I finally was able to get a few hours on my truck today. I installed the drive shafts. I had the short one to the carrier support lengthened by 4 3/8 inches, then I had a 1 1/4 taken back off. I don't know how I made that big of a mistake on the measurement, but I did. I also put in new bearings in the carrier support, all new u-joint, and finally installed the rear drive shaft. I also drained the rear axle lube and put new in. It was so thick and dirty had to let it drain all day, then put in new. I also put new copper washers in between the master cyl and the brake line block. Seems to have fixed the problem Now I need to find a helper to bleed the brakes. Talked to 51panleman today, he is going to ship out the radiator. Hopefully, I can put front clip on Saturday. I am looking for pic of where the battery tray mount with a 226 engine. It seems like the damper (?) on the exhaust will hit the batter where I though it went on the passenger side of frame rail. Well I did not get to work on it as long as I would have liked, but atleast I got some time in.

The radiator shroud was wrong so I am looking for the shroud for a 51 F6 226 radiator if anyone know where one is pm me.

Thanks Kevin

 

won't be long and you will be on the road,i will have to look you up at the nat's so i can see your truck.i never have any help bleeding my brake's.before i bought a bleeder kit i would put some brake fluid in a bottle with a hose hooked up to the bleeder.make sure the hose is down in the fluid,loosin up the bleeder and pump the pedal slowly,it will push the air out and suck fluid back in.tracy

 

My trick for brake bleeding is to use a long stick and a bungee cord: the bungee cord loops over the end of the stick, pressing it down on the brake pedal. The steering wheel holds the stick in position. Lift up the pedal, then jump out of the cab and go release the bleeder nipple, then tighten again. Repeat over and over until it's finally done.

 

There are several methods for bleading brakes by yourself.
Usually what I do is just open the bleadder valves and let gravity do the work. If I have lots of time I will open the bleeder farthest away and leave thetop of the MC. Eventually the fluid will work its way out. To speed things up a bit you can progressivley work your way through the system cracking each connection and waiting until fluid comes out. Since your MC is frame mounted it might not work quite as well though.
Once you get fluid at all 4 corners then I top off the MC and, leaving the lid off I slowly depress the pedal and slowly release it. Watch teh MC, air will come bubbling back out (if you step on it or release it too fast it will squirt out)
Sometimes if there is quite a bit of air in the system I will pump the pedal between not quite fully depressed and not quite released several times and then release it and wait a few seconds, then repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I've used this as a quick down and dirty method for years and usually have pretty good results.
Bobby

 

thanks bobby will give it a try

 

My God, Kevin!!! I read your posts and I feel like a snail! I gotta get to work.

 

I think Kevin is putting us all to shame. Before he came along I thought I was doing good at 4 years and counting. I see some folks taking much longer. I guess he's a man on a mission, Supernats here we come.

 

The trick for bleeding brakes that has worked for me is to use a vacuum one way check valve. Slide a piece of vacuum hose over the bleeder, attach the check valve with arrow away from the bleeder, open bleeder and slowly pump brake pedal, close bleeder and move on to the next one.Just make sure you don't let the MC go dry or you will have to start all over (don't ask how I know this)

 

Thanks, when I figure out what a check valve is I will try it. Maybe you can help the ignorant?

Kevin

 

Alot of the later years cars (1980 and newer) have small check valves in some cicuits of the vacuum systems. They are typically about 1 1/4" diameter with a nipple on each side and are usually gray and black or white and black. The local part store shoudl have them

Bobby

 

Ok I will check with napa.

 

Kevin, I went thru all my pic's and came up with two that had 6 cyc engines. You have your choice, there's one on each side. On the left side of the eng compt might be a problem if you have installed a dash mounted master cyc.

 

Oops, forgot to tell you the pic's are in my gallery

 

Jim,

The second picture you have posted in your gallery is of a flat eight. The six should be on the driver's side.

 

Damn thumbnails, you're right. fixed it.