1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Hey everyone, been lurking on the forum since I picked up my GMC about 6 moths ago. 1969 GMC 1/2 ton, original 350 and 3 on the tree. Truck came right off a North Carolina farm, and had not been registered in over a decade. I spent the first couple months just getting it road worth, tons of wiring, tune up, brakes, e-brake, fixing the shifter linkage.. etc. just getting it to a point where I could cruise around town this past summer.

Just starting the front end build now, which will consist of power steering, disc brake conversion with drop spindles, rebuilt control arms, new shocks, etc. I believe it still has the original ball joints in due to the rivets. I tore everything apart this weekend, so the first step will be cleaning up the control arms to be rebuilt. Outlook is to do the front end, then new rear leafs this winter to have the truck handling/braking better for next season. I already have a 5.3 LS that I will plan to swap the following winter.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Here are some pics from the front end tear down

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

any thoughts on the best way to host pictures? just add attachments?

I just figured i would host through my iCloud and copy the public links in, which worked, but the photo was enormous..

https://cvws.icloud-content.com/S/AZ...VTo8SivzTqaTNc

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

I think I may be SOL on rebuilding the stock control arms..

Spent some time degreasing them and cleaning them up after grinding out the upper ball joints, but that may end up being a waste of my time once I started working on the cross shafts so that I could replace them.

I was able to get the upper apart pretty easily, but looks like the shaft nuts were cross threaded into the control arms, threads on the inside of the control arms are pretty mashed up and threads on the nuts are essentially gone. Anyone know what size threads these are if I wanted to try to clean up the control arms with a tap?

As for the lowers, they seem like they are fused together.. someone went crazy tightening them the last time it was worked on. Had a huge breaker bar on there with no luck, may try some heat to see if I can at least get them apart.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Been a while since an update - but have been making some steady progress.

Cleaned up the control arms, I was able to reuse them. New shaft kits went in pretty easily. All new Moog ball joints as well.

I had soaked them in degreaser for a few days before power washing/wire wheeling/grinding. Then used rattle can automotive primer and satin black.

I also spent some time cleaning up the mating cross member on the frame and brushing on some eastwood encapsulator. Next year when I pull the engine for the LS swap, I will most likely do more of the frame.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

I also installed new CPP drop springs, CPP drop spindles, power steering box, pump, Moog tie rod ends, and CPP adjuster sleeves.

I had a friend give me a really nice set of new POL tie rod ends, adjuster sleeves, and center link. But these were for '71-'72 so I learned that they would not adapt to my setup (I bought the 67-70 style spindles/ball joints) I suppose I'll just sell the extra parts when I'm all done.

Next is the actual brake components, I just got in the 6 lug rotor + caliper kit from CPP this week

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

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Looks good! Man, you can sure tell that was a dirt road farm truck.

I don't think I would get in a hurry to sell the extra parts unless you need the money or don't have a dry place to store them.

Keep us posted on the progress.

LockDoc

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Thanks! looking forward to it at least being a roller again in the next few days.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

And we have rotors/calipers installed!

I think I'm going to start working on the rear leafs next and then come back to the front to button up the brake hydraulics with booster/MC/lines etc.

Started to mess a little with the leaf spring bolts and they are seized. Will work on cutting them out when I next have time. Still undecided what I want to do about the rear, I bought some drop leafs from a friend and I'm thinking I'll utilize some combination of those with drop shackles and see how I like it. Backup plan is a flip kit, but I think that might be too low seeing as the front is only drop spindles and 1" coils

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Spent some time getting the leaf springs out, i am confident that the hardware/bushings were original just like the front end was. Luckily was able to get the shackle bolts out with impact wrench and a hammer but the fwd hanger bolts were entirely seized so I needed to cut them out with a cut off disk.

It turns out the leafs I got from a friend weren't drop leafs, they netted me the exact same height. The ones I pulled out of the truck were 3+1 with slightly more arch, and the ones he gave me are 4+1 with slightly less arch.

I ordered CPP drop shackles and new moog leaf spring bushings, not sure exactly which set of leafs i am going to use yet. Plan is to get them mocked up with the shackles, and see where the truck sits. Then i'll either start removing leafs or head to the local spring shop to have them de-arched. Anyone get any advice on that?

Edit - i have heavily considered the flip kit, but I don't want to notch the frame at this point. Might be an option for the future if I want to drop it more

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Nice work!

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Once I got the CPP drop shackles in, I started messing around with the two different sets of leaf springs. The ones I had bought from a friend seemed to be in much better shape, so I ended up taking them apart, removing one leaf, installed new moog bushings, new center pin bolts, and new husky u bolts.

I messed around with removing two leafs, and it looked awesome, but it was too low and would have been lower than the front. Probably wouldn't ride great that way either.

I got some barely used tires on marketplace and had them mounted up. They are 275/60/15 and 235/60/15. The front are definitely a little shorter than I would like but they were a great deal and I figured I would run them for a little while.

With the new tires, the height from the ground to the center of the fender arch in the front is 29 3/4" (thinking this might settle a little) and the rear is 31". They previously measured 35" at the start.

I found this amazing condition GMC core support locally, as my previous one had rust on the battery side.

