The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts The big bolt is killing me

I've rebuilt the SM420, installed a newer sbc. While the front clip was off rain found its way into the master brake/clutch cylinder so, that is now new. Two new driveshaft carrier bearings have been installed along with new u-joints. Now I find I need the clutch slave, two front brake lines, maybe cylinders...

Rebuilt the Q-jet carb and fired the engine up to maybe get a little enthusism going only to find the motor runs rough. Compression check reveals #6 hole is weak. Crap! I'm about to throw in the towel and sell her for scrap iron.

I've found a 68 Loadstar 1600 dump in running condition for $1200. I thought I could get the C60 going and know what I had for less but, the Loadstar is looking like a better deal now.

I'm spending all my retired life (and money) searching for parts for this thing.
What started out as a "lets just get her running" has turned into a total resto project.

Sorry for the rant. I figured you guys would understand better than the wife.

Old trucks are fun!

Keep wrenching on it, what else are you gonna do, sit around and watch Oprah?

-W

Good point. I'd better get back to work.

If she doesn’t bring you joy I am sure that someone here will be willing to give her a good home.
Do it because you enjoy it life is too sort to waste time on things you don't like. Look at it like this every time you have to pull something off to replace it she gets better. And for hobby or work big trucks cost big bucks, if you want to play you gotta pay.
Rest assured that IH has plenty of places to stuff cash, there’s just no getting around it.

if your working hard on one it will cost you at least 100 bucks a week

I've been spending around 100 bucks a day. Guess I need to slow down a bit.

I do enjoy working on her. It's just I had hopes of getting a little work out of her by now.

This afternoon was spent breaking the front lugs loose and pulling the wheels to get the drums off. Have to check the brakes to order the correct hoses. Might as well pull the brake cylinders and check the bores or just replace 'em while there.

I did noticed some slack in the passenger side kingpin. I'm assuming the bushings can be replaced and are available???
The drivers side seems OK. I guess the right side of the road is a bit rougher. Makes sense...
Tie rod ends and steering box are good and tight. No slack at all.

After all this, she's sure to get a new slick paint job. Hmmm... what color???

What year big bolt is this, anyway?

I get down myself sometimes wrenching on my '65 c10... seems things break in spurts. Then, when you go to work on something you think will be, time consuming, but pretty straight forward, there are 'issues' and things not working quite right.

Keep at it... take breaks. Sometimes you have to sit back with a cool drink and just look at it and think on the situation.

-W

She's a '66 C60 16 foot dump flatbed I've owned for a few yrs now.
We used to use her on the farm then she became the stage for this event:

www.beanstock.org

Eventually a permanent stage was built and I parked her up by the barn where she sat for a couple of more yrs.

She has quite a history. Was stolen once and we found her 2 miles up the road from the ranch. Clutch slave cylinder used to leak so I'm guessing the thief lost clutch pressure so bailed out. I always knew to fill beforehand.

She has had plenty of talented musicians perform on the flatbed. I figure its time to get her going again.

If you enjoy working on it keep going but don,t rush yourself. I work on stuff every morning till 1-2 oclock & then clean up & get on the computer. Like my signature says I look around for something to fix. If I can,t find anything I wax them. I figure the money will come back some day as value added.

Made some progress this afternoon. I pulled both front brakes apart, pulled the hoses, cylinders...and cleaned things up. Took inventory then did a little bit of body work.
Also had a good look at the kingpins.

I guess I was rushing her a bit. Today went smooth.
Even worked on the old Mercedes some.

I had to replace a leaf spring on my 57 6500 dump and then had the snowball effect, broke a brake line, etc. Sometimes you gotta walk away and get back on a day you're in the mood. It will be there when you're ready.

Take a good hard look at those kingpins. How loose is the one? Have they been greased regularly & do they take grease? If it,s not real loose & they turn free I would leave them alone. Putting kingpins in a truck that size under a shade tree is not easy. Sometimes they will come right out & some fellow Stovebolters will chime in & say they put them in with no problem but more then likely they are froze in & it be a monumental task getting them out. The state safety inspection allows for a certain amount of looseness & still be safe. If you grease every thing up good & set the toe-in it will drive good.

The drivers side kingpin has just barley a detectable amount of slack when dry.

Passenger side is pretty loose on one axis. I haven't pulled the dust cap two screws yet. Hoping I see the pin stationary when I do and really worn bushings in the spindle.

