After a long delay I'm back to work on my truck. Spindles, drums, hubs, backing plates, and drag link are blasted and painted. Today I removed the axle and leafs, and did a whole lot of cleaning, wire brushing and sanding on the axle. (my own sandblaster is next on the tool list) The leafs look good other than the rust, but I am going to order the 2" drop leafs from classic performance products to replace them. I'm also ordering a new set of shocks. I have new kingpins, bushings, bearings & races, brake components, and drag link internals ready to go. Hopefully I will have everything back together again soon. I really need to get some pictures to update my gallery. Next on the list is the steering gear box, then on to the rear end. If only I had more spare time to make progress...

Mike

 

Sounds like you are making good progress. I hope to get back to my 56 M100 soon.
How`s your weather? We`re getting a real good blast of a winter storm with high winds up to 50-60 mph and blowing snow.

 

Cold here, but this is a very mild winter. Normally by now we would be in the -20's--30's and we are only around 0-10 right now. I'm hoping for more snow soon. This is a very strange winter here. It would be nice to have some heat in the garage though. Sounds fun, I love a good winter storm. How many M-100's were made in 56?

Mike

 

Wow, it sounds like you've been making some great progress. Especially when you consider that cleaning and working on the chassis can be a real tedious pain at times.

Stay warm
Bobby

 

You're right about cleaning chassis components. Once you get through 50 years of grease and dirt you still have the rusty surface to deal with. This is a long process on the front axle with wirebrushes and brillos. Your gallery is great Bobby! Thats awesome how you fabricated those tailgate latches and showed the step by step process. Great pictures!

Mike

 

microb,
you may want to check out Posies new F100 super slide springs before ordering your springs, there's none better.

 

AX, I went to their website and it looks like they only show super slides for up to 1948's. Did you see them for 53-56 somewhere? Thanks,

Mike

 

yes, they have been advertising them in their magazine ads, their web catalog is far out of date, give em a call.

 

Thanks Ax, I'll call them. Do you know how much they lower?

Mike

 

No sorry, don't think it said.

 

posies site has "dual-flex" springs for 48-56 F100 in their Posies new products link about 1/2 way down the page. Is that what you're talking about?

 

Havi, those are a different spring type. I did call the company though and request a catalog. They don't seem to advertise them for 56's on the site yet.

P.S. Havi, with or without the mango salsa?

Mike

 

The dual flex is an "improvement" on the monoleaf Instead of using one uniform thickness leaf with it's limitations that makes it a less than satisfactory in actual application, Posies is using two eliptically tapered leaves to give a somewhat more progressive spring rate with a stiffer center area to resist wrap up. I haven't seen any independent assessment of their real world effectiveness.

PS: they themselves claim them to be twice as safe as a monoleaf spring, acknowleging the fact that monoleaves have an inherent safety issue.

Their super slider springs are more like standard leaf springs except they taper the ends of the leafs and add pockets for friction reducing buttons. The theory is that tapering the ends allow the end to flex easier that the rest of the leaf so the button stays parallel rather than trying to dig into the next leaf, so they have less friction than a spring made from uniform thickness steel even with buttons or strip friction reducers. To understand the idea, think about pushing a flexible twig along the floor while held at an angle to the floor. if the thinner end is towards the floor it flexes to become more parallel with the floor and slides easily. If you turn the twig around and push the thicker end, that end being less flexible will not bend parallel and tend to dig into the floor rather than sliding along.

 

gotcha, thanks. (w/Mango salsa)

 

Here are some pics as of tonight. Bear in mind that this is my first rebuild of any vehicle and I am learning as I go along. I will also update my gallery.

Mike