Vintage Don
Well Oiled
Yep, I'm ever so slowly moving toward those areas..... which is kind of appropriate, since Halloween is just around the corner - and those are kinda scary places! haha
Like usual, it's a long, roundabout path with me in getting there. I know I talked a lot recently about the big "Turnaround Day" event and getting ready with the truck now backwards on the Lift to be able to work on the rear half this winter. But lots of side jobs along the way.... After Hershey last week, I'm trying hard to finish up a bunch of half-completed things that I should get out of the way to "clear the decks" and start the rear end work.
There is still the "Stuck Stat and Muddy Water" issue to complete, flushing the cooling system. And I had to finish up and re-install the old original oil filter I found recently, and that's in place on there now. I decided I needed to put wheels on the Engine Run Stand, so I could more easily roll the engine around, get it outside for more flushing before I install the thermostat and antifreeze. Putting casters on that took up one morning, but worth it - it was too much hassle moving it around without wheels.
And not so long ago, I sandblasted the seat frames and got them in primer. I still want to sand them down and get paint on them (outside) while I still have good weather for painting. Someday (I remain optimistic!) the upholstery dude will actually call me and say he has the seat cushions ready! He's "only" had them since May... but I figured that's how it would go, which is why I took them to him a long time ago.
So while at Hershey, I was looking for Hub Pullers - fully expecting to have a struggle, getting the old rear hubs off when I got to that point. And I finally found the highly prized OTC Puller, but it only had 2 legs with it. Which made it practically free (guys were asking $100 and more for these! I got this one for $10), so I bought it, realizing from earlier research about these that I could pick up extra legs if need be. (Learned that with Google and studying about these Pullers on the phone in the motel room in the evenings..) So my buddy at the local auto parts got the 3rd leg ordered for me ($35).
But I also found another very antique looking puller that looked promising. Not as large as the OTC, but for $10 I bought it too. Well used.
And I decided just for the heck of it, I would try it out on the rear hub, and see if I could get lucky. So it fit up reasonably well, and I mounted it up on the hub. And then I remembered the part about everything is going to want to turn, since there's no driveshaft (or engine! ha) so I stuck a crowbar through something and wedged it to stop the diff from turning.
This old one is not made for using a hammer to turn it (I was looking forward to that part with the OTC puller!), but a big wrench and some muscle power, and would you believe, in short order there was a solid "pop", and damned if that hub didn't come right off! So I went over to the other side and did it again.
Talk about scary places - inside that hub hadn't seen the light of day for, well - a really, really long time. The truck had been "parked" (to be polite) since 1962, we know that.
But of course, 5 minutes with a little wire brush and a rag, and it began to look like auto parts again. It was mostly just about Oklahoma spiders colonizing things in there.
Today, I had other things that used up most of my day - but I got started sandblasting the hubs in the cabinet this evening, hopefully to find that we can turn them and re-use them. I'm Old School enough that I will replace the 2 broken off studs on this side with new Left Hand studs I have already bought (I know, I know - if I was smart I would replace all of them with Right Hand studs. And replace the drums too - but I'm not smart, just stubborn).
And of course the missing 3rd leg for the big OTC Puller came in today, too. So now that's complete and useable - and now not needed, at least not at present. But I'm glad to have it in the toolbox, and it was an adventure getting it all together and a bargain. That's the new leg on the left side.
So this might end up being a l-o-n-g string, as I finally get to work on the dreaded Timken Clamshell rear end in the coming weeks..... stay tuned!
Like usual, it's a long, roundabout path with me in getting there. I know I talked a lot recently about the big "Turnaround Day" event and getting ready with the truck now backwards on the Lift to be able to work on the rear half this winter. But lots of side jobs along the way.... After Hershey last week, I'm trying hard to finish up a bunch of half-completed things that I should get out of the way to "clear the decks" and start the rear end work.
There is still the "Stuck Stat and Muddy Water" issue to complete, flushing the cooling system. And I had to finish up and re-install the old original oil filter I found recently, and that's in place on there now. I decided I needed to put wheels on the Engine Run Stand, so I could more easily roll the engine around, get it outside for more flushing before I install the thermostat and antifreeze. Putting casters on that took up one morning, but worth it - it was too much hassle moving it around without wheels.
And not so long ago, I sandblasted the seat frames and got them in primer. I still want to sand them down and get paint on them (outside) while I still have good weather for painting. Someday (I remain optimistic!) the upholstery dude will actually call me and say he has the seat cushions ready! He's "only" had them since May... but I figured that's how it would go, which is why I took them to him a long time ago.
So while at Hershey, I was looking for Hub Pullers - fully expecting to have a struggle, getting the old rear hubs off when I got to that point. And I finally found the highly prized OTC Puller, but it only had 2 legs with it. Which made it practically free (guys were asking $100 and more for these! I got this one for $10), so I bought it, realizing from earlier research about these that I could pick up extra legs if need be. (Learned that with Google and studying about these Pullers on the phone in the motel room in the evenings..) So my buddy at the local auto parts got the 3rd leg ordered for me ($35).
But I also found another very antique looking puller that looked promising. Not as large as the OTC, but for $10 I bought it too. Well used.
And I decided just for the heck of it, I would try it out on the rear hub, and see if I could get lucky. So it fit up reasonably well, and I mounted it up on the hub. And then I remembered the part about everything is going to want to turn, since there's no driveshaft (or engine! ha) so I stuck a crowbar through something and wedged it to stop the diff from turning.
This old one is not made for using a hammer to turn it (I was looking forward to that part with the OTC puller!), but a big wrench and some muscle power, and would you believe, in short order there was a solid "pop", and damned if that hub didn't come right off! So I went over to the other side and did it again.
Talk about scary places - inside that hub hadn't seen the light of day for, well - a really, really long time. The truck had been "parked" (to be polite) since 1962, we know that.
But of course, 5 minutes with a little wire brush and a rag, and it began to look like auto parts again. It was mostly just about Oklahoma spiders colonizing things in there.
Today, I had other things that used up most of my day - but I got started sandblasting the hubs in the cabinet this evening, hopefully to find that we can turn them and re-use them. I'm Old School enough that I will replace the 2 broken off studs on this side with new Left Hand studs I have already bought (I know, I know - if I was smart I would replace all of them with Right Hand studs. And replace the drums too - but I'm not smart, just stubborn).
And of course the missing 3rd leg for the big OTC Puller came in today, too. So now that's complete and useable - and now not needed, at least not at present. But I'm glad to have it in the toolbox, and it was an adventure getting it all together and a bargain. That's the new leg on the left side.
So this might end up being a l-o-n-g string, as I finally get to work on the dreaded Timken Clamshell rear end in the coming weeks..... stay tuned!