Truck

Life has a way of messing up even the best laid plans… The last year has been proof of that, but like always we persevere…

Our weather here has been good, well it’s winter so good is relative and since I like snow, yeah, it’s been good… 9″ last weekend, more this weekend, even with rain turning into ice, it was beautiful waking to the shine of ice and 3-4″ of fresh snow.

But all that means that I was able to get out in the garage today with some free time. I started cleaning, clearing the shop area up, and moving things to make room. Then I got to the truck.

I’ve felt guilty all summer, I tried to get to the truck. It has been on my mind that I needed to figure out getting the engine block out and I wasn’t sure of the next steps except that I found a short description online of dropping the driveshaft, then rolling the wheels back. To be honest, the though of doing that, both by myself and not being sure what I was doing, was making me hesitate, so that was one more factor for the delay, my head is my own worst enemy sometimes.

But, this weekend it was time to get rolling again…. so I got things cleared and got myself organized. Here is where I started…

The floor is made of a sheet metal piece, formed around the shifter, another sheet metal piece in front (the angled up portion in the above picture) and a wooden floorboard. I started by removing the screw head bolts from the sheet metal sections, then removed the screw head bolts from the wood section. I was fortunate, most of these bolts were rusted, but only one was damaged so badly I could not remove it, it was in the wood and it appears the screw head had broken off. The wooden section near the bolt holes had weakened, so I was able to basically just pull it off the sheared bolt, then lift the piece off the frame and lift it over the shifter.

So the transmission has been exposed, and the master cylinder as a bonus. Next step will be either unbolting the engine block from the transmission, or disconnecting the driveshaft and pulling the whole thing.

The last few weeks the temperatures have been coming back to where working in the garage is possible in comfortable clothes, ie – not wearing a parka and thick gloves.  That means I have been able to get out there and clean up the projects and “stuff” that has stacked up over the winter.  My garage seems to be a convenient dumping ground, even for the kids that no longer live at home.

I did some rearranging again this last weekend, trying to get the most in usable space and making a space for the engine stand.  It still amazes me, both that I can get as much into the garage, and as big as it is still not have enough room for everything I need to do… LOL

I did spray the block down a few times with oil to keep anything from rusting over the winter.  I sprayed the transmission mounting bolts as well as the stabilizing rod attach points with penetrating oil and the engine hoist is over the block with the spreader mounted still.  So as soon as we get another day or three of nice weather that I am off work and don’t have honey do’s, I hope to try to at least start getting the block out of the truck.

I haven’t been able to work on Dad’s truck in a while, life, injury, the pursuit of getting through every day stuff just got in the way of getting time to work in the garage.

When we left the truck last, I had removed the horn finally, but the starter was fighting me and the fender was next on the list of things to do.

I managed to get the starter out today, unfortunately it did come apart, something I had been warned to try to avoid.  Not the end of the world, but I think it will mean a minor rebuild job on it.  Like I said, not a real problem, it will benefit from getting cleaned up as even part of the rotor was rusted.

That was one more thing on the list.  Turns out the problem was a simple one, and should have been really obvious, like bang my head on a brick wall obvious.  There was a small angle bracket through the top bolt that was attached to the block.  Once I got it wiggling some, it became apparent there was a pivot point that was holding it.  A quick look around and there it was.  I removed the top bolt, which is probably why the starter came apart, then loosened the bracket bolt attached to the block and the starter literally fell out into my hands.

Next on my list was the fender.  Dad and I had talked and decided that taking the fender off was going to make it way easier to get the engine out since the amount of room in front of the truck was limited and getting the hoist in from the front would have been difficult.

I wasn’t quite sure how that was going to go, there is an inside fender (engine side) and then the outer fender, and not all of the bolts were easily accessible.  The steering gear blocks some of the access to the inside of the frame channel, so I wasn’t sure if it would be easier to take the outer fender off  of the inner fender and running board, then tackle the inner fender or just to take it off as a single unit.

First I had to get the headlight wiring separated, then I decided to just take it one bolt at a time.  I got each one to work loose until I hit the last one holding the fender to the frame and then I got stuck.  The head of that last bolt was inside the frame channel inside a cross member and behind the steering gear.

So I decided to see if the bolts holding the outer fender to the inner fender would come along easily, nope, that wasn’t happening without some destruction, so I crawled under the truck again and figured out that if I put a wrench on the bolt from the rear through the frame I was able to get that last stubborn bolt free.

So another obstacle is out of the way.

And now we have access to continue.  I think the next step will be deciding if I am going to pull the engine with the transmission still attached, or try to separate them and only pull the engine block first.  I suspect it will be both combined after looking at it from underneath again, separating them may be difficult, there is not much clearance.

So another round of research is in order, but we have made another step on the journey.

