Stovebolt.com Forums Project Journals Project Journals My '51 3100/3600 Project

Yeah I may be doing my frame about the same. One thing I'm going to look at is one of these special wands to turn your pressure washer into a sandblaster. Not sure how effective it will be but I think it's worth a try.

I hope you continue to post on how you remove the cab.

I will be sure to post some photos of removing the cab, etc. I've already done some preliminary work to get the cab off, like disconnect the pedals, wiring, and remove the steering column. Getting the steering wheel off turned out to be quite a fight. My first attempt to use a standard puller didn't go so well. I managed to damage the threads on the end of the column. I had the nut flush at the end of the shaft, but I had to put so much torque on the puller bolt that it walked off-center and forced down on the edge of the nut, ruining the threads (not all of them, thankfully, just at the end). Hitting the underside of the steering wheel with a dead blow hammer didn't do a thing. After some internet cruising, I found a photo (maybe it was on this site) of a puller that a guy made that grabbed the wheel from underneath (in stead of via the two 1/4" bolt holes in the steering wheel face). I made a similar puller and had the wheel off no problem.

Brian

Nice job on the steering wheel puller. I’ll keep that in mind when I pull my wheel to refurbish it.

What did you use to paint the frame? Chasis saver? A brush or spray gun? I'm nearing the paint the frame portion and am trying to get ideas. I have some POR-15 from doing the wife's falcon's front rails and cross members. Was gonna brush it on and lightly rough it. Good work so far little by little whatever it takes. What did you wind up doing to the front suspension?

I thought about brushing on coating on my frame, but the issue is there are quite a few spots that would be very difficult to coat with a brush. I missed my sandblast window so will be waiting till spring to blast and spray coat the frame. I think I'll use epoxy primer and industrial enamel on top of that.

After I clean the frame as best as I can, I give it a liberal coating of Coroseal rust converter/primer. After the Coroseal turns from white to purple (almost black), I wipe off the excess. That is allowed to dry, then I spray (rattle can) automotive primer from the hardware store. Once that has cured, I use a nothing fancy brand of industrial enamel, again from the hardware store. The rear end of the frame I used a brush for the top coat so it would go on heavy. On the front end, I used the same brand of enamel in a spray can.

If I had plenty of time to do this project, I would have used a HVLP spray gun for both the primer and the top coat. I would also have used a urethane for the top coat. Unfortunately, the space I have to work on my truck is not an long-term situation. I have to get the frame back onto four wheels as soon as I can in case I need to move the chassis to another location. So, I'm making concessions to keep things moving forward.

Brian

I didn't have too much trouble brushing the paint on the rear of the frame as there really weren't any spots I couldn't get to with a brush. The front end is a different story. In fact with the motor in place I missed a couple spots and left a few areas pretty light. Once the motor and trans come out, I have to install new motor mounts (the existing ones were cobbled together by a PO) and build a new cross member at the bell housing (the original is gone, replaced with another cobbled together mess to support a Turbo 350 auto). After that work, I can finish prepping the remainder of the frame and give everything a good coat of paint, going back over the front end to get the places I missed.

Brian

Mrwad3, I forgot to finish answering your post. I also purchased a quart of POR 15 thinking that I would use it on the frame. If I had to buy too much of that stuff I'd be broke! I dealt with it once before, many years ago, on a painting project. I had to sand the crap out of it to break the surface so I could apply a urethane top coat. Exposed, POR 15 turns flat black. I didn't want to have to deal with sanding that stuff inside the frame of my truck, so I went a different route. I do plan to use the POR 15 on the underside of the cab, under the running boards and inside the fender wells, followed by a coating of bed liner or some other undercoating product.

The front suspension on my truck wasn't too bad. I replaced all of the pins and bushings as a matter of course, although only the rear ones were worn. I took the springs apart as much as I was able. Most of the leaves are banded, but they do separate a bit when you remove the center bolt. I cleaned them as much as possible, gave them a coat of Coroseal rust converter/primer, then painted them black. Before I squeezed them back together and put in the center bolt, I added a small amount of oil between the leaves.

New rubber grease seals for the front shackle bolts were used when I installed the springs. I've got a new pair of Monroe shocks ready to go in as soon as I get the front axle and spindle repairs completed (just about there).

Brian

Nice. I know all about making concessions to keep it going. I'm currently at a stand still because I had to get the kids laptops for online school. The POR is some crazyness and hard to get off I agree but I bought 2 6-packs of the 8 oz cans after reading how hard it is to store after opening. I will likely use an undercoating in the very end as well.

I forgot your project is a 51 which means gas shocks. My 49 has the knee action or lever action shocks which means somewhere between $160-$220 a set to rebuild the originals. I am trying to convert to gas shocks for budget and future maintenance sake.

The front axle presented a challenge when I discovered some time ago that the left end king pin hole was worn oversize. I took the axle down to a friend's machine shop to use his Bridgeport mill. Typically, the set up took much longer than it did to bore out the hole so I could install a bushing. Back at my shop, I made a new bushing out of 4140 steel. The bushing was only .020" thick, so using a press to install it was not an option. I put the bushing in the freezer for a couple days and the axle in a warm room near a heater. When the time came, the bushing installed with a light tap from a rubber hammer. After the temperature equalized, the bushing was held fast in place. I then used an adjustable reamer to increase the inside diameter of the bushing to .922" (the new king pins, from ClassicParts.com, are .921"). Finally, I cleaned up the cross pin hole with a 1/2" tapered reamer.

Next up was new bushings in the spindles. Using the lathe, I made a tool out of some bar stock that would fit just inside the spindle holes to press out the old bushings, and press in the new ones. The unusual shape of the spindle castings made setting them up in the press a real juggling act. I had to cut notches in a couple pieces of 3" channel to fit around the spindle itself and give it something flat to rest on. Once the new bushings were in, I used the same adjustable reamer to get the new bushings to the .923" called for in the shop manual. The reamer that I used is not long enough to ream both bushings at the same time (as the proper GM tool would have done) so I had to take great care to ensure that the two holes were in line. It was a long, slow process so I've only got one spindle done at this time.

My son is off work this week so he came home and helped me install the repaired front axle back under the front of the truck.