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1958 Task Force
"Frank gets a New Lease on Life"

For 20+ years I tried to convince my dad to let me fix up the 59 that he bought to fix up with my brother that never got touched. The story of that truck (which is also mine now as well) can be found here.

When I finally gave up trying to get him to sell me that truck, I went looking for another four-headlight, long bed, Fleetside, Chevrolet truck for myself.

I eventually found one over in Billings, MT and successfully bribed a friend with a bigger truck to help me haul it home by offering him all the road trip snacks he could eat and a stop at Chik-fil-a on the way back.

We loaded my son up in the truck and set out on his first epic road trip. We stopped at Twin Falls on the way back and crashed a car show in the Chik-fil-a parking lot while we had dinner.

My daughter is looking over my shoulder as I get these pictures out and post them. She says "I remember that day. I was so cold because I had to stand outside looking at a dumb old truck that I didn't care about. That's sad because I really like this truck now."

The only real progress for the first year or so was collecting some spare body panels, a new tailgate, and making piles of plans.

Fast forward to this spring when I got a 98 Grand Cherokee rear axle (3.73 with positraction) for the back and a Speedway disk brake kit for the front. The summer turned into a variety of disasters, but we finally got a chance to get serious about working on it this fall.

First, we went through the underside. We find the front driver shock mount was busted off, the rear pinion was leaking like a sieve, there were visible leaks in the rear brake hard lines, the shocks that were present were done, the spring bushings were shot, and the fuel line was leaking. Nothing good here...

While we worked on cataloging all of that and swept the dead mice out of the doors, we cut all the old mounts off the new axle to prep it for installation. We ended up stripping it all the way down, painting the main axle black and the rebuilt brake parts silver.

I also got tired of using a prop rod on the hood, so I got a buddy to help me swap out the hood hinges. In the process of doing that, I discovered that the latch was all kinds of borked so we spent some time fixing that.

I didn't trust the current axle/springs because they had clearly been replaced badly before, so I went to the vehicle information kit and pulled out the pinion angle (3.5°) before welding the new perches on. I was very, very careful to get this angle right...

Once we got that far, the work really got rolling. The old axle and springs came out as a unit, the frame got stripped/painted over the axle, the driveshaft got new u-joints and a nice coat of paint, and the new springs went in.

The u-joints turned out to be a pain because the parts listed in the book were incorrect and the modern "HD" parts didn't fit. The front (at the SM420) ujoint was a 1350, the center (at the slip yoke) and the rear were 1310s. Conveniently the jeep axle used the same ujoint as the original chevy axle so no conversion was needed.

Once all the pieces were assembled, it all bolted up really nicely with new ubolts and plates. The pinion angle looked a bit off, but I thought maybe it was just because the axle was hanging from the springs...

Once it was on the ground it became apparent that the pinion angle was waaaaaay off. I had made the (incorrect) assumption that the spring perches would be level at the installed ride height. Turns out, instead of the pinion being 3.5° up, it was actually 5° down. So that had to get fixed. Out it all came again.

Once the axle was back installed with the correct angles, I put all new brake parts on one side and my daughter put them all on the other side and we buttoned up the back (for now).

The new wheels look fantastic and the ride height is perfect with the combination of new springs and proper axle installation.

Time to start the front!

The front should be fast, right? I got a CPP firewall master cylinder mount and the adapters to put GM metric rotors/calipers on the front.

Before starting on the brakes, I checked the wheel bearings (shot) and the kingpins (nice and tight).

The brakes up front appear to have been rebuilt in the not-too-distant past. The shoes were good and the other parts were remarkably clean. When I got the spindle stripped, it was in worse condition than I expected, but sleeving it went well anyway.

We put the new caliper mounts on, put it all together, and greased the kingpins real good. After working the new grease in well, the kingpins loosened up nicely and got all kinds of floppy, so it all has to come off again to get replaced.

In the meantime, the underdash pedal/master cylinder mount needed installed. Once again my best helper came in handy with the ability to fit under the hood. She held the parts from the engine bay side while I worked under the dash.

Getting the spot welds out was a pain, but overall that installation was not too bad. I refused to pay CPP $80 for a pedal, so I took some scrap metal,welded a bolt on the back, and cut it to the shape of an 80s C10 "disk brake" pad.

While the kingpins were out and I waited for new ones, the frame got cleaned and painted behind it. Same for the spindles and the axle ends. The front springs appear to be fine, so they are not getting replaced right now. The bushings are tight and when I greased them old grease came out immediately so they appear to have been lubed correctly. In this process we also checked all the steering parts and they appear to be tight and smooth.

