Re: Restoring Rusty
 

For the side with the tank do the two outside and the top one then you should be able to rotate the hangar with some force and get the last one without removing the tank.

Just make 100% damn sure that your tank is covered up if you do ANY grinding lol.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ok, so here is what the truck looks like lowered 2 inches in the front with one loop cut off the stock coil springs, and lowered 2 inches in the rear with aftermarket 2" drop shackles

there is a bit of a rake to it, with the rear being higher than the front, that's where the 2" drop hangers come in, stay tuned...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

updates, updates, updates...

the day started off with a field trip to Harbor Freight to buy some 6 Ton car jack stands, they happened to be on sale plus they let me use one of their 20% OFF coupons, so for $35 bucks out the door, you can't beat that

and now we have some stands that actually reach the rear half of the frame

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

first a special shout out to my buddy GTO Mike who came over and did half the work, thank you bud

the day consisted of pretty much a lot of drilling and grinding, as we tried to use both techniques to get the hangers off, I think drilling a 1/8th pilot hole all the way through the rivet helped punch it out, my buddy Mike believes grinding off all four heads off the rivets than hammering the bracket off first than tapping out the rivets is the key, just some ideas for you

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Mike worked on the driver side and I worked on the passenger side, the danger side by the tank, I made sure all vents were plugged and put a wet cloth towel on top of it to catch the sparks

I could only get to the first two on the gas tank side with the tank still attached

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

we were making sparks all day long

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Mike got the driver side off first, here are the two hangers side by side, we wire wheeled the area behind it and dabbed it with some left over POR15 to match the rest of the painted frame rail

this time of the year (late fall) this is gonna have to dry for a couple of days

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Whacking the hangar off before the rivets is the easiest and best way and what I did as well.

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and so the gas tank had to come out on the passenger side to get to the other two rivets, just so you know it is impossible to get at them from the inside of the frame rail because they are tucked in between the cross member, which is also riveted in

do you all think I can clean this tank up with a wire wheel in order to paint it, or will I blow myself up?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

with the fuel tank out of the way we were able to grind down the other two rivets and get that hanger off too

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

after we cleaned this frame rail behind the hanger and where the fuel tank used to be, we went further and discovered this stamped number on the frame

12-12-73

Is that a born on date? Is Rusty's Birthday coming up?

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I swear these rivets look like bullet slugs, don't they?

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and some parting shots of our Support Cast (get it support?) I recon bigger trucks maybe 3/4 ton or 1 ton use all six rivet holes on these brackets but my 1/2 ton only used the top four?

also I noticed is that they are switchable / interchangeable left to right, which is such a smart design, ie there is no left one and no right one

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

If I am reading this Bolt Grade Table properly than LMC Truck has included some Grade 5 (3 notches) bolts with the hangers, and perhaps Grade 2 Nuts and Washers

The Greg is not a fan of using Grade 5 hardware for suspension componentry!

http://www.rzrforums.net/attachment....2&d=1369585965

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Grade 5 is perfectly fine but I would not use grade 2 at all.

I had to use a bunch of grade 5 on mine because trying to find a place open on the weekends that stock the appropriate quantities of grade 8 was impossible.

If you can use grade 8 do so.. if all you can find is grade 5 it will be ok as long as EVERYTHING is grade 5.

And yes you can wirewheel the tank if you want without blowing anything up.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

The important thing with a gas tank is that it should not be "empty". As long as a little bit of wet gasoline is present in the tank, the vapors in the tank will be too rich to allow an explosion.

I've actually watched a guy weld on a gas tank with gas in it. A bit unnerving, that.

Another option is to empty the gas and fill it all the way with water to force the gas vapor out. You can then empty the water out. Any little bit of water left will be taken up by the alcohol in modern gasoline.

