The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1947 Chevy 2-Ton COE 1st Series Restoration

" Ok, here we go...

I started this project just about 20 years ago now. I've been looking at this old truck in a farm field for a few years and finally asked about buying it. The owner agreed to sell it and then we had to figure out how to get it home. Fortunately, it was only about 5 miles away, so we towed it home behind a tractor. Along the way at least one tire blew out!

See video here:
Bringing the COE home

The truck was pretty solid, mostly surface rust. The right side fender was dented a bit and the grille was dented in also. The engine was free, but the transmission was hard to shift at all. The brake and clutch pedals were siezed up. I didn't even try to get it running since there was a mud wasp nest in the carburetor.

I've been working a lot on it lately, so I'll get everyone caught up as we go.

Nice truck is that a pickup watching you cut the tree down if so you will have to make another tractor run. Actually it looks like there are a few pickups, you are surrounded.

There were several good candidates. Not sure what's left now though.
Take a look at these pictures.

So i decided to jump right in and disassemble! That's always the exciting part, seeing what's what. How is it put together, what does what and how is everything connected. What's good, what's bad. What can I reuse/refurbish and what needs to be replaced.

There was a stovebolt 6 of course, but I didn't know much about them at the time. It has a 4 speed gearbox with a reverse lockout. There's an updraft carburetor, complete with mud dauber nest. And of course all kinds of rust.

The doors had some pretty cool art. Looking back, I'm wondering if I should have just left it and not painted it...


BTW, the picture names are the date: YYYYMMDD_etc

I fell in love with those when I met up with a bunch of stovebolters in at a show in northern Indiana. There was one inparticular that a couple had redone, lowered, shorter tires, pickup bed very professionaly looking. And another one near here at the James Dean car show near where I live. It was bright red and dual cabs. He said he and his wife were on their way to Texas after the show. Keep the dream going, good luck.

Continuing to show pictures of the disassembly. I tried to take a bunch of pictures as I went. The camera i had at the time wasn't the best. Some of the pictures are a bit blurry, then when you go to zoom in, it's hard to see much detail.

I pulled the cab off using an overhead hoist. I made some "hooks" to grab the door openings. This worked pretty well. I left the steering wheel on and I was pretty sure I'd get the cab off with the wheel in place, but I wasn't 100% sure. I was able to twist the cab around enough to get it off and not have to remove the steering wheel.

The engine turned out to be a babbitt bearing 235. There was also a brake booster, which I didn't expect in this age of truck. It makes sense though, being a big bolt.

Farmdog,

Nice truck. You’re making excellent progress.

Keep up the good work and please keep posting your progress. I’ll be following along.

i really like that lift set up you have, very cool

My 46 has the original 215 it has 10MM spark plugs which I found unusual.

Stephen,

It'll help a whole lot with the images if you'd use a caption with them. (You have to type in what the photo is about.) It's an odd deal but, in the Attachment Manager, first box, you need to describe what the photo is (caption or tag) FIRST before you drag in or paste the image in to that box. As soon as the image has peculated in the box and is all *there*, as you have seen I'm sure, it automatically drops down to the stack at the bottom.

For some reason (an issue with the UBB program apparently), if you don't name an image, the image takes the caption from any previous image in the thread.

If you forget, it's very easy to delete from the bottom stack and try again, without saying the whole "session" is done.

Hope this makes sense. Not much about "Attachment Management" makes sense but we're all doing the best we can.

Thanks.

The same guy who I bought the truck from said he had another engine from a newer COE, but it had the same manifold setup. He knew that mine was cracked and kept this engine for just the manifolds. I went and picked it up. It was literally lying under a tree. I'm not sure there is much else worth keeping on this engine BUT the manifolds.

I continued to disassemble. I got the original engine pulled.

I also got two newer engines with modern bearings. One came from a car and the other from a pickup. Both 235's. I thought I'd use one of these as the replacement engine.

Give some attention to the one with the green valve cover.Check the casting numbers may be a 261

I checked the casting numbers. It's a 235. I don't know if a 261 would be similar enough to fit? There is only a fraction of an inch between the fan and the radiator. I'd be afraid it wouldn't fit and I'd have to modify sheet metal to make it fit, something I really don't want to do.

I disassembled the front brakes. The brake cylinders were a little to far gone for my abilities to do anything with them. The hardware is all intact and good for cleaning and reuse.

