I would go with the good carpet.


Is there a reason you are talking about moving Dad's truck home or to a body shop??

 

I did forget Gary.
My brain is not what it used to be.

My red interior has one blue and one saddle seatbelt latch.
IDC. They work to hold myself and passenger in place.

 

Gary, I agree on using the good carpet.
Whoever gets Rusty will get a good truck to work with..

Hey, if the shoe FITS......WEAR IT.. Trav.

 

Forgot to say that Rusty's original carpet has the hole cut for the NP435 shifter and I've converted back to a C6. So I really do need to change the carpet. Anyway, thanks for the confirmation.

Bruno - I'll address that in Dad's Truck Build, but my body man has moved out and is no longer using the same shop. He would like to get another shop, but has taken a full-time job in a body shop. And, there are many other things going on in his life that will keep him busy for at least a month. So, at some point Dad's truck will have to be moved somewhere else.

 

Had quite a day. Or rather, a long day installing one hub. You'll remember that the stub axle on one side had a burr on it such that the hub wouldn't go on. Well, I worked it over a bit and thought I had it just right. But, after sliding on a ways the hub got stuck and wouldn't come off. I tried several different approaches, which took quite a bit of time as I didn't want to damage the aluminum hub, but none of the easy approaches worked. So, I made a puller. As you can see from the pictures, I took a 1/8" plate and drilled it to take the 6 hub retaining screws, and drilled one hole in the center for a 1/4-20 bolt to press against a bolt threaded into the shaft. It worked perfectly and pulled the hub right out.

Then I worked on the shaft quite a bit more, and finally resorted to grinding a triangular file, as shown in the picture, which let the file set down into the splines such that both sides of the file worked on the splines. That did a very good job of cleaning them up, and after a few tries I got the hub to slide in easily - but not before having to use the puller a couple of more times. In fact, the puller worked so well that it is now in the "Puller" drawer of the tool box as it is a keeper. Anyway, the hub is now on, as shown in the next picture. And, you can see the anti-seize compound that I put on the heads of the screws to ensure that they don't seize like those on the truck when I got it.

Last, I put the tranny cover on. And yes, that is actually the tall one that goes on Dad's truck since the proper one is locked up in my bodyman's shop, along with the rest of Dad's truck. Since it is going to be some time before I can get into the shop I put the tall one on so I can get Rusty going. I'll swap them later - after all, it just takes pulling the seat, seat belts, door sills, and a couple of trim panels. Anyway, you can see that I put a temp plate on to close up the transmission shift lever hole - and used some of the blue goo that one of my buddies gave me to seal it up.

Bottom line - I hope the next owner doesn't have the same thoughts about me that I have about the PO. Man, what a ham-handed "mechanic". This guy didn't even have a shade tree!

 

Clever idea with the triangle file Gary, and timely too. I had to replace one of my hubs but the other one I know will need some filing. Actually I already did some filing to it but just so I could get the races in - the teeth for the locker still need some attention. That trick should make short work of it, a lot faster than using a tiny jeweler's file.

 

It's always interesting to see truck parts I've laid hands on go cross-country, and end up on an internet forum.

 

Luke - I hoped it would help someone some day, but didn't expect it to be that quickly. Glad to help.

Shaun - Yep, that's the one. Thanks to you again for that cover. Don't happen to have a hydraulic pedal assembly, or the 4wd cross-member braces, or the pivot bolt and bushings for a t-case shift lever extra do you?

All - Forgot to include a picture from the catalog of the guts of a locking hub. I had to refer to it to figure out which way the first piece in assembly +1K105 goes in. As you can just make out, it goes in with the concave "dish" pointed out.

 

Had a short day as I helped a guy move this morning. Looking things over in prep to installing the carpet I realized that the back trim pieces were absolutely gross. So, I pulled them and went to work with my normal approach:

• Sand the gross, mealy stuff off with 80 grit, rinsing with water frequently, until the major color differences are gone. In this case the dark, ugly brown got sanded off.
• Smooth that up with 120 grit, again using water, to get the color reasonably consistent - although it won't be perfect
• Use a red (fine) scuff pad with water to smooth everything up and get the color pretty consistent - although still not perfect
• Finish with a gray (ultra fine) scuff pad and something like Armor All, spraying it on and working it in with the scuff pad to ensure that there is no dry spot left

The pictures tell the tale:

1. The before picture of the driver's side. As I said, GROSS!
2. Another before picture, this one a close-up of the stuff to be sanded off
3. Mid-process on the driver's side before it was scuffed with Armor-All. And, the before picture of the passenger's side.
4. Completed trim panels

 

They look good Gary!!

Out of curiosity why did you go through the trouble of siliconing the cover for the transmission shifter up if that is the tunnel for Dad's Truck?

 

Thanks.

As for the cover, I don't want water in Rusty if I should drive in the rain. Or, maybe I should say "It just seemed the right thing to do." Sorta like the time I spent to get the splines on the axle filed down so the hub went on smoothly. Or today when I used the correct screws to hold the plastic trim panels on instead of the ones the PO used. Anyway, that plate is held on with #6 machine screws so will be easy to take off when the time comes. And, it uses the original screw holes in the cover itself.

 

They look amazing, but that is WAY too much work for me.
I would sand them to 120 and shoot them with SEM.
(in fact, I intend to do just that to my truck)

 

SEM costs money. And, I'd have to order it in. I had the sandpaper and the scuff pads. And, by the time I got those panels smooth enough to paint I was very near being done.

 

That makes sense. I was looking at it thinking the blue goo would add a degree of difficulty to the removal. However, looking back I remember you saying the carpet was being replaced with the better carpet so it would make sense to protect it the best you could.

 

I get in those situations where I could spend $40 to do it with a little elbow grease or suck it up and go the manual labor route. Depending upon how much time I have determines which way I go with it too. I have actually paid to have an alternator changed before. It would have cost me more to do it myself than it would to pay $30 bucks for the labor.