The water thing was my preferred method when working on motorcycle tanks. I have wire-wheeled on a fuel tank with gas in it, though, repairing a crack in a gas tank on the car with -- you guessed it -- JB Weld. I needed to get a clean surface for the patch, so I wire-wheeled the area around the crack, which of course was open to the inside. Wet gas in the tank, though, so too rich for ignition.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Agreed, use matching hardware. Grade 5 is enough. Those little 3/8" rivets did the job for how long? And they were how hard to get off?

The big thing is torquing them to correct spec. Grade 5 3/8-16 is 30 ftlb. Grade 5 3/8-24 is 35 ftlb. The Grade 8 numbers are 45 and 50 ftlb. (Those are dry numbers. Do not lube the threads when you install them.) If you seriously under-torque or over-torque them, they will ultimately fail.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks Rich I just placed the order.

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after allowing 2 or 3 days for the POR15 to dry on the frame it was time to mount the new leaf spring hangers, they did come with hardware

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

here is the driver side all bolted up, I went 30 foot pounds on these grade 5 bolts

holding the nuts down inside the frame channel while you torque these down is a bit of a pain since there are rivets and the cross member bracket in the way

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then it was on to the passenger side

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and then we ran into a snag, we are about an inch too far back, the rear axle needs to come an inch forward for the leaf spring holes to align with the holes in the hangers

jacking up the axle would bring one side within 1/2 and inch off but no where close to getting both bolts, one on each side in

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What does the other end of the drive shaft look like? The part attaching to the rear end never does but the front side should.

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here's the middle part, I think the manual shows that this is where there may be some slideability

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and here's a picture from a while ago when I had it off the truck, and before I painted it

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What an ugly contraption! I'm not to familiar with how 2 piece shafts work :\

But I would think where you think should be movement it can move. It may just be stubborn.

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Put it down on the ground and check it again.

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The paint may be keeping it from telescoping, or you may already be in all the way.

Lowering or raising a a vehicle often requires playing with driveshaft length, since the driveshaft often angles down to the diff. Raising the diff (lowering the vehicle) shortens the required driveshaft length.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks, good tip, I tried just that and now I think it's only 1/2 inch too long.

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Hi Rich, I think that thing wouldn't move even before I painted it, I should have addressed that issue/concern back then, but I decided to ignore it, and now it's bitten me, as always, anywho never time to do it right, but always time to do it over!

I will be pulling the driveshaft out and examining it closely off the truck, wish me luck. I think it should come apart with force, I don't think there is anything holding it preventing it from being pulled out all the way.

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Take a look at this.. You can see how can separate.

http://repairguide.autozone.com/znet...528003dc2e.gif

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Thanks bud, here's what it looks like in the '74 Manual, but the how to git it apart could use some more words, ha ha

CENTER SUPPORT BEARING

1. Remove dust shield.
2. Remove strap retaining rubber cushion from bearing support.
3. Pull support bracket from rubber cushion and pull cushion from bearing.
4. Pull bearing assembly from shaft.
5. Assemble bearing support as follows:
a. Install inner deflector on propeller shaft, if removed, and prick punch deflector at two opposite points to make sure it is tight on shaft.
b. Fill space between inner dust shield and bearing with lithium soap grease.
c. Start bearing and slinger assembly straight on shaft journal. Support propeller shaft and, using suitable length of pipe over splined end of shaft, press bearing and inner slinger against shoulder on shaft.
d. Install dust shield over shaft, small diameter first and press into position against outer slinger.
e. Install rubber cushion onto bearing.
f. Install bracket onto cushion.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

unscrew the grease seal off the end of yoke and then pull. lot easier to pull apart with front shaft and carrier bearing still mounted in truck.

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Well that is interesting because from that picture there is no way that would move because it uses a roller bearing which looks like it would be a press fit onto the carrier bearing shaft.

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Thans Jeramy I like the idea of leaving half of it in the truck, might be less work. Are you thinking this piece with the arrow pointing to it?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

here are two pics stacked on top of each other in the same direction to give us a conceptual of what is going on up in there

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

yes part with red arrow