Taking the back brakes apart also showed that overall they were in decent shape.

I ended up buying new wheel cylinders all around. I also had the shoes re-lined at a local tractor repair shop. I didn't think I could find new shoes anywhere, but really, I didn't look. (Maybe I should have?)

The front frame horns (I think that's what they're called) had some issues. a bumper bracket bolt was broken off on the passenger side. The driver's side also had a broken bumper bracket bolt plus the two studs for the fender bracket were rusted off.

I media blasted the front end of the frame. I think it was called Black Blast or something along those lines. It's a black slag type material. It was about $5 for a 50 lb bag, so I thought it wasn't too bad of a price. I didn't want to use sand because of the silica dust.

When the front section was done, I used some rust converter to go over it. The picture shows a bluish tint, but it wasn't that pronounced in real life.

What was the reasoning for the COE design?

Check this one out! This would be amazing to see and drive.


Twin engine six wheel steer COE truck

I had the engine rebuilt at a local shop. The guy running the shop had quite a reputation of knowing the straight sixes. He did an excellent job. I had him put on the original harmonic balancer so everything would match up. I put the original 6 volt flywheel on because i wanted to keep the starter with the floor pedal. I used the original 6 volt starter even though I'm converting it all to 12volt.

I got a new short water pump and had to also get an adapter plate for it to work on this engine. There is no way I could get by with a longer water pump because the fan is right up against the radiator as it is. There is no room for any change. I also used the original upper radiator hose and thermostat assembly.

Between the original manifolds and the spare one, I chose the best one. They both had cracks. I took it to a local welding shop to repair it. After repairing it, he milled the mating surface flat. This caused a gap between the intake and exhaust manifolds of around 1/8". I drew up a spacer plate in Autocad and had a machine shop make it with a CNC plasma cutter.

I blasted the rear part of the frame. I did the same treatment as I did on the front section.

I struggled and struggled trying to get the shaft that the pedals pivot on to come out. I thought it was a press fit and I could pound on it to get it out. I didn't want to go baliistic and break something. I did a bit of research here and found that there is a roll pin holding the pivot shaft in place. Once I found that (it was hidden in gunk), I was able to drive it our and the shaft came out nicely. I was able to clean it all up. It was pretty hard to move the pedals before, there was a lot of old dirt and rust in there. I don't think I could have gotten them working well again without taking it all apart.

I rebuilt the transmission (basically cleaned it out). It didn't really need much. I cleaned up the case and powder coated it. I also got the bellhousing cleaned up and painted. I assembled some of the pieces.

That frame and its components are sure looking sharp! Keep it up. Very interesting build started here.

The heater was attacked next. I don't know if it's original or not. I totally disassembled it. There was a mud dauber nest I had to clean out of the heater core. Some of the shafts that the flaps were on were worn down where they went through the housing and rusted pretty bad. I tried some muriatic acid on the flaps and the fan blades. That seemed to work pretty well dissolving the rust. I then washed them off good and dried them thoroughly. I media blasted the heater housing. To replace those worn and rusted shafts, I carefully ground the welds and old shafts off the flaps. I used new 1/4" rod and welded them in. Once I had everything cleaned up, I powder coated the pieces.

On reassembly, I put in new rubber grommets and springs. I also was able to source a new motor. I just cleaned up the nameplate as best I could without destroying it. Fortunately, the original knobs were in good shape, so I reused them.

It actually came together quite nicely. I like working on a small section of the project like that to be able to feel like I'm making progress.

I took the rims to a local company to have them blasted and powder coated. They did an excellent job.

The previous owner had some drive tires that he just gave to me. I was amazed at how good they were, that saved a bunch of money. I had to buy a couple of new tires for the front. When i went to get them mounted, I had to buy a few of the flaps ( I think that's what they called them ) and a few new inner tubes. They ended up looking really good.


I don't think they'd fit on my pickup very well.

This is the oil filter. I cleaned it up and then powder coated it. It turned out pretty good.

I sent some parts out for re-chroming. I wasn't sure if they could be saved or not. They came out amazing!
It was better than new in my opinion.

I got the engine and transmission mounted. I got a few of the engine accessories mounted. As the transmission sat, I found that it was leaking oil. It was leaking through some of the bolt holes. So I took it apart and sealed all the bolt holes. The seals seemed to be holding ok. So far it's still dry on the outside, so that's a good sign.

