89 Crew Cab resurrection.....

[wyattglock]

I thought I would start a thread for the some of the stuff I am doing on my 1989 Chevy Crew Cab Dually. For starters, I got it in July 2010 with 129,000 miles and a lot of sitting behind it. After cleaning the mouse nest off the intake, that was so I could test drive it, the fun began. Fuel pump went out in Grand Rapids, MI, 5 hours north of my house. Had it towed to a friends shop where we replaced the fuel pump only to have the rear brake line blow out. So we made a tow bumper and flat towed it back to Lafayette, IN, wasn't to bad of a drive, it only took 6.5 hours! I'll post pics of the tow bumper later.
Since then I have rebuilt the rear hubs and drums. New plugs and wires, new fuel filter, some new relays and switches, new hydroboost and master cylinder, and new differential fluid. Current project is replacing the old passenger side gas tank. Looks like someone before me used it to pump diesel with an external pump. Didn't vent the tank correctly and as a result it imploded the tank. Trashed the sending unit and pump, so I reused my old sending unit and put in a new pump. Got a tank off a friend for $20, just have to finish cleaning it out and reinstall it in my truck.
Lots more to come, I'll keep posting stuff as I get into it.
Here are some pics of the tank that I dropped out of my truck today.

[Stitch]

Where's pics of the truck.

[wyattglock]

I will take some tomorrow and post them. I'll get some of everything on it. Right now my goal is to get it streetable and capable of towing my camper. Then it is going to start the grind of working on it when I have the time and money.

[wyattglock]

I got those pics. The interior is still in pretty good shape, there is just to much crap in it from me working on 20 different things at once. I will get more pics as I go through the truck.
One thing I could use some help with is the plumbing on the fuel tank selector. As the picture shows, the original owner bypassed the whole thing. I also have to rewire everything that has to do with the fuel system. It is all cut and pulled apart, some of the connectors were even left hanging against the exhaust. So since they are melted nicely, I will make my own wiring harness to replace it.
Now I just need to finish my other projects so I can dive into this one.

[wyattglock]

Here are some more pics. The leaf is the drivers side, it has one missing leaf, and a couple of broken ones. So new leaf springs will be in order very soon.
The hydroboost and master cylinder are the new ones that I just installed last week. The seals were completely shot in them, both were leaking very bad.
The last picture is the old Kelsey-Hayes brake controller that I am replacing with my Prodigy. The controller worked ok before I unplumbed it from the system.

[GmtGmt]

great looking crew you found there
looks to be in awesome shape

[Stitch]

Looks really nice man

[wyattglock]

Thanks. It isnt too bad really. There is the normal bad primer for the year, paint is flaking off. But overall it isn't very rusty. There are a couple of small spots here and there, the doors have zero rust on them. The front bumper had the push style horns on it, but when we cut the bumper off to put the tow bar bracket that we made on, I took them off completely. I think I am going to replace the rear bumper and the hitch due to a stuck drop down. The bumper is a step style that is rated for something like an 800 pound tongue load. I would rather have a stock style bumper with the hitch mounted properly.
I'll keep this updated as I go, but thanks for checking it out!

[wyattglock]

Here are the pics of my truck when we had the custom tow bracket installed to tow it home from Grand Rapids, MI. We made it out of some 3"x2" box steel that we had laying at the saw sharpening shop. We ran 6" 1/2-13 grade 8 bolts through the center 3 attatchment points, then we ran 2.5" 1/2-13 through the outside points. It is bolted to the frame horns with 4 bolts that are 1/2-13 grade 8 1". This was attached to the Reese towpower bar that says it is only rated to flat tow 5000lbs. So we changed all the hardware from grade 5 to grade 8. Then we went to an off ramp that was on a steep incline, loosened the tow bar and allowed the trucks to roll backwards for about 10 feet. That let my truck pull the tow vehicle into a position where they would pull straight. After that we were able to drive at about 65mph all the way home.

[wyattglock]

Changed the driver's side valve stem oil seals tonight. Every intake seal was degraded to the point of being in pieces, which required extra time cleaning all the particles out of the head before reassembling. The exhaust seals were hardened, but intact. I expect the same tomorrow night with the passenger side. But that remains to be seen.

[wyattglock]

Holy crap! What a freakin day! I was putting the last valve lock on the last valve stem during my valve stem oil seal change, and dropped the little greasy thing! Spent 30 minutes looking for it, but I think it has been eaten by the truck. I know it fell outside of the cylinder head, because I heard it hit the ground. Maybe it was the required penance for me losing it when the people at Advance Auto Parts said that I must not know what type of part I needed when I was asking if they had any valve locks. As my good friend has stated, all the good parts stores in Lafayette, IN close at 6pm!

