1993 Shortbox Build

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RCSB_jonny

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Started tearing into the front end last night, but had to stop since I don't have a big enough socket for the ball joint castle nuts.

It looks (and is) hella rusty, but so far I haven't actually had to fight anything very much yet. The inside faces of nuts are still shiny metal once I get them off so I think it looks worse than it is. Other than the torsion bars, I disconnected the crossmember from the frame so I could try to beat it backwards but it was deforming under the hammer a lot for how little anything was moving so I stopped. Hopefully once I drop the LCAs I can get something to break free, if not I'll have to figure out which part is the easiest/cheapest to replace if I cut it.

Or maybe I should just skip straight to new bars...
 

RCSB_jonny

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Got everything off the truck on the driver's side, except the stuck torsion bar and the ball joints. But the frame is clear anyway. Passenger side is not quite as far, I was aiming to get to the same point but I got a bolt stuck in a socket and it was late.
 

RCSB_jonny

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Time for another sporadic update.

Picked away at tearing down the front end and cleaning things up over the summer.

I was unable to get either end of the torsion bars out, so I ended up cutting the crossmember so I could drop the ends out. Once it was out I cut the keys off. I just left the other end in the control arm and treated it as one big unit.

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I work for a steel fabrication company, and we have a paint shop, so I was able to get the torsion bar crossmember, trans support crossmember, LCA/bars, and sway bar sandblasted, and welded the trans crossmember back together.

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I had a ***** of a time getting the pitman arm off the steering box. Kept breaking cheap tools until I found a parts store that had a heavy duty pitman arm puller.

#1 Pitman Puller from Princess Auto. Used the impact (shouldn't have), stripped out the threads. Returned
#2 3 jaw puller from PA. Arm was two wide for the arms to fit around it. Kept it though.
#3 2 jaw puller from PA. Cot cockeyed and bent the arm plates. Returned
#4 Pitman puller from Canadian Tire. No impact, lots of lube. Stripped still, returned.
#5 rental Pitman puller from PartSource, except it was actually a tie rod puller. I had nothing else to try, so I ground down the sides of the arm so it would fit over it. Didn't work though and I didn't want to destroy it like the others.

#6 - HD rental puller. The arm basically fell off after a couple turns with the breaker bar on the HD puller. It was so easy that it had to have been all the previous lubing and beating... I'm just glad it's off lol.

Once I had everything off the truck, I wire wheeled then painted all the parts of the frame I could reach. Then I hit it with some rust converter spray, Eastwood Rust Encapsulator and Extreme Chassis Black, which I ran out of, so the last coat is just aerosol rust paint. (Guess I haven't taken and painted photos yet)

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Drunkcanuk

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Right on.... moving forward. Keep it up. Did you ever get a fleet side bed? Or is the stepside growing on you??? Lol
 

RCSB_jonny

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I think I'm just about ready to reassemble the new front end, a few more parts to clean and paint this week and then hopefully get my brother to help me get it all together next weekend.

Here's what I've gathered so far

AC Delco: UCA's, Drums, Rotors, pads, shoes, wheel cylinders
Proforged: Pitman Arm, Idler Arm, Idler Bracket, Tie Rods, Lower Ball Joints
Mevotech: End Links, Sway Bar Bushings
Timken wheel hubs
Energy Systems Poly LCA bushings - I was going to get new rubber, but the old shells were so rusted to the control arms that it was easier to just torch out the old rubber.
NAPA reman calipers
Bilstein 4600 shocks

Also new wheel seals, stainless brake lines, parking brake cables, t-bar keys, bolts for most things. Reusing the UCA bolts with the offset alignment washers, the torsion bar adjustment bolt/stop blocks, the crossmember hardware, and other misc. bracket bolts.

Still need to:
Finish grinding clean + paint the steering knuckles
Finish derusting the hardware I'm reusing
Finish painting little brake line and frame brackets
Press in the LCA bushings

I took out the CV axles to make room but I think they're just going to go back in as they are.
 