I had several carburetors so I chose the best looking one. I ordered a rebuild kit for it. I completely disassembled it and cleaned it up. I put in the new parts and reassembled it. I got it installed on the engine. I removed the governor and didn't reinstall it. That changed some of the connections, but nothing I couldn't adjust for.

I had the brake shoes re-lined, that wasn't cheap. I put in new wheel cylinders and reassembled the brakes.
I had the brake booster rebuilt at a place in New York. It sure looks much better now.
For the hubs, I got new bearings and new wheel studs. The old studs were pretty rusty and pitted.

Those brakes will be good to go for many years now. Looking good!

Good work. I've always liked the COE. I'm enjoying following along with you.

Very nice job, keep up the good work!!!🛻

So in these posts I'm kind of in a dilemma. What I've been posting has been several years back. I'm not going into much depth and trying to get everyone caught up. I figure once I get caught up, I can then go with posts related to what I'm actually doing real-time. BUT, there are things I'm doing now that would like to post about, but at this rate it'll be a while before I get there.

I see a few options and i think I'd like some feedback for the direction I should go.
1- Keep posting in chronological order, to eventually get caught up (maybe in a few months?)
2- Continue to post old stuff and intersperse the current stuff. (Might be confusing?)
3- Post only new stuff (missing in-between stuff)

Or any other ideas??

As a teaser, I'm including a current picture.

I'm going to flag this for John to see what he has to offer.

I did some thinking on the matter ... got those little grey cells just a goin' ... and here's what I came up with, FWIW ...

I think you should keep going chronologically with your *Journal* and post questions about what you are doing currently in the appropriate Technical Forum. Just remember to include your outcome in your Journal at the appropriate time.

A Journal is just that -- A record or diary of your experiences and progress. There really doesn't need to be a lot of conversation there of a technical nature. I know I have been guilty of this too in my own Journal and I am going to do better to post *my* question in the appropriate forums.

Discussions regarding how to do this, that or some other task (by you) should go in a Technical Forum.

If you post something in your Journal about something you did and how you did it .... and somebody has a question about what you did, or needs a little amplification of what you wrote, well that's fine but it shouldn't turn into something that belongs in a Technical forum.

I realize that this distinction is vague, highly subjective and possibly esoteric ... but give it a whirl, make a judgement and do the best you can. There's no Inquisition that will boil you in used motor oil if you don't do it perfectly ...

I'll do the same

John

When I started my journal, I was also in the same situation. Fortunately, I documented everything I did including the date it was performed since day one of the restoration. Once I started my Journal I posted chronologically including the date it was performed, until I caught up. I had eight months of work to catch up on. My only mistake was I posted too much too soon trying to get caught up that the Moderator had to remind me to post one or two postings a week to keep the ‘bolters interest. I was posting two or three days worth of work on a daily basis trying to get caught up. It wasn’t until the following spring that I actually got my Journal caught up. All along, I posted my issues I was looking to get help with in the “Shop” forums and kept those out of my journal. What I included in my Journals, was my progress, success’s and failures, and my thoughts as I was plodding thru the restoration. I sometimes left links in the journal back to those “Shop” forums for those that wanted the details of the work performed.

I love COE’s, wish I had a shop big enough to work on them, and appreciate the enormous job your doing restoring this old beauty! Keep up the great work and I’ll be following along!

Since I had the engine installed, I had to give it a try running it. At this point I had the electronic ignition installed and the carburetor rebuilt. I used an old gas tank from a snowblower and a used battery. I didn't have any cooling system, exhaust pipe or charging system, but I wasn't going to run it very long.

I turned on my switch to the ignition (old washing machine switch ["resources, not junk"]). Then I pushed down on the starter lever and it cranked! That was pretty exciting in itself. I kept cranking and soon it sputtered and came to life! Wow!

I ran it for a couple minutes maybe. It was enough to rev it up and down a bit. It sure sounded good. That was a big morale booster!

Congrats on getting the engine fired up. I know that feeling and experienced it a couple years back when I got my 235 rebuilt and started. She will be moving on it’s own power soon and you be like a kid with a new toy! Keep up the good work!

I installed the brake booster. I had it rebuilt and when I was talking to the guy at the rebuild shop, he asked if I found it at the bottom of a lake. He thought it was pretty bad. I guess I didn't know any better. They did an excellent job and it looks like new. I also installed a new master cylinder. I ran the brake lines, vacuum advance, and fuel lines also. I used nickel-copper line for most of it and it sure makes bending so much easier.