I had debated whether to deal with rear shocks right away or not, but decided that I had some time while I waited on the kingpins that FedEx lost so I might as well put them in. The old ubolts came down from the top and clamped under the spring with the shock mount on them. Since I moved to spring plates above the axle, I had to go a different direction with the shock mounts.

I got a set of weld-on adjustable mounts and got them in. Once the kingpins showed up, I got them installed as well and got the front put back together and looking sharp.

The booster and master cylinder went in smoothly with the custom proportioning valve mount. At this point, I need to run new hard lines, bleed it all out, and it should be ready to go.

I got a couple spools of stainless hardline, but just plain cannot get it to flare without cracking. Given that winter is *rapidly* approaching, I broke down and ordered some cunifer to replace it.

My next plan is to finish the brakes, get them tested/solid, then probably move it to the side lot for the winter.

The next thing that really needs to happen is getting it all rewired. I found a great deal of harness damage that needs resolving. Depending on how long the snow holds off, that might or might not happen this fall. I plan to convert to HEI while rewiring it all.

To do:
Run brake hardlines
Install new shock mount from Mongo
Find/build working gauges
Convert to HEI
Cut out the currently welded-in seat and replace with something less horrible
Fix wiring disaster (likely just start over with new harness)
Install seatbelts (potentially integrated with new seat)
Add rear bumper
Add spare tire carrier

You don`t think that brake pedal will interfere with the gas pedal?

It looks like it would in that picture, but there is about and inch and a half of clearance when you actually press it down.

Good enough. My foot would get caught under the brake pedal.
My shoe had a tendency to slide up on bare metal till I put the padding and mat down.
Great work!!!
Brake lines are fun. There is a "T" fitting for the front drivers frame for
the lines that for me was hard to find. Brake Line Adapter Tee, 3/16" F x 3/16" F x 3/16" M
The other stuff I have done before on that particular year cept the seatbelt.
Which ..I have and might put in. Passenger side first.
I am glad to help if you get stuck. I think I have the frame mount spare tire rack,
since I switched my tank for that area.

My proportioning valve has 2x front ports, so I am not planning to reuse the t-fitting. I am saving all the parts that are coming off (like the fittings and such) to list over on the swap meet when I get some time.

I am not using them, but they are original and I would like them to go to a good home.

Here is are better pictures of how the pedal travels. I couldn't really foot test it until it was assembled and you are right that it doesn't feel super natural to move from the gas to the brake. I wanted to make sure it was going to clear the steering column installed.

It is the same height as the old brake, just a bit wider. I might end up moving it over a bit to make that easier. I have good clearance to the column.

Great progress. Looking good.

John

My goal was to get it safely on the road this summer. That isn't going to happen, but at least progress is being made and I have a path forward.

I am leaning toward putting in a GMT800 style spare tire lift when I get that for. For now the spare can ride in the back.

The Speedway kit came with instructions to trim the inner fender and bolt a mount to the top of the frame.

I opted to widen the stock holes by 1/16" and follow the stock routing. There seems to be plenty of clearance to the inner sidewalls with the wheels at both extentions.

Now that the hoses are installed, I could put the wheels on and get a final look at the stance with all the new parts. I am quite pleased with the look. It is sitting on jackstands under the axles, so this should be the final wheel heights.

Now that I have heard of someone in current time that has bought a disk brake conversion kit, may I ask a question? Since it may take a while to get permission , I'll ask anyway. Will the replacement parts (rotors, calipers, pads) have to be bought through Speedway? Or can you pick them up at regular parts store (Twilight Zone, Napa, Advance etc.) I'm thinking of picking mine up from Brother's (now Holley) but would rather know where to get replacement parts as they should be be a whole lot cheaper through regular parts store, right?
BTW, looks really good. Do you suppose you could ask your helper to come and help me get mine ready after she's done with yours? Right now, my grandkids won't have anything to do with mine unless I shame them into helping this old man.

SS

This kit uses standard off-the-shelf GM parts. I had to change the inner bearing race from what GM installed from the factory, but its replacement is a standard Timken wheel bearing.

Speedway publically lists the vehicles that they are stock on. I don't have that list in front of me, but I checked with my local Napa and they do carry all of these parts.

I know that CPP claims their kits require using their pads, rotors, and bearings. I highly doubt they actually produce their own and someone motivated could buy their kit and figure out the OEM part numbers.

I made the explicit decision to buy from Speedway because they freely provide that information and sell their parts at a comparable cost to the FLAPS. I want to encourage that behavior with my wallet.

