brake advice
 

Finally had enough of living on the edge and have decided to fix the brakes and steering in my 67 c20. The old gal is a farmer special with at least 250k miles. I know the pads are gone cause I can hear metal on metal occasionally. I was planning on replacing pads, cylinders, and flexible lines. Have already replaced M.C. The steering has at least half a turn of play in it. Planning on having to replace tie rod ends at a minimum and maybe the steering box? What else should I expect to replace while I'm at it? Can the drums be serviced or should I replace them? Want to order as many parts as I can before tearing into it.

Thanks all. By the way, this board is great. Awesome resource for our trucks.

By the sounds of it you won't have any choice but to replace your drums. (metal to metal) You can always take them down to a brake shop and they will be able to tell you if they can be turned or not. I definatly would NOT try to put the old drums on the new brake pads.... WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

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if you are looking at cost on new drums,IMO you might look into a donor truck for a disc conversion. this will run a little more,with balljoints,& tierod assys.....but will be a nice upgrade.......69 longhorn.

Being a farmer special and a 67 to boot I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's probably not power steering right? If not I would get a good used or new power steering box from anyone that has one on the board! You can try and take the play out of your steering box but I can almost bet money on it that it won't take all the play out of it, maybe a little play thought.

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71 SWB Stepside, was a 250, now is a 402 Big Block with 4 speed and 3.73's

72 LWB 4x4 350 4-speed 3.08's posi wearing army olive drab green (SOLD!)

68 BURB 50TH LOOKALIKE with built 350 4-speed 4.11's and posi

I just went through mine this winter.

New drums are about 28 bucks at Advance Auto parts, spring kit about 8 bucks apiece for front and rear, lifetime shoes about 20 bucks, new wheel cylinders about 13.50 each, new front brake hose about 18 a pair.

I did inner and outer tie rods, upper and lower ball joints nnd new adjusting sleeves for about 105 bucks.

Hell, I'll send you my spreadsheet if you want it just let me know. It's got every part I've replaced on my 70 C-10, part number, price and warranty info.

Jeff "CPNE" helped me out with a used manual steering box. I can drive the truck with 1 finger without turning the wheel from 9 to the 3 position trying to keep her on the pavement.

Thanks for the input. Tc70c10, that spreadsheet would be great! My email is cwelch@geaf.com. Thanks again.

1/2-ton drums and 3/4-ton drums are two completely different parts. The former is for a 5- or 6-lug semi-floating axle, the latter is for an 8-lug full-floater.

According to the Advance Auto Parts website, drums for a 67 C20 are $102-120 apiece. Chevy Duty sells 'em for $80 for each front and $110 for each rear. The spring kit will be about $10. Shoes will be $26 for relined, $47 for new with lifetime replacement.

Front suspension parts will also be more pricey for a 3/4-ton. I priced out tie rod ends, ball joints (upper & lower), and adjusting sleeves for my 67 C20 at Advance. $350 for TRW parts. Knock $60 or so off for off-brand parts. I didn't get much better prices out of Chevy Duty, LMC, NAPA, Carquest, or AutoZone. $300 was the cheapest for good parts.

As for your steering box, assuming it was greased at semi-regular intervals, it should still be okay. I had similar play in my steering wheel when I bought my C20. Tightened the lash adjuster screw on the cover, eliminated 50% of the play. Replaced the steering column bearings ($30 for both from LMC), eliminated the most of the remaining play. There's still a little slop from the 35-year old front suspension, but that's livable until I can get the time to replace everything up there.

Shop around til you find good parts for a decent price. That's how I got my front suspension parts. $250 for everything. Two mail-order houses and three parts stores.

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67 C20 '78 400sb 0.030" over, 9:1 cr, CC Xtreme 4x4 254H, port-matched '69 882 heads & stock cast iron intake, rebuilt Q-jet, Summit headers (1 5/8" primaries), true dual 2 1/2" glasspacked exhaust, NP435CR trans, 4.57 Eaton rear end.
It's a decent-looking work truck. No top-end, but it's great off the line.

The manual steering gear box is a known junk item. Many of them are so worn that they can not be adjusted enough. Not saying not to try it, just not to get your hopes up. The box is the same for all C/10 through C/30

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'69 G.M.C. 350/350. Trying to clean up the left over damage from the Dope-Smokin-Old-Man
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FINALLY got the HORNIAC...a '70 one ton Longhorn with a Pontiac 350/350 and lots of 'personality'. Check out The Longhorn Webite.
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Andy, in Columbus Ohio