I took the differential cover off to inspect the gears. They seemed to be in good shape and were clean. I cleaned up the cover and sealed it back up. I filled it with oil and marked that off my list.

Why is it that when you need to be working on the important things, you decide to work on something that really isn't essential to get the project done.
That's where I was when I decided to restore the horns. I don't think they're original and I really wasn't even sure if they worked. I cleaned most of the crud off and started taking them apart. I wasn't really sure how far I'd go, but ended up finding out it wasn't too difficult. It looked like the mechanicals were in decent shape. The wiring was pretty bad. All the insulation was gone. I cleaned them up in the blast cabinet and then treated them with AfterBlast. I had several colors of powder for powder coating, so I
decided to go with red, white and blue. Once I got it all put together, it looked pretty good.

The truck was originally 6volt, so I didn't know what would happen when using 12volts on them. Let's just say I was glad I had my hearing protection on! It surprised me how loud they were. I figure I won't be using them very often, so I'll take the chance they'll last as long as I need them to.

Maybe we need a diversion every now and then to have some fun and take the pressure off the main project. I dunno. I'm sure it won't be the only time.

Hey, that stuff all needs to be done eventually. I know what you mean about a diversion. I put some tough body work aside for a while and worked on stuff that was easier.

Nice job on the horns.

So, finally getting back to this...

I worked on the air cleaner. When I first opened it up, it had a big mouse nest inside of it. I couldn't get it cleaned it up because of the metal mesh. I removed the mesh and decided to replace the guts with a non oil bath filter.

I had various parts of things I've kept over the years as "resources". I bought a new K&N filter that fit over the intake tube, but I wanted to make it look as original as possible. Even though this is under the cab, I knew what it would look like. I used a piece of UHMW plastic as a spacer and then used various fittings to adapt the K&N. I sealed this inside the original filter housing and secured it with screws.

Once it was all put together, I mounted it and attached the hose. It all turned out pretty good, I think.

The bumper mounting brackets had rivets in them, but some were broken. The bolts that mounted the bumper weren't original either, some were square headed instead of carriage head. A few of the bumper mounting studs in the frame were broken off, so I'm thinking the bumper was hit at some point in the past.

I was able to drill into the old broken off studs and used a bit if heat to loosed them up and back them out.

I cleaned up the bumper mounting brackets with my media blaster and them powder coated them myself. I took the bumper to a local shop that blasted it and powder coated it. It was too big for me to do. I think it all turned out pretty good.

When I reattached it all, I used some short bolts in place of the original rivets. They're not very noticeable under the front grille.

Very nice work on both of those projects!

The fuel tank needed a good cleaning. I used some rust remover in the tank. I also put in a short piece of chain and taped the openings shut. I rotated the tank around in all directions and let it sit for a couple days.
After that, I rinsed it out with water and let it dry. After it was dry I used some Red-Kote fuel tank liner. I rotated it all around to coat the whole interior. I then turned it upside down to drain out the excess and let it dry. I think it worked out pretty good. I didn't have any problems with it plugging the fuel line outlet.

How many gallons does the COE tank hold?

Hmmm. Good question. I haven't filled it, but I could measure it and come close.
I'll try to remember to do that.

I didn't measure it, but the manual says the fuel tank is 18 gallons.

https://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1942_47/4247csm004.htm

The engine cover was the next thing I worked on. I used a wire wheel on an angle grinder to clean it up and remove all the paint. The inside of the cover looked like it was asbestos, so I tried not to mess with it any. I left it in there, so I didn't try to blast it or try to powder coat it. I used a solvent to clean up the surface and then primed and painted it with rattle can gloss black. It wasn't too bad.

There were various small parts that I powder coated black. It was kind of a random assortment of parts. Several were linkages for the parking brake, front license plate bracket, and a couple driving lights. When I got the truck, it only had one driving light on it. The other was was broken off. Someone had backed into the truck and broken off the driving light and smashed up the grill. The remaining driving light was pretty rusty, so I knew I didn't want to reuse it. I happened to find a nice pair of lights at a local swap meet that looked very close to the original style. The mouting brackets weren't the same, but I fabricated new brackets. The lights were in good shape, but the paint was chipped here and there. I took them completely apart and media blasted the painted parts to clean them up.