As far as convincing my helper to come over, she is rather vexed that we spent all summer on mommy's suburban and my truck and didn't make any progress on her jeep. I suspect it would be a hard sell until she makes some progress on hers.

Edit: To be clear, the only two custom parts in the speedway kit are the sleeves for the spindle to make it match the new inner wheel bearings and the mounting plates for the calipers. Those parts can be bought on their own if you want to source the rest from a FLAPS or a junkyard to save a few bucks.

Stewart, you should ask your ODSS Brotherhood to help with this. Might make a fine group project. Ask them anyway. (" ... I'll ask anyway.)

I ended up working late today, but my cunifer showed up so I had to go out and try it out.

My wife made fun of me for opening my box from Summit, sniffing it, and declaring that there was nothing like new car parts smell. I still say that is a real smell. It has hints of oil, rubber, and metal.

Anyway, I had built the proportioning valve mount with the adjuster screwed all the way in. Once I loosened it up, it blocked one of the output ports on the master cylinder. Fortunately I was able to just rotate it around one of the bolt holes and use the same bracket.

Cunifer is weird to work with, but it flares really nicely.

Baby steps...

Today was a collection of setbacks. I tried turning the new brake pedal upside down because the pin was off center and it is in a much better spot now. I will need to make a new backing plate because it is a trapezoid, but that shouldn't be too bad.

The real problem was when I went to do the hard lines on the rear axle. I had welded on mount for the soft lines while the axle was out. Unfortunately I just realized I did so with the calipers reversed. Closer inspection shows the bleeder screws on the bottom.

Oops.

Moving the calipers to the correct sides wasn't a big deal, but after spending both of my hours of daylight fighting with some combination of swapping/rotating the soft lines, I came to the conclusion that the existing soft line mounts just plain are not going to work. Now I am debating between pulling the axle out again, cutting the mounts off, and making new ones vs getting a set of custom soft lines made that will go directly from the caliper to the distribution block.

I have been explictily building this project with the intention that all the wear (or easy to damage) parts would be available off the shelf at a FLAPS. Doing custom soft lines violates that principle, but I *really* don't want to pull the axle again at this stage. I dunno.

I did get a nearly textbook example of catastrophic shear propagation on my impact shaft. The nick is clearly visible on both pieces and the way it radiated out from the failure is very clean.

Can you just swap sides with the calipers at the slide pins? Not the first time that's happened. The hoses should fit the way they are. The only thing that would change would be the position of the bleeder.

Yeah, that's a classic brittle failure.

The hoses are not centered on the caliper. I swapped the calipers to the correct sides, but the hoses kink trying to bolt them to the mounts.

I tried swapping the hose sides, installing the backwards, upside down, the works. I redrilled the mounting plates on the hoses to see if I could get enough play that way, but no dice.

I found a set listed that I think will be long enough to come off the caliper and mount to my shock towers, so I ordered a pair of them from the Amazon man. If they work, great. If not, they will go back to the amazon man.

Edit: to be clear, the *caliper* mounts are fine. It is the *hose* mounts that are wrong once the calipers are swapped to the correct sides.

They look pretty centered in your photo. That's too bad.

They are just close enough to make me think that if I kept fiddling with it, I could make it work.

I could force the hoses to bolt up, but it ends up being such a tight bend and twist I am not comfortable having it part of a safety critical system like the brakes.

It is frustrating, but I would rather redo it than lose brakes on the highway.

Due to some health and family issues this project has been on the back burner for a while.

My daughter showed up at breakfast this morning in her Stovebolt Reunion shirt and declared that we were going to work on it today. So we did.

We got the rotten fuel lines replaced with fresh ones and made new lines for the back. Overall, I am not thrilled with it but my friends tell me it looks good.

I need to change the fluid in the diff, so I think I am going to get some of those clips that go on the differential bolts, try and shape that line a bit closer to the differential cover, and go with it. I really want to get the brakes sealed up before winter.

The picture looks like the brake lines are right on the shocks, but they are actually offset about 3/4" and clamped right there so they can't flop into the suspension.

I have a couple question....why are the leaf spring mounts upside down? Won`t those rubber brake lines be under barrage from road rocks and debris hanging under the axle?

I don`t recognize that pumpkin/rear axle , is it original?
Is it safe to support the truck like that ? I was afraid of damage. In the front I used the crossbrace in front of the engine. The rear, I use the frame. Lifting that way the rear axle will bottom out before lift.
thanks!!

It is not an original axle. It is a Dana 35 with more traditional spring perches, a limited slip 3.73, and disk brakes.

