I see you slackers haven't made it into the shop yet

Man, I didn't make it home till close to midnight, with toothpicks in my eyes to keep the lids open. Bummer was I kept stopping for coffee and "man breaks", by the time I got home I was too wired to sleep!

We need to change over the rear spring hangers and mounts, to eliminate that "double-flex" joint on the hangers, I think we could utilize some of what is on those Dodge springs. I have an idea and will build a few mounts here.

Just give me the:

Frame width and the current length of the existing mount and the spacing between the hangers (where the spring goes).

Also, let me know the bolt diameter for the shackle mounts.

This way, I can have them all made up, and we'll just have to drill holes to match the riveted holes in the frame and bolt them in.

My only wish is you have AJ and Chet read the tape measure as well

One other measurement, plumb down (well up actually) the frame with a straight edge, and measure how far in the INSIDE for the INSIDE hanger is from the frame (hope that makes sense) so when I build it all and we mount it, the leafs will still be [parallel to the frame..

Again, I can't emphasize this enough, have the other guy read the tape as well

 

Perhaps we could use the new rear spring mounts to level the truck when they get the front bolted in place? I always liked the way those trucks looked with the rear hiked up - sort of like the aggressive stance of a bulldog.

Also, will we need to flair the rear fender openings to make up for the wider Dodge axle?

Also again, am I to understand we have a fine-splined Dana 70 rear with 4:10 gears and working traction lock mounted in the truck?

 

I think it's still the D60...it's the rearend that Tim donated.

We used the axles from the D60 rear I had under a MH chassis (the old white one out back without the Coach on it).

So, what we wound up with was...

Tim's rear.

Your brakes and hubs

My axles...all mounted nice a snug (we need new ubolts thuogh) and the rear is basically a roller once the wheels are mounted up.

I'm sure there will be plenty of lift to not be concerned about flaring the fenders.

The way the rear shackles is mounted, is on a "dual pivot" type of setup, I'm sure this was done for ride quality, but what we noticed as Dan kept jacking of the rear, the pivot kept "rolling" and the lift we thought we had, changed a good 6 inches or so...

So, what we need to do is "hard mount" the shackles, like on older trucks, or like on a trailer spring, so that we just have "hangers" in the rear attaching the leafs. The ride (IMO) will be a bit former, but will give os more than enough lift and keep the high pinion angle we want as well.






Also, I neglected to mention is was great meeting AJ and Chet face to face, I've spoke with both AJ and Chet on the phone, but this was the fist time face to face we'd met.

Both are great guys and no doubt willing to help, Chet is one generous SOB, everytime we mentioned "We need....", he said "No problem" and jumped in his truck and was off to the AP store, takes a special kind of person to do things like that and be so generous.

AJ is a real "go getter", no doubt he doesn't like idle time...Dan was welding and grniding on the front end, Chet was helping me with the rear...AJ was "Give me a wrench, give me a "xx"...", and was taking off all non-essential stuff, just couldn't sit still without a tool in his hand. I can obviously see how he go his pickup to where it is now, he's not one for lagging.

Also was good to see Dan again, I think I'll just leave it at that.

But kidding aside...as we were looking at Dan's stuff at his place I asked if he had the Mustang headers (for my 5.0) "No problem", gave them to me. As much crap as I like to give him, he's a heck of a guy too.

Sorry I couldn't stay over and assist today, but I needed to tend to the "flock" and ready the back yard for 4 yards of concrete.

I'll make it back up in the next few weeks with the rest of the engine parts and some other stuff.

 

I drove by your house yesterday Mike, but nobody was there. I have that dizzy for the 460 still in my work truck.

 

Ya, I was up at Dan's.

If you're in the area, just drop it off on the porch, no issues, we're all running here and there these days, so trying to nail down a time is tough.

Nornmally weekends are good, but I had to bail Dan out, as he was knee deep in it...

 

Oh, and one important thing, since I wasn't here, gotta be Dan's fault, huh?

 

Yeah, it usually is...

I did get your phone message but just didn't have a chance to get back to you, too much going on. I'll get the measurements you need, and I do know how to read a tape...when I actually take measurements! That was the problem, I never measured Tim's rear end for total width, just checked the distance between the perches. Once I determined that it was the same, I assumed that the rest was the same as well. Sorry...
But it looks like we'll need about 4 inches of additional lift in the rear. It's sitting with the rear wheels on the ground now and with the suspension settled, it's definitely a bit lower. But I want to wait till we have the weight of the engine and drivetrain plus the front end on it before determining the actual rear lift needed.

