Factory assembly manual-Index?

[Short 3/4]

The 60-66 factory assembly instructions manual is a great source of information for our trucks, but it drives me crazy trying to find anything and I usually wind up going a page at a time through the whole book.
How do the rest of you deal with it, is there a secret index that I don't know about?

[jocko]

NO! Everyone wants to know. However, I have heard that if you buy the CD, it is a searchable pdf file, so I think that's what I'm gonna do. I'm with you, it drives me crazy looking for stuff in there. I "started" and index on Excel that I could search with keywords, etc. Gave up at page 50 or so...

[Palf70Step]

Lots of coffee.....

No, I feel the same way. I have used small post-its with the subject written on the edge that sticks out. As of yet I have not figure out anything different that would prevent me from killing someone.

[Marcus4800]

Drives me up the wall to... Such a great source of information that you can't find anything in unless you ahve a hour or two to turn pages......

[The Rocknrod]

Yes it's a mess.
Better than nothing but still . . .

[Keith Seymore]

The assembly manual is compiled in UPC order (no relation to assembly order).

So UPC 0 = Labels/literature
UPC 1 = body structure
UPC 2 = Frames
UPC 3 = Front axle
UPC 4 = Rear axle
UPC 5 = Brakes
UPC 6 = engine
UPC 7 = transmission
UPC 8 = exhaust
UPC 10 = tire/wheel
UPC 11 = front end sheet metal, radiator support
UPC 14 = bumpers

The major categories then break down into subcategories for greater detail.

The pages were kept in multiple three ring binders; each area of the plant (Cab Shop, Trim, Chassis, Final, Repair) would have a complete set, kept in either the Production or Inspection office. The individual assemblers did not refer to the sheets; if there was a question then the production supervisor or his quality man would make the trek to the office and research the answer along with the inspection representative.

It is cumbersome, at best, to use, even for those guys that have grown up with it. But once you have the major categories memorized then you can at least start off looking close to what you are after and zero in from there. Any inspection guy worth his salt got pretty proficient at that.

The '67-72 guys have created their own index for their assembly manual. Perhaps you could spring off of what they have done.

K

[The Rocknrod]

Thumbing through the book, looking at your list. It would be hard to imagine the book following that list very closely.
Close maybe (the first two sections) that aren't even labeled as sections.
I seem to remember a group on here doing a wiki pages set or work on this book, I cant find it now.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Thumbing through the book, looking at your list. It would be hard to imagine the book following that list very closely.
Close maybe (the first two sections) that aren't even labeled as sections.
I seem to remember a group on here doing a wiki pages set or work on this book, I cant find it now.

Trucks may not have started the UPC classifications until the '67 model year.

Many passenger car plants used the old "Group 5" option descriptions even after other plants had gone to the UPC codes that we know today (ie, in 1965 Pontiac Michigan used the Group 5 technique even though Fremont and Baltimore used UPC).

K

[Rich 5150 69]

I`ve done the stickie method over the years...it drove me crazy when I first bought it, I`ll have to look into the CD...

[LT1 Burb]

It was printed by Lucifer publications, so you could waste 10 minutes flipping through every out of order page.

[aotte1]

Also use the post-it tabs method with the 3m stickers in four different colors. Used the color for subject areas and write on them specifics. Covers most of my searches.

Agree before that very frustrating to use. Also somewhat incomplete, only covers certain model years for an area, when different years had changes. Seem like several pages are missing, for example the 65 corvette assembly manual is much more detailed, and you can build a vehicle from its information.

[padresag]

but you always have the opportunity to discover other things and i as looking for that just the other day
look at enough and you will get somewhat familiar with it
ron

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by aotte1

Agree before that very frustrating to use. Also somewhat incomplete, only covers certain model years for an area, when different years had changes. Seem like several pages are missing, for example the 65 corvette assembly manual is much more detailed, and you can build a vehicle from its information.

We would update the pages through the model year as engineering made changes. The new page would be inserted in the binder and the old page removed and thrown away. At model changeover we would throw the whole thing away and start fresh with a new complete set for the new model year.

Corvette guys have it easy: one plant, one production shift, one product line, minimal option content. Trucks are tough by comparison: as many as seven assembly plants, sometimes three shifts of operation, wildly different product content (1/2, 3/4, 1 ton; 2wd v 4wd, long and short wheelbase, fleetside and stepside, multiple engine/trans combinations, multiple cab configurations). Each one of those permuations is like a complete product line. That makes everything more complex, including the documentation.

Also - since the original here was likely smuggled out, or retrieved from the trash (perhaps even as an afterthought), it is easy to imagine how there might be some individual pages missing. It never occurred to me at the time to save any of what we threw away.

K

[jbgroby]

I knew what areas to needed to study and used post-it notes and wrote on them to make the section easier to find.

[The Rocknrod]

Anyone else remember a group on here doing a wiki pages set or work on this book, I still cant find it.
In 2014 someone said they were going to PDF it. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=639075

[jbgroby]

I did colored post-it tabs and wrote items on it and made a color index inside the front cover, there is NO reasoning to the way it's put together, it as if they went out of their way to mid-file the groupings.

Once you do the colored index its easier.

[The Rocknrod]

Thanks I did something similar using only post it notes on the various pages.