What is the concern about supporting the truck this way? I have jack stands under both axles so the weight of the truck is compressing the springs. I have been lifting vehicles that way for 30+ years, which isn't to say that it is *right* but I am not sure what your concern is.

The hanging soft lines are one of the things I am not really happy with. A lot of vehicles do that, but I don't really like it.

I have been trying to usse off the shelf parts as much as possible, but the more I look at these, the more I think I want a custom set of lines with 90° banjos.

No worries. I get used to seeing that angle with the stock stuff.

Just a question. I just wondered about how much more lift it takes to raise the truck that way as opposed to lifting from the frame, with an already relaxed spring. Seems unnatural and the truck would never see spring compression like that in use. But supporting it with a non-stock axle should be fine. I don`t trust the weight on a stock axle ..front or back. Truth betold I use the jack stands there in addition to cinder blocks and wood under the frame on both sides which is really what is supporting the truck. I take zero chances.

Like how you have yours in the air there. That would have me a little ...worried. Agreed on the soft line.

It is exactly the same spring compression as if it were on the ground sitting on its tires. The spring compression is the weight of the truck above them.

I will go back and forth between lifting by the frame vs the axles depending on what I am trying to do. In this case I specifically wanted the suspension at ride height to set the routing between the axle and the frame for the neutral postion, then switch to lifting by the frame to check it at full extension.

Thats great work!

Finally made a couple breakthroughs today. I still didn't like how the rear brake lines were run, so I did that over.

I also built a new pedal to move it farther to the left.

I got all of the hardlines run, flared, and installed. The driver side frame run is clipped into the stock clips.

My helper got a bit excited with the pedal and splattered some brake fluid around, but the brake are nice a hard without the booster.

Overall today was a good day. I still want to change the differential fluid before firing it up, but I think the wheels are on for the winter.

I was hoping to get some gauges this fall, but with everything else that didn't happen. I will hook the electrical back up and run the sketchy pods for now. Maybe I can get the cluster fixed up over the winter.

Progress is progress. Keep up the good work.

And it really is 1 step forward, 2 steps back. I was looking at my detailed pictures again and it looks like I nicked one of the new hardlines drilling for the clips.

So I get to pull it apart and remake that one. Yay.

Well, this is why I obsessively take pictures of things. Le sigh.

I managed to sneak out of work on time today and get a little bit of work in before it got cold and dark. The old line was not as damaged as I thought when it was installed, but better safe than sorry.

Unfortunately, the new line looks so much better than the other two originals that I kind of want to replace them all. I am resisting that urge... Lets get on the road.

We hoped to get on the road today, but it starting snowing just as we went outside to work.

We still wanted to do *something*, so we set up my propane heater pointed under the bed and cracked open the diff. Surprisingly, the fluid came out honey golden.

The gears look good, no play anywhere. So we scraped out the rest of the oil, wiped it down, put it back together with a new gasket and refilled it.

One step closer to being on the road.

Had some time today before the choir concert and got the backup light switch installed and the boot installed.

I ended up with a switch from a 67 C20 because they are much more available than the 63 version. The shift boot is a Kenworth part.

I just mounted the parts and took some measurements to the parts catalog to pick the shift boot. The floor will end up getting painted black, so I went with a plain black boot and black screws.

So, what is the switch for--back-up lights?

The shift boot looks great!

Derp. Yeah, backup lights. The 58 didn't have them originally, so I got the later model assembly from another member and installed it. It was interesting to me how loose the arm was on the shift lever. I wonder if the later SM420s used a thicker shift lever.

I had to get a new, thinner jam nut to get it tight enough.

We have been doing a lot of tinkering and poking lately, but wanted to find a horn to put in with the new wiring.

After going a few rounds online, we remembered that my wife's D*dge lawn truck had an old horn in it. We went and looked last night and discovered this beast.

Pulled it out and tested it, but it was completely silent. We really like the look, so we tore it down, cleaned the contacts, resoldered the cracked joint, and adjusted everything.

We out it back together and it made noise, but sounded awful. A couple adjustments later and it sounds perfect for a 50s truck.

Once it functioned, we stripped it to bare metal and painted it. Once that dries we will be ready to put it in with the wiring.

Small steps.

We had breakthrough day today. It was too foggy to go anywhere on the road with no lights, but we fired it up and did a couple laps around the property.

The new brakes feel great, the new tires are narrow enough to steer with the manual box, the new suspension settled as we went over bumps and such into a stance that we are quite happy with.

We might need to make celebratory scones tonight.

Nice!!

Progress!! Yea Team!

Those "test drives" after doing work are very rewarding....fuels the desire to do more.