Re: Restoring Rusty - Cross Member Support Brackets
 

I took my time, since my arms were going numb from lack of blood flow as I was laying on my back with my arms up in the air (like you just don't care... oops) tightening them cross member support brackets

I tightened these to: as hard as you can plus a quarter turn, LOL

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and here's a parting shot for the night, The Greg is pooped!

~ man I wish I could have taken that cross member out so I could paint it ~ deep breath Greg deep breath

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Why, you got a surplus of beer? jk

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks, that was trucking hard!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

..kinda - yeh..

by the way - I left those lower supports out on my C&C box truck .., bet it wouldn't make a diff for you ..

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Y U NO paint crossmember? Just kidding. :lol:

Great work, Greg, getting that transmission back in. Told you it wasn't easy. I did something similar, with the lift from above over the tranny tunnel.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Paint and then Dynamat the interior floor before you put everything back together.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Sound advice, but that will have to wait till paint season rolls around, plus I will be taking the bed off this summer, stay tunned

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so what do we feed The Dragon? According to the Owner's and Driver's MANUAL (yes I got one, and yes on occasion I read it) we are supposed to use SAE 80 or SAE 90 GL-5 Gear Lubricant

now you all know that me and Chemistry don't get along, so I went out to my local AutoZone and they didn't have any 90 stuff they only had combo ones so I bought this Vaseline (jk) 80W-90 "High Perfomance" Gear Oil, will that work?

Now I realize I will need more than one quart, I think I originally bought this stuff for the diff, so I will have to git more, unless you say go somewhere else and git the straight up 90 only es aye yee stuff

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

According to the Valvoline website you can use that gear lube in manual transmissions and it is API GL5 rated so I would use it.

"All hypoid differentials (conventional and limited slip) and manual transmissions in passenger cars, light trucks, sport utility vehicles, vans and heavy-duty trucks where an API-GL5 or MT-1 fluid is specified."

Great thread.
Your documentation is helping me a lot.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

80W90 just means it acts like 80 when it's cold and 90 when it's hot. The factory spec of 80 or 90 basically means use 80 in Minnesota and 90 in Miami. Running the 80W90 you can get 90-weight performance in the summer and it will act like 80 in the winter so it isn't so hard to shift when it's cold.

In Sac, I would say to use 90 if you were using straight weight, but 80W90 is better.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks Rich.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Yup, Rich is Da Man ! Thank you

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Every thing looks great.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

prepped and painted the shift stick

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

prepped and painted the shifter boot retainer thing, can someone tell me which side is up on this thing, the previous owner had the dish side up, I prefer the smooth side up

cleaned it up using the good 'ol wire wheel, man if I had a sand blasting cabinet I would be dangerous

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

here it is painted, pics are a bit crudy (indoors in the garage at night)

gonna order a new rubber boot from LMC Truck tomorrow (pay day!)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

then got going on the rest of the drive train assembly

this bracket which holds up the middle of the two piece drive shaft has a front and a rear (I recon) the front is shorter then is swoops down in the rear (I hope)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

The dished side of the screw holes goes up.

Re: Restoring Rusty - Universal Joints
 

then it was time to replace the universal joints aka the U-joints

things began innocently enough

went to AutoZone and picked up three universal joints, first lesson I learned was that they were not all created equally, I was giver one for the front that was different from the other two a bit larger (apparently the middle and rear ones are the same a bit smaller)

"MUST BE LUBRICATED AFTER INSTALLATION" we'll get to that later

Re: Restoring Rusty - U-joint Removal
 

poor mans' press

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

yes the support is angled up going towards the front. or shorter drop in front and longer drop in the rear.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

out with the old and in with the new

now tapping the old U-joints out we don't care too much about 'em as they will be tossed

however when gently tapping in the new ones, you really shouldn't do it, I recon you should use a press to press them in

this was the first time I replaced u-joints so I didn't really know what I was in for - I had to take both caps off to get the thing in and then tap the caps back on

Not Fun!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

when I bought these joints I specifically asked the AutoZoner if I would have to lube them up, he said no, just install them, but they do come with the grease fitting and the ability to lube them up later

so I was not too happy to see that sign that said "MUST BE LUBRICATED AFTER INSTALLATION"

I went to reach for my grease gun and it felt a bit light, someone removed the grease tube, it was empty... grrrr

so I ghetto lubed one up by removing the lube nipple and packing it with bearing grease

then I went to lube the other one and it was full of grease, what the heck, did they forget to lube the first? I thought