Today I did battle with the knee offending horn…

The bolts holding the horn on the frame are carriage bolts with square inserts keeping the bolt from turning, unfortunately the one on the left had rounded out and was free spinning.  because of being smooth on top and so rusty, I couldn’t get hold of it in any way to continue spinning the nut off…

I ended up going for an all out assault.

I drilled out the head of the bolt from above to break it free, then the rest of the bolt dropped free, and so did the horn.

Today for lunch I decided I needed some me time, well me and the truck 🙂

I did some light reading on the starter on the truck after struggling with it last weekend.

So it turns out that the bendix gear on this starter model is behind the flywheel and the starter is in front of flywheel, and the bendix is pulled forward towards the starter motor to engage the flywheel.  Also that the bolts that hold the starter to the bell housing also hold the starter together.  So removing the starter, while keeping it in one piece is just one of the challenges.  But being forewarned with that knowledge will certainly make removing it easier, so that is on my list for this weekend.

We are coming down to removing the block, so now I’m making lists in my head of what next.  I decided taking the fender off the driver’s side at least will make removing the engine much easier, and safer, so that will almost certainly be the next item for the weekend.

I also did some cleaning and discovered that the brake line running across the front cross member was corroded through.  Replacing that is not a major issue, I have the tools to bend brake lines, but I’m glad I found it now, I would have found it sooner or later, but sooner is always better than later.  So planning for it will fall into the grand scheme of things.

But, where do we go from here…  I think the next step is going to be blocking up the transmission and removing it from the block, then it will be time to pull the block…

We had a mixed day today.

I spent a couple hours finishing moving my woodworking tools to the front of the garage to clear space for the engine when it comes out.  I still have a ways to go, I need to replace the garage door on that side so I can roll things in and out.

I started the day by trying to remove the exhaust manifold since we are going to pull the block in the not too distant future.  Unfortunately, the first bolt on the passenger side sheared off, and I am not able to get the breaker bar on the second bolt so I am working on it with heat and a wrench, and soaking it in oil overnight.

Once I decided it was time for the oil to have a chance to work, as a backup I moved on to the exhaust manifold bolts themselves.  While turning the first one, I heard a small “crack”, I thought it was the bolt breaking free, but after a quick examination, it turns out there must have been an existing crack, or at least weak spot in the manifold…

I broke a few more of the bolts free, then I decided I should brake, I mean switch to, something else…  SO I decided it was time to pull the drums for the front brakes.

The drivers side wheel hub spun easily, the cotter pin and castle nut came off nice and easy, and the grease was still fluid and not dried/caked.  The outer bearings pulled out easily and still had grease packed in them and look like they are moving freely, the drum slid right off the spindle, it could not have come off any smoother.

The inside of the drum looked pretty good, minimal corrosion and there wasn’t grease everywhere around the housing.

Then I moved to the passenger side.  On this side the drum didn’t turn by hand, it spun when we got it on the trailer and off and into the garage, but it was pretty tight.  I removed the cotter pin and the castle nut spun off easily and was still well greased, some of the grease had broken down and liquefied it looked like, but the outer bearings looked to be in good shape still.

The drum on the other hand, was held pretty tightly by the brake shoes I suspected.  With some persuasion, the drum came off and things looked fairly good inside.  The was some sign the cylinder may have leaked, there was some corrosion around the cylinder, but all in all things were in fairly good shape structurally.

The best part about getting into the brakes today was finding the shoes look to be in good shape.  Each side has at least a quarter inch of pad and looks to be in good shape.

As for the rest, we’ll get it, it just may take some more persuasion…

The last couple days I have snuck out to the garage at lunch and after work to work on the truck.  The main focus has been the head on the driver side.

First I removed the oil filter canister from the head and disconnected the line to it.  I had to be careful as there was a small amount of oil in the bottom of the canister still and the last thing I wanted was that to go flying…

I made a mistake on Thursday and was wearing a nice t-shirt when I went out at lunchtime.  When I went back in, I realized I had a couple small grease spots, so I immediately sprayed it with some magic elixir from some magic blue bottle in the laundry room so it won’t stain, I hope…

That night I removed the temperature sending probe, or I tried to…  The nut came free, but the probe would not come out of the head no matter what I tried, so I sprayed it with some oil and moved on to removing the nuts from the studs.

Once all the nuts were removed it came time to soak the studs in oil, and let them sit.  I came back the next day and added more oil, gave it a couple whacks to see if it would loosen up, but no go yet and I didn’t have more time to really get into it.

Friday I decided that removing the grill and towbar from the front was going to make working on the truck easier, and given I think I’ve made the commitment to pull the block and rebuild it from the bottom up, removing the nose was going to make that much easier.  Of course, now I’ve decided I’m going to re-engineer my workshop to make room for rebuilding the block out of the truck.  I removed the bolts holding the grill/nose on, only to realize I needed to remove the towbar first so the nose would clear the horn… it’s always something else.  So I soaked the bolts holding the towbar to the frame in oil to make removing them easier the next day.