I gathered the light housings and the other parts and powder coated them. It's easier to do a bunch at once if possible.

The original wheels were in good condition, so I had them blasted and powder coated. A local shop did them since I can't cure anything that big. I ended up buying a new set of front tires but the same guy who I bought the truck from gave me a set of rears that were in near new condition. I had to buy new liners and tubes, but it all came together really well.

No more wheeling the frame around on a cart!

Next up was the driveshaft. I installed new U-joints and painted it. Then I got it installed. Nothing too exciting here, I guess.

How much did it cost to have all the wheels cleaned up and coated?

I think they did all six for about $300 total.
That was from blasting to finish.

I looked at what it would take to rebuild the instrument cluster, but i decided I'd rather have a professional do it. I had them use a black background for a higher contrast. They also replaced the oil gauge with a higher pressure because I replaced the splash lubrication engine with a full pressure engine from 1961. One thing I thought was pretty interesting was that there is a two speed gearbox on the speedometer input. This is because of the two speed rear axle. I also got new sending units for the gauges because of the conversion to 12 volts. I had the speedometer set to zero, but now I'm second guessing that decision. It would have been interesting to have the original mileage on it. Of course, that's assuming the mileage shown was accurate, who knows? As far as I can tell, it looks to have been about 35,000 miles or so. That doesn't seem like very many miles.

Looks like a nice job. Who did it?

What does the green "S" mean? And what are those plugs sticking out from what looks like the light tubes?

My guess is that S is the connection to the appropriate Sending unit.

I had Bob's Speedometer do the rebuild. They did an excellent job.
https://www.bobsspeedometer.com/

Yes, the S is for the sending unit. You send 12v to the gauge unit at the + terminal, then the S goes to the sending unit. The sending unit is a variable resistance, so it changes the current through the gauge to deflect the needle. You have to make sure you have a good ground on the sending unit side.

The plugs are just upgraded light sockets for the dash lights.

I cleaned up the rear hubs as best I could. I didn't get the hub off the drum, but when I thought about it, there probably wasn't much point in doing that anyway. I installed new wheel studs and got new nuts since some of them had smashed threads and weren't in good shape. I took the brake shoes to a local tractor repair shop and had them reline them. I replaced the brake cylinders and cleaned up all the internal parts. The wheel bearings were in good condition, so I just cleaned them up and packed in new grease. Once it was assembled, the brake cylinder ends were rotated to adjust the brake retraction just until there was a small amount of drag. I didn't do anything to the parking brake cable other than free it up and try to clean it up. I didn't replace it or pull the cable out of the sheath to clean it. I suppose that's something that I can do later if it becomes an issue.

I removed the steering column and cleaned it up and repainted it. There isn't really any play in the steering box, so I just left it alone.

The ball on the pitman arm, however, was a different matter. It was starting to get undercut and I didn't want to have that come off while driving! That would be a little too exciting for me. I ground off the back side that was mushroomed like a rivet, then pressed it out. I got a new replacement one and pressed it in. I then welded the backside to retain it. When that was complete, I re-installed the steering column.

I removed the tie rod and drag link and cleaned them up. I totally disassembled the drag link and cleaned it up and then put it back together. Once I reassembled everything, it all worked nice and smooth.

That steering arm ball was pristine compared to one I replaced. I did both the one on the pitman arm and the steering arm on the spindle. That's something you don't want to have break on you for sure.

The radiator was next on the task list. I took it out of the mounting bracket and found a surprise! Inside was a crusty, dirty radiator cap. Apparently someone dropped it between the radiator and the bracket and then couldn't retrieve it. It kind of makes you think about that person way back when and what frustration they had when that happened. There's a story there that's lost to time now.

I took the radiator to a radiator shop about an hour away. Seems like radiator shops are much fewer and farther between now. While I was there, I watched him re-solder a tank onto the core of someone else's radiator. It was actually pretty interesting. Of course, he made it look easy. Mine ended up needing a new core, so that was put in. I'm kind of surprised there is one available, but I guess you just have to match up the dimensions of the bare core, so it's probably pretty universal.

I media blasted the bracket and then treated it with Eastwood Rust Converter, then when that dried, I used the Rust Encapsulator. I then painted it with Chassis Black paint. It looks pretty good, not amazing, but pretty good.

I put it all back together and it looked much better.