RCSB_jonny

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Right on.... moving forward. Keep it up. Did you ever get a fleet side bed? Or is the stepside growing on you??? Lol

Yep, it's in storage in the barn. Plan to clean up the underside before it goes back on the truck. No holes but a bit of rust in the usual places. Way better shape than the old one though. That'll be a next-year project, I'm already having to watch the weather for days warm enough to paint.
 

RCSB_jonny

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Refinishing my knuckles:
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The brake dust shields are toast - one disintegrated when I took everything apart, one lives but might as well be a lace doily. And since the only ONE I can find is on Ebay for $48 USD plus shipping, I'll probably just run without.
 

ahill003

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Yep those are all on the list! An ever - growing and expensive list lol.

Looking at brake line stuff on spare time at work. If I'm replacing the whole line, does it matter what diameter? I think I read that it's a mix of 3/16 and 1/4, but I'd rather just buy one roll of NiCopp.
I (my shop, not me) just replaced the pump and sending unit on my 93, but the inside of the tank was flawless, and minimal rust on the outside, which was treated. Scope the inside of the tank with a camera, if it looks good, save the $ for other parts.
 

RCSB_jonny

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Things have not been going to plan.

The idea was for this past Saturday to be "big assembly day" with my brother, both because it would be easier with two sets of hands, and because it seemed like it would be really fun to just hang out, drink a bunch of beers, and bolt a bunch of clean new parts together.

Unfortunately bro picked up shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Can't hold it against him, you gotta make your money when you can. He did come to the farm Saturday after work for Mom's birthday dinner, so we managed to do the parts I thought I needed two people for - mainly, the LCA/torsion bar assemblies, and the crossmembers that needed to go in before those. Sunday morning I got the UCAs in, lower ball joints in, idler arm bracket and steering box bolted to the frame, and tie rods / centre link preassembled, but it's gone sideways since then.

First was that I forgot the seals for the back of the knuckles at my house. So that stopped me from getting any further on the knuckles and hubs.

Then tonight I went after work, remembered the seals, but everything else went wrong.

Put the pitman arm on, starting with a crescent wrench, thinking once the nut was on I could get a socket on it. Nope. Need to unbolt the steering box again.

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While I was avoiding doing that, I tried to grease the other end of the pitman arm since I forgot to do it before putting it. Had no problem getting the gun on it by coming down through the engine bay, but didn't have enough space to pop it off. Had the genius idea of turning the steering wheel to turn the arm. It worked, but it also cracked the spout on my cheap grease gun.

Discovered I had the same issue on the other side - can't even get the idler arm on with the bracket mounted to the frame, so that had to come back off.

Switched gears back to the knuckles. Got the seals in, and got the right side bolted up to the control arms, when I discovered another **** up. I had thought I was being smart when I installed the lower ball joint, and greased it up before putting it on. Of course, there's a lot more room for grease when the shaft is straight and there's nothing on it. But when I torqued down the castle nut, all that room disappeared, and while a ton of grease did pop out around the shaft, it couldn't get out fast enough, and split the boot as well.

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At that point I was annoyed so I quit and came home. I figure since the boot is new and has nothing but fresh grease on it, I'll try to clean it up really good and smear some RTV or some other sealant on it, and just grease it a little more often... really don't want to replace a brand new ball joint.

Probably won't do anything until the weekend, or maybe next week. I have bodywork on another truck I started, and need to get finished this week while it's warm enough to paint outside. Looking like it's gonna be cold from this weekend onwards.
 
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RCSB_jonny

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Not a very big update. Managed to get both pitman and idler arms on properly, hubs and CV axles in now. It's been colder so not very motivated to spend a lot of time lying on concrete lol.

Just need to get the steering linkage in and the shocks on then the suspension is done, and it will be onto the brakes.


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