken right front spring. Not only is the wrap-around spring broken, the bolts and pins are worn to almost half their original size. Checked the driver side to be safe and found it to be broken and worn beyond belief also.
Does anybody know the exact specs of the front and rear brake drums? The Shop Manual says front are 14" with 0.265"-0.272" facings (I'll assume this facing is the lining) and rears are 15" with 0.392'-0.412" facings. Says that I can turn the drums to -0.060" due to fact that brake linings are limited to +0.030" oversize. I'll check with a brake shop but assume that it's a spot-on 14.000" or 15.000" minus the 0.060" max turndown. Just looking at the drums I'll say that I'm already worn well beyond spec and need to replace all four. Anybody have a good source for 6400 replacement drums?