We did make a bit more progress today, though we were all feeling a bit rocky after yesterday. Only Karl showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (and over-caffinated!) and ready to rip. We set him to cleaning and pressure washing the front axle while Chet and AJ replaced front u-joints and ball joints and I continued to weld boogers on the front end. We knocked off and cleaned up around 4:00, feeling pretty well beat. Karl and Chet headed for home while AJ and I headed back here to my place. He's out in his MH making himself presentable again while I'm sitting here typing this.

One more new snag...I guess I have to eat my earlier words, and maybe eat a transmission as well because...it doesn't fit the 460 after all. I guess the IDI diesel guys were right. It's close...very close, but only a couple of the bolt holes line up perfectly. The others are off by about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch. It sure looks exactly like a 460 pattern and I even took the diesel adapter plate up to the tranny shop near my work and tried it on a tranny they said came off a 460, and it fit perfectly. I guess they were wrong and that was actully a 6.9/7.3 tranny. So I removed the t-case and extension housing from our tranny and loaded it into my truck and will go up to the tranny shop tomorrow to see if they can swap all the guts into a 460 case for me for a reasonable price. I suppose we could get the tranny Mike has and use the case from it, but I'm not an auto tranny guy and don't feel comfortable doing it myself.

It's always something...

 

One thing about it - we knew enough to test the tranny fit. I am sorry it came out this way, but it does go to show that it is hard to beat the advice you get from FTE !!

We have a member who lives in the Modesto/Stockton area and works on auto transmissions - he should be able to help us out. Maybe we should swap the guts from the HD tranny into the original case, or just rebuild the original?

 

The tranny I have looks to have been recently rebuilt. I'll have it checked out tomorrow and see what the guy at the tranny shop can do for me, he's always been very helpful. The tranny we got with the engine is a 2WD tranny and is not in good shape, judging by the black nasty-looking fluid that came out of it, so all we could expect to use from it would be the case. But it's clear down at Mike's...

I think the tranny shop would probably swap me cases, we'll just have to see...

 

My feet still hurt, and my hand where I hit it with a ball peen hammer knocking out those Ujoints, and my back from picking up and hustling around the axles, and my hands from scraping all that crud off the parts, and my knees, and other stuff I'm not going to talk about.

It was fun and great to meet you all.

Sorry Mike, I didn't get your message until now about assisting with the measuring. AJ is there. Maybe he'll pick up on it.

 

Don't overstate my generosity. The most expensive stuff I bought was a bunch of gatorade. Otherwise I picked up some recycled shop rags and a locking tab for the rear axle bearing assembly. There were a couple of other trivial items. You are contributing your experience and inventory. I just contribute a little bit of money.

When Karl joined me on a trip to the AP store today, he had his credit card out before I even realized what was happening. He's younger and faster than I am, I guess.

It was all good stuff and I think that we got a lot done. There is a lot more to do.

The front axle looks pretty fine after application of AJ's painting talent!

 

Well, I showed up to Lakeport around 11 after drinking too much coffee and Mountaiin Dew ready to work. The first thing they have me do is power wash the front axle. I guess AJ, Chet, and Dan didn't want to get wet. After that, Chet and I went to get differential gaskets and some of Dan's special "Ford Semi-Flat" black paint to paint the axles. He forgot to mention that it was engine paint. Dan went back for another part and got the right stuff.

We then watched and offered encouragment Dan as he changed the brakes on his mom's Taurus. It was fun to watch Dan try not to cuss in front of his mom.

After installing the new gaskets, we went to lunch. AJ painted the front axle. Dan made the unfortunate discovery about the transmission. We cleaned up and then headed out.

Thanks to AJ, Chet, and Dan for teaching me about differential, transfer case, and transmission lubrication. Now I need to do somethings to my truck.

 

I can bring the tranny up with the other parts, I've never taken one apart, other than to install valvebodies and shift kits, so I'm not the guy to try it...unless we don't mind taking a chance of sitting in one place while the engine rev's up

 

Do we still need a set of fine spline axles for that rear end Dan? I think I have a line on some free ones. Possibly even drums, but not sure of the match. Let me know if so, and I will go over to his house and rummage through the mess, but I am 95% sure they are a match... Let me know. I'll give him a call right now to find out if they are still there anyway.

PS. Dan, what is your phone number? PM it to me if you can. I'll pm you mine right now.

Tim

 

Hey Tim,

We're good on the axles, the ones we pulled from the Dodge rear slipped right in without a problem.

I was going to reply earlier this morning, but as soon as I read your message, my concrete truck showed up.