[wyattglock]

Finally after much cursing and frustration, I go the valve stem oil seals finished up tonight. Runs a lot better, doesn't smoke at all. However, I wonder if I didn't get a rocker tightened correctly. It acts like it is trying to backfire through the TBI unit at low rpm in drive. I think I am going to take the valve covers off and go through the rockers one at a time to see if that solves it.

[spudz]

see if you got about 5 threads showing. thats actually PRETTY close for a stock motor. dnt adjust them to this but just to look its pretty close.

[nbpro]

Good looking build

[wyattglock]

Originally Posted by spudz

see if you got about 5 threads showing. thats actually PRETTY close for a stock motor. dnt adjust them to this but just to look its pretty close.

Thanks for the tip. I will check that out later today. The wife and I got free tickets to the Purdue/Western Illinois football game because some local businesses and the college got together to do a veterans appreciation game. It is cool and rainy, but then it is football!

[wyattglock]

Originally Posted by nbpro

Good looking build

Thanks! The truck is actually pretty solid body wise. The drivetrain has needed some TLC due to the truck sitting for several years. I had contacted the previous owner and he confirmed that it was a farm truck for about 15 years. When he had decided to stop using it all together some 7 years ago, he parked it in the back of his barn and left it.
At least it was stored inside, considering it was a Northern Indiana and central Michigan truck for its entire life, it is in excellent shape.

[wyattglock]

Oh my God! What a freakin mess! I started working on putting the second tank under the truck today. As I was tracing the wires, I realized that the PO had completely butchered the wiring harness. So it looks like in the next couple of days I will be tracing the harness from the relay and the switch back to the tanks. I have to either find the wires that run to the tanks, or run some myself. I kind of like the second option because I can make it correct even though the wire color might be different.
On a side note, the valve stem oil seals took care of the smoking as I expected they would. However, now I have a backfiring problem through the TBI unit when I accelerate hard or put a load on the truck. If anyone has some ideas about that let me know.

[wyattglock]

Originally Posted by spudz

see if you got about 5 threads showing. thats actually PRETTY close for a stock motor. dnt adjust them to this but just to look its pretty close.

I did the whole sequence of loosening the rockers one at a time until they rattle. Then tighten the rocker until it stops rattling. At that point wait 10-20 seconds for the motor to smooth out, then tighten 1/4 turn past touching. It did help the motor run a lot better, but the backfiring is still there under hard acceleration or with a load on the truck.

[wyattglock]

WooHoo!!! A friend at work came over tonight and brought a BFSH,(big freakin slide hammer), and we finally got the drop down out of my hitch. That took way more effort than I thought it should. At least now I don't have to replace the hitch and rear bumper at the present time. That gives me more funding for the drivetrain and straightening that out.

[joe231]

Nice truck!!
and

[wyattglock]

Originally Posted by joe231

Nice truck!!
and

Thanks!

[wyattglock]

I need some advice on this idea. I am having a heck of a time deciding if I should stay with dual tanks and all the inherent problems, or spend about the same amount of money and go to a 40 gallon rear mounted tank from a Suburban. I am sure it won't be a direct fit, I plan on having to move some braces around. I just think it might be cheaper in the long run due to cutting down on the moving parts on the truck. I would lose the switch, the switching valve, one gas tank, one fuel pump, and some wires. Let me know what you all think.

[ARAMP1]

Originally Posted by wyattglock

I need some advice on this idea. I am having a heck of a time deciding if I should stay with dual tanks and all the inherent problems, or spend about the same amount of money and go to a 40 gallon rear mounted tank from a Suburban. I am sure it won't be a direct fit, I plan on having to move some braces around. I just think it might be cheaper in the long run due to cutting down on the moving parts on the truck. I would lose the switch, the switching valve, one gas tank, one fuel pump, and some wires. Let me know what you all think.

Ive thought about doing the same.

[wyattglock]

I found an old thread on here from chaostruck? He put a blazer tank of unknown size in a regular cab short bed. I don't know if the crew cab has any different frame crossmembers or not, still trying to learn the differences in these trucks.

[joe231]

We put a 32 gallon 'burb tank in my crew cab short bed. I was able to reuse the rear crossmember, just moved to back, and we made a front crossmember with a couple pieces of 2" angle iron. I still don't have my filler installed though. I'm planning on hiding it behind the passenger tail-light. Just need some time to work on it....
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