Hard to get a great view while it is still in the barn, but I'll be rolling it out soon to get a better look.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Driving it may help settle the suspension some, looks good now.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Nice work and sweet score on the truck originally. It's getting really hard to find a good one to start with let a lone an original short bed.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Thanks, that's what I'm thinking/hoping

Yes thanks, I am always looking, haven't seen many that I would have favored to this as a starting point!

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

I started working on the brake hydraulics. I stripped out all the old front lines and old master cylinder. I got a front line kit for the conversion CPP 6770FLK from Summit.

Seems like a complete kit, I've only just started trying to lay them out. It appears that it comes with a different bracket for the prop valve than the normal style on the side (including new prop valve lines) I found this thread which looks like it may be helpful.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=711288

I need to order a booster/MC and a prop valve next, I was looking at summit brand stuff, seems slightly better than the eBay brands due to customer support and they offer an 8" dual diaphragm. CPP looks like they only sell the stock single 11" style.

Will post some pics/thoughts on the brake line kit as I keep trying to figure it out. Would be much nicer if it came with some directions or diagrams for the routing.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Brake line install has been pretty uneventful. Kit is good, lines aren't perfect but they're close enough to manipulate by hand so far. I don't love the way that the brake hose comes off the caliper, will need to figure something out there.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

I got my booster/MC/prop valve in as well.

I messed with the booster bracket a bunch, adjusting the length of the threaded rod. Question: am I supposed to lose some brake pedal travel with the booster install? For instance, the fully 'relaxed' position of the pedal does not sit back against the stopper pad that is in the cab for when it was manual brakes. I messed with it a bunch but I cannot get it so that it initiates engagement with the booster if I have it set that far 'back'. Instead, it now slightly hangs forward towards the firewall. There is plenty of room for me to push the pedal all the way to get the full 'throw' of the booster. Just wasn't sure if this is common to lose some range of motion when switching to power brakes?

I don't have any specific pictures for my question, but here's some pics of mocking it all up

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Couple updates from the weekend:

New master from summit leaks, it has two ports on each side and comes with plugs to block the ports you don't need. Installed the plugs on the passenger facing side and went to bench bleed the master and it was pushing out around one of the plugs. They responded right away and said they'd send me a new unit.

I've been impressed with the CPP line kit until i got to the prop valve lines. It comes with a bracket to mount the PV under the MC, with crossover lines between the two. The length was off by about an inch on both of these little crossover lines. I tried multiple holes on the bracket and even bent it to get it closer to the bottom of the MC, but the lines just wouldn't line up. I ended up bending them a little by hand, I think this should work, but I won't know until I can get my new MC and try it out.

I pulled the bed off for a couple reasons, it would be easier for me to access the front hanger bolts on the leaf springs to tighten them. Also the truck has new cab corners welded in, but not finished. I'd like to grind, fill, and prime the cab corners and rockers.

I used an engine hoist with two ratchet straps and an extra set of hands.. was much easier than expected.

Truck did start right up when I pulled it out of the garage. No more exhaust leaks with the new donuts and manifold gaskets i installed

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Coming along nicely !

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Got my replacement master in from Summit, this one also leaked out of one of the plugged ports. Read some articles online that the steel plugs sometimes have a hard time sealing in the master, so to try to reseat it a bunch of times. I really put some torque to it and got the plug to seat and seal.. so far so good.

I finished manipulating the prop valve lines and putting together the rest of the front lines. I torqued down the banjo bolts, and re aligned the brake hoses so they clear the spindles and the tires. Bled the brakes and everything seems to be sealed up with no leaks. Will monitor the the flare connections for any drips in the coming weeks.

I noticed that the booster/MC really lean forward. My truck definitely has a rake, but the booster bracket definitely points everything down from the firewall. Is this OK? Plenty of room in reservoirs for fluid, but the angle definitely stops me from filling them all the way up.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

Been working on some cab rust repair.

The floors/cab corners/rockers were already replaced in this truck, but done poorly. Plan is to fix the rockers so they properly line up with the doors, do some firewall patches, and also kick panel patches because the bottom inch or two on both sides are rusted away from the floor. Also, the lower pillar is gone on both sides, so removed the outer rocker to patch these as well.

Started with a firewall patch:

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

The inner rocker/floor panels were installed high and "in". This was pulling the outer rocker about a quarter inch in towards the center of the cab in the front, even with the door 'tilted' all the way in at the bottom.

Needed to cut up the inner rocker/floor pan to stretch it out that quarter inch and push it down with a new lip for the outer rocker to sit against at the bottom. Outer rocker is finally starting to sit properly with some manipulation. Next step is to get it back in place for final checks and then start cutting apart the drivers side which has the exact same problems.

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

After a few more months, got the rockers and other associated metal repairs done. Both kick panels have been repaired. I have a handful of weld grinding to do on the interior including the floor replacement welds. Over the winter, i plan to finish these welds, seam seal, and prime the interior

Re: 1969 GMC.. right off the farm
 

I spent a bit of time adjusting the doors in the cab and to best suit the rocker install. That took the most time. After I liked the rockers/doors, I started to put the rest of the front end together. I don't think i'll have these fenders forever, they aren't in great shape but nonetheless, they work for now. Got my new rad support all set up with new headlight installation hardware