The showiest part of the truck is the grille. When I first got the truck, there was a tree growing up between the grille and the front bumper. Fortunately, it didn't damage anything. Unfortunately, there was damage from an earlier accident. At least all the pieces were there. The two missing ones were in the cab, safe from getting lost.
I sent the pieces out to have them straightened and polished up. I had the cast pieces re-chromed. I actually found the clips that hold the "teeth" to the grille from a vendor. I was afraid I'd be stuck trying fabricate those myself, not something I was looking forward to.

Farmdog - That grille looks outstanding! Well worth the effort to resurrect it. Maybe you would share your source for the clips so others will know where to go look if they need them too?

Amazing restoration!

Thanks for the grille comments. I got the grille clips from Jim Carter
https://oldchevytrucks.com/
They have regular pickup clips also.

I had the cab work done by a local restoration shop.
https://brustyhole.com/

They repaired a few rust spots and reinforced the back of the cab. I had them do the cab, doors, fenders and grille sheet metal.
They also did all those pieces that make a cab go together, around the windows, floor, etc.

Sometimes these projects take a while...

My shop is enclosed, but I do enough other things in there and also live on a gravel road, so things tend to get dirty just sitting around.
I pulled it out and gave it a bit of a wash. I didn't use very high pressure and I didn't go gung ho on detailing. I just needed it to be better than it was. It was also kind of a morale booster.

Looking great Farmdog! Morale and a motivation booster me thinks!

I worked on various small parts. There are a ton, of course, this is just a sample. i blasted the parts to get the old paint and rust off as best as I could. Then I powder coated them. i could only do items that fit in my oven, but that was quite a few. I only painted the back of the gas pedal. I didn't want to mess up the rubber on it since it was in fair shape.

Working on the brake, fuel and vacuum lines ended up being easier than I thought. I think I heard about the CuNi (copper - nickel) lines from a few posts here on Stovebolt. It seemed like the perfect way to replace the old lines. I had worked with the steel lines before and it was a real pain. Trying to bend it without kinking and getting the bends just right wasn't easy. I have a few different styles of benders and they are all a pain.

I bought a few rolls of each size I needed. I used the old lines as a pattern for the new ones and did several test fits. I was glad I had not assembled much yet because I needed that open space to maneuver the lines around and get them in place. If things were assembled, I'd probably just have to do it in pieces and use unions to connect them. Bending the CuNi lines was pretty easy, even bending by hand worked pretty good without causing kinks. I ran new lines for all the brake lines and fuel lines. I ran new lines for the vacuum shift rear axle along the frame rails, but the really curvy lines going to the cab I used the originals. They were only slightly covered in surface rust, so they were actually in good shape. I ended up using a steel line for the vacuum advance on the distributor since i already had that on hand. It was a real small diameter and I didn't need much of it.

Nice job on the fuel tank. I bought a new one for my 3100. Easier and not much more $$ than the products needed to clean and coat the old one. I suspect the COE tank is not reproduced, so that was not an option.

I struggled to get the steering wheel off. In fact, it was such a pain that I couldn't get it off when I removed the cab, so I just worked around it. I finally got to the point that I had to do something about it. I couldn't use a normal steering wheel puller since the horn switch contact was right in the middle. I had made a slide hammer a few years back, so I adapted it to the steering wheel puller I had. I whacked it for a while and realized I needed a new approach. i was afraid something was going to break.

The next method I came up with was to thread the nut on just flush with the shaft, then i used a socket that rested on the side of the nut and cleared the horn contact. I set the wheel puller to pry against that and tightened it down. Again, I was afraid of breaking something, so I tapped the puller a bit with a hammer and used some PB Blaster. I let it sit a few days. Each day I tapped it a bit, checked tightness and sprayed it some more. After a few days I just thought that I had to go for it. I very cautiously turned the screw on the puller and then BANG!! It popped off.

As a side note, I thought it was quite interesting that there was just a single key with a tapered shaft. All the things I've been reading about other trucks said there would be a splined shaft.

Once i got it off, I ground out the cracks with a Dremel. I may have gotten a little too carried away, but I've heard you need to make the cracks big enough to get the filler in. I used some PC7 epoxy and gooped it in. After a few days of it drying, I came back and filed, ground, and sanded it smooth. I can't say I did the best job and you can tell it was repaired, but I got it done and it's the best I know how to do. (There's a reason i don't do body work.)

I then used some gloss black paint and painted it with several coats. Overall, it was a lot better than it was and I like how it turned out.