Brown Sugar aka Brown Truck fka The Yak

[BigHighBlue]

The wandering was improved but not fixed with the bushings and shims so I decided to go full Dobinsons. @samc2447 for the win again. I didn't get a lot of good pics since I was up to my elbows swapping the springs. The new springs and shackles did the trick. She rides awesome and tracks well. Got another inch or so of lift with the new springs. We'll see if they settle in after some driving.

 

[BigHighBlue]

Since this was originally a 60 and the locking axles have the bump for the locking mechanism we had to swap the shock support mount to accommodate. Fortunately I was able to source a cross bar from @TRAIL TAILOR. And of course the expertise and welding ability from @CenTXFJ60 cannot be given enough credit.

 

[BigHighBlue]

To round out my suspension and steering work I went ahead and swapped in an 80 box and replaced the tie rod ends. Didn't get enough great pictures of this.

 

[reddog90]

Was hearing a chirping noise that wasn't solved by replacing the idler bullies so we decided to pull the tranny and see if it was anything throwout or pilot bearing related. Swapped in a heavy duty 12HT clutch kit from @cruiseroutfit while we were in there. The noise went away then returned. Hopefully there's not something about this trans or motor that chews up pilot bearings. I guess we'll see what happens next time I'm in there.

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I heard that on your truck at SAS. I had that same noise. It went away when I put in a new clutch kit and returned at SAS as well. It goes away with the slightest press of the clutch. Let me know if you figure it out.

 

[CenTXFJ60]

Awesome truck Hightower. I can tell you I’ve enjoyed spending your $ along the way . All it takes is a strong interest and finding the time. Also have enjoyed working along side of you and helping where I can on this journey.

 

[BigHighBlue]

I heard that on your truck at SAS. I had that same noise. It went away when I put in a new clutch kit and returned at SAS as well. It goes away with the slightest press of the clutch. Let me know if you figure it out.

I haven’t replaced the pulley on the A/C belt it could be that as well. I’m going to isolate that one and see if that does it.

 

[BigHighBlue]

Awesome truck Hightower. I can tell you I’ve enjoyed spending your $ along the way . All it takes is a strong interest and finding the time. Also have enjoyed working along side of you and helping where I can on this journey.

Thank you! None of this would be possible with you my friend. Forever grateful for your guidance and assistance

 

[CruiserTrash]

@BigHighBlue Cable lockers ...

 

[BigHighBlue]

@BigHighBlue Cable lockers ...

More to come when I plumbed up the levers and such. That was a fun project. I hoped to have everything functional for SAS this year but it wasn’t meant to be. Next year…

 

[BigHighBlue]

So interestingly after I finished the TRE's and 80 steering box install I noticed that the truck was vibrating like crazy at idle. I couldn't imagine what I could have done that would cause it so I assumed it was a coincidence and started thinking about possible causes. The first thing that came to mind or maybe it was suggested to me was air in the fuel lines. I did find that one of the fuel supply lines had a small drip so I changed the filter, tightened it up and bled the lines all the way to the injectors. Unfortunately that did not fix the problem. I had noticed that the previous owner swapped the hard lines from the tank to a high pressure hose presumably to accommodate more fuel. As a next step I decided to revert back to the OEM hard lines which I sourced from @arcteryx. Not a big project but very satisfying. I also replaced all the soft lines with new. I neglected to take pictures of the finished product but I did take a bunch of pictures of my blue 60 for reference so I'll add those as place holders

 

[BigHighBlue]

Fuel lines, filter and bleeding didn't fix the vibration. It was a big head scratcher that drove me nuts for months until the next work weekend which came with another surprise...As I was driving southwest and into the hill country something went boom under the hood. I was now convinced and feeling vindicated that the vibration had finally let loose and blown the engine...I've never been so thankful for an exploding battery . After changing my underpants I was on my way. Our best guess is that the battery was old and just gave up the ghost. I've read that this can happen due to age or if the two batteries are not identical. I'm assuming somewhere in the is the answer. Inadvertently got a picture of the new springs and TRE's

 

[BigHighBlue]

The battery explosion changed the course of the weekend into damage control and detective work to try and make sure I wouldn't have any other issues at SAS8 which was 3 weeks away at this point...Every cloud has a silver lining though because as we were testing theories I accidentally found the cause of the vibration. Turns out the 80 box has an additional "ear" that the 60 box doesn't. In my case the belts were worn and stretched enough that the alternator was sitting on the steering box and causing the vibration

 

[BigHighBlue]

Once the belts were changed it pulled the alternator off the steering box and voila!

 

[BigHighBlue]

The original purpose of my trip to the hill country was to get the cable lockers plumbed up and functional. Since that got derailed by the explosion I decided to give it a go in the driveway using all the awesome documentation by the fine folks on Mud. Especially @roma042987 @dogfishlake @Samppahj. After I got over my anxt about drilling holes in the body it wasn't so bad. I replaced the seatbelts while I was in there.

 

[BigHighBlue]

Complete, now to add the cables

 

[BigHighBlue]

Putting this here for later