I suspect the pin is going to be stubborn coming out unless the axle hole is really worn.

Brake hardware looks good, cylinders are shot and the shoes are about 50%. They are 2 1/2" wide, smaller than I had imagined. Bearings look good. New seals added to my list.

I figure the newly insatlled 350 will have to come back out for a rebuild. I found #6 hole to have little compression. Hoped it was a stuck valve but the comp came way up by adding oil thru the plug hole. I guess it rusted and damaged a ring. I plan to do a leak down test to see where its going before I pull it.

What's a good cam to run in a big bolt 350?

Progress report.

Aquired all the needed brake parts and have the drivers side re-assembled. New shoes, cylinders, hoses, seals and bearings.

I'm dragging my feet (no pun intended) on the right side due to the condition of the kingpin bushings there.
The pin is tight in the axle, spindle holes look good but, to my suprise I found the bushings to be PLASTIC. I expected to find brass.

Anyone else seen a plastic kingpin bushing?

The plastic ones seem to be fine, but require regular greasing so they last.

I have a set in my truck, and so far so good.
If I have a choice I would not use plastic, in my case I had no choice.

Grigg

Grigg, Is there a source for the plastic bushings?
Once again my local parts guys are coming up empty...

I looked in the Moog catalog. It shows 3 different axles available in that year. The 5000 lb. axle the pin is 6.43" in length & 1.11 dia. It takes part # 8492B or N. The letter suffix stands for brass or nylon. The 7000 lb. axle the pin is 7.89 lenght & 1.25 dia. Part # 8491B or N.
The 9000 lb. axle the pin is 8.75 length & has a tapered pin. It uses # 8462B or N. Moog is available at Carquest stores & many others.

Little progress lately as we've been under the wx here coughing and hacking with some upper resp crud.

I did manage to get all the front brakes and wheel bearings/seals done. The kingpin is soaking in its daily shot of PB. That little pin retaining bolt won't budge.
The bottom KP bushing shows little slop. If I can't get her apart easily then I may just slide a new top bushing in and call it done.

Mice had eaten some of the dash wiring. I had new wire in the cab for a redo. Found that the little buggers had chewed on the new stuff. Distructive little bastards.

A couple of things, Coyote. The truck is supposed to be a hobby, I assume? Remember, hobbies are things that you enjoy doing. Things that you do for self preservation are considered work.

My father grew up near farming and, for 30 years, felt that he would love to be a hobby farmer. After he retired he tried it for a year, and it didn't click. He ended up having a lot of fun with wood working, which he had done before kind of as a necessity. Not everyone is cut out to be a truck restorer. The minute you lose interest, or it starts becoming work, you need to stop, at least for the moment.

You remind me a lot of myself. I've got several hundred dollars worth of parts for my 1951 Chevy 1.5 ton, 195? Chevy 1 ton dump, and 1973 Chevy 1 ton chassis, but I haven't felt like working on them lately. Maybe I'm learning the same lesson that my father did. But I don't think so.

Another problem I have is that I can always turn a simple job into a complicated one. For instance, I had a fuel flow problem. The truck would start but was basically running off the accelerator pump. This truck has the gas tank in the cab. I spent a day making a substitute out of an old Briggs & Stratton tank, which I selected because it had a water separator and a shutoff valve.

Well, it actually caused more problems than it solved. I found out that there is a metal restrictor in the cap that controls max fuel flow. The valve was a nice idea, but didn't work, and, since it was filled from full empty with fresh fuel, the separator served no purpose except to make it necessary to elevate the tank four inches in order to keep it kind of level.

I also bought 3 eight foot sections of 5/16" fuel line, because I misplaced the first two; a low pressure electric fuel pump, which is 12 volt and of limited usefulness now that I have decided to leave it 6 volt for a while; and a mechanical fuel pump that I haven't installed yet.

I don't know about you, but I'm going to try to change my methods. I need to get excited about doing something, for instance pushing out the roof of the '51. I need to think about how to do it and discard all methods like hiring a body man to drop by. I need to put together the bare necessities to get the job done, such as sand paper, primer and a glove. Then, when the weather is OK (no rain, little wind), go out and get it done. If I have problems, I need to re-think the method, starting with the next simplest, which is usually also the next cheapest.

I'm only 57. Chances are that I will live another 40 years at my current speed. I've got time.