Saturday morning I went out determined to get the head off.

I started by removing the towbar and the nose/grill piece and the towbar.  Dad’s truck has this beautiful nose, the grill is oval and bows out, and I think one of the most distinctive parts to the look and feel of the truck.  Getting the grill/nose loose took some oil and elbow grease, the bolts for it are not all in the most convenient locations, but the towbar came off so easy I wondered if I was having a dream and I was going to wake up and realize I hadn’t started yet…

Then I started working on the head by adding some more oil to the studs,  I cleared all around where the head and block met, then I started tapping around the head using a 2X4 and rubber mallet, then moved to a little heavier hammer. 🙂  Once the head broker free it was just a matter of working it slowly from all sides.  I used the trick with the plastic floor space/wedges again and once I had it loose I worked it off the studs.  I had one stud that was obviously causing a problem, but eventually it gave up the fight.  I set the head on some 2X4’s on the top of the block to continue to work on removing the temperature sending probe.

I did stop to do some research, my new books came in handy, and of course consulting the Great Google…  Unfortunately nothing magic appeared, so I decided to try using a little heat to loosen the temp prob, after all it’s the head, it gets hot.  I’m not sure I actually got all of the probe out, the wire broke during some part of the struggle, I think the probe may have separated and left the casing in the head, that may take some more work, but it will get fixed if so.  I’ll do some more research and get something ordered.  I feel bad, this is the first thing that has “broken” and it looks like that is not a cheap part. 🙁

I also decided to take the front tires off, I already know I’m going to need to rebuild the brake system.  Something was dragging when we moved the truck over here, hopefully all it is  is the brake shoes and not something internal, axle, something…

But I won’t know until I get the drums off, so the first step is take off the tires.  Since the truck is on jack stands already the hard work was done.  Once I had the tires removed, I loosened the caps covering the castle nuts, but I decided these are probably different enough from the drum brakes I am used to that I was going to do a little light reading before I keep going.

So for lunch yesterday, I decided to head out to the garage and see what else I could do.  The truck did demand an additional blood sacrifice, but it turned out to be worth it. 🙂

I have been working my way towards getting the heads and intake off the block so that we can see what is going on inside the engine.  I decided to see what was left to do on the intake.

I remove what I think is an oil line (actually it is a vacuum line I found out) from the intake to the distributor, the wiring harness from anything on or around the intake; the oil pressure sending unit wire (I think) and the wiring to the distributor, as well as an oil (vacuum) line on the top of the intake to the firewall.

Then came the fuel pump stand, push rod and the bushing and cup at the back of the intake.  That was a terror, it was very badly rusted, so I had a hard time getting things apart but I did finally get them removed.

My hard work and those few drops of blood came into play as the intake came off nice and smoothly at that point.

The good news is, it is not as bad as it could have been in the block, the bad news is it is not as good as it could have been in the block.  But it could definitely have been worse, so I’m happy to get this opened up.

I’m pretty sure at this point we are committed to rebuilding the top of the engine at least, it just makes no sense not to.  Once both heads come off and we can see the valves and we’ll know if we need new sleeves and pistons.

After work last night, my walking buddy was tied up, so I went back down to the garage to continue the battle with the head.  I had soaked the studs on the both sides after I removed the nuts, three studs came free from the block when I was taking them off the other day.

I started with some gentle taps around the head.  I began to see an opening between the head and the block, so I started rocking the head.  Then I got the idea of using some plastic wedges, normally used for spacing laminate flooring and tapping them in from all four sides.  They did great, I used them from the sides and top and bottom, knowing they wouldn’t scratch or scar the surface of the heads or the block.

Note to self, soak the studs on the other side, then soak them again, then soak them again and try wire brushing them clean before trying to remove the head.  It took me 20+ minutes of rocking the heads back and forth to get them to come off of the studs.

But no matter what, we have made more good progress.

The sacrifice in blood has been made to the truck for the week.  But in return for a skinned knuckle, I was rewarded with progress. 🙂

The nuts are off of the right side head, although the head itself is still stuck tight.  Some light reading and research and I have found this is not uncommon.  So following the least intensive suggestion, for now I am soaking the studs (and the edges of the heads) with some oil so see if I can then gently bust it free.  Once we have that off we can start getting a look inside the block and we will know more.

I’m also soaking the bolts holding the intake as I suspect it will be stuck also, we’ll just have to see.

Probably the biggest step for the weekend is that the carburetor is now off the intake and now on the bench.

I was trying to take the grill off the front of the truck to make it easier to work around, but the nuts and bolts need to soak in penetrating oil, they were fighting me and it just wasn’t worth the effort, I can come back to that battle later.

But the starter solenoid is off and the wires all labeled.  The starter is disconnected, but still attached for now.

 

Side note here, working on the truck is something I love to do, but being able to work on the truck AND smoke bacon… priceless!!!