After going round and round and round, and looking ata bout a dozen things, I pulled the front clip off the beast today and started eyeballing stuff up.

I almost tossed the GM box, thinking it would interfer with the tires when turned, so i mocked up an 8x8 block on the frame and maybe, just maybe with the wheels cranked all the way to the right, the tire might rub (33's.)..plenty of clearance with the 9.50's on there now which are about 30inches tall.

So, when ahead and made a template for the GM box and drilled some holes and mounted it up, have the box angle pretty good, and setup up the drag link.

Now here's the fun part, I goofed before...the GM link ends are actually larger then the Skyjacker ones, so we'll either need to get a Dodge end, or ream out the Skyjackersteering arm taper to match the GM taper.

We will also have to put a bend in the tierod end to clear the steering arm on sharp righthand turns, but I won't do that until I figure out whats the cheapest way to go...new draglink end, or buy a reamer...I'm leaning towards buing a reamer...then Ihave an extra tool to use

The kids are off somewhere with the camera, when they get back I'll snap a pic and post it up.

So we're nearing the homestretch on the steering, I think there may be enough steering parts to mate the column up correctly, it'll just take some figuring to get it right the first time.

Oh, also, even though the box Dan left me was for a crosssteering, we would not be able to use it..we would need a box that mounts on the inside of the frame, or else the cross linkage would deifitely get in a bind between the frame and front spring...so I'm going to steam it off and put it up for sale to see if we can get some of dans money back on it.

 

Here's a shot of the binding...just needsa little heat here...then a tweak there



Kinda tough to see with the sun...but should still give you an idea of how the box is mounted.



Here's sort of a head on look...angles are not great on the draglink, but once we heat iit and tweak it some, we'll be in pretty good shape

 

PS...Clint...hope your tires are good for a haul..neighbor stopped by today and told me of a place paying 250 a ton for scrap iron...gonna mount your tire on my trailer and make some loads on Monday

 

Mike... If that show "junkyard wars" was still on, I would want you and Dan on my team. This is great! Are we running front disc or drum brakes on Thumper?

 

Disc's in the front and drums in the rear.

Gonna do some heating and bending today if the acetylene hold out. Should have plenty of adjustment in the draglink once I get things tweaked in.

 

PS...the "junkyard" is going to come to an end this week, at 250 a ton, I'm going to have cash in my pocket and a clean yard

 

Well, I got the steering arm from Dan...damn, the taper comes in from the bottom, so I'll look to retaper from the top (GM taper is much larger than the Ford, so should have enough to make it work), if I hit a snag then I'll just bite the bullet and go get a GM steering arm and bolt it on and be done with it.

The spacer idea won't work, I wasn't aware that the steering arm holes were tapered, so it wouldn't make a good spacer anyway.

Should have something figured out in the next day or two, the scrapyard isn't too far from the Pick and Pull yard, so I'll be in the area and take a gander of what they have.

 

Getting closer.

I picked up a steering arm off a GM yesterday and looks like it'll fit the bill just right.

I just need to get 3 9/16th bolts to mount it.

Once that set up, I'll see about figuring out hooking up the column and make it steerable.

Pics to follow after I get the bolts.

 

As promised..note that the Draglink is now above the steering arm...pretty level too

 

Been dicking around with the parts we have on hand, and have decided to swap the steering column with the 80's Ford truck column Dan had in the bed of the truck...this way i can use the double-D hookups...there's one here, must have come from the column? But need to get another so I can line things up.

Had to take the column drop off the old column to weld to the newer one, once I get the column bolted in, I'll weld the drop to it and we'll be in good shape.

I'll hit up the wrecking yard tomorrow and get the ujoints with the DD shaft...do some trimming here and there and should be steerable by late in the AM.

Gonna head back out in a bit and see about putting the rest of the engine together while the front clip is off.

 

Grrrr...getting frustrated, put the PR's in and snapped off a rockerarm...looks like it was fatigued by the light/dark dicoloring in the break, but what the heck...Dan will send me one down and hopefullyy we'll get it back into shape...

Should have seen the push rod shoot out about 7 or 8 feet when the rocker arm let loose...good thing I was off to the side or I'd be showing you a pic of "human get's impaled by rocker arm"

 

No progress today, it was too wet to go to the yard today...funny huh...106 last weekend, in the 60's and raining this weeknd.

 

Dang Mike.... Sounds like you could fashion a house out of a few pieces of old steel.

The weather is crazy, last weekend I was roasting and this weekend I was grilling burgers, avoiding the rain and wearing a jacket.

 

My dad always told me it'd be tough to burn down a steel house

 

Well, it's bullet biting time, the wrecking yard yeilded nothing I can use...several DD U-joints and such, but not what i was looking for, so i scoured EBAY and found what was needed...a U-joint to go from DD to DD, should be here by the end of the week...looks like there's enough DD shaft on what we had on hand and what came with the boc\x i picked up to make it all work with just the one U-joint.

Hey, I need the practice on Thumper...this way as i set up my '36...all mistakes and gotchas can be worked out beforehand