Cooking With The Crockpot

[roadstr6]

Okay guys. Thanks for the great info. Quick question: Can I check the knuckle preload with tires/wheels on or do I need to remove them? Seems like pulling the weight of the wheels and tires would affect the fish scale readings. If y'all know what the fish scale spec is let me know. I guess I could look it up but I'm lazy. If it turns out that the trunnion bearings are too loose, would it be wrong for me to assume that they are still good but possibly just need to be tightened up? The front end of this rig was just rebuilt, what, 2K miles ago?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Okay guys. Thanks for the great info. Quick question: Can I check the knuckle preload with tires/wheels on or do I need to remove them? Seems like pulling the weight of the wheels and tires would affect the fish scale readings. If y'all know what the fish scale spec is let me know. I guess I could look it up but I'm lazy. If it turns out that the trunnion bearings are too loose, would it be wrong for me to assume that they are still good but possibly just need to be tightened up? The front end of this rig was just rebuilt, what, 2K miles ago?

IIRC the trunion bearing preload is ~14#. You definitely need to remove the steering linkage, but I don't think you need to remove the bearing hub assembly.

As for "tightening them up", the preload is set by the upper trunion shims.

 

[roadstr6]

Johnny, yeah that makes sense. The shims have to be what what determines the preload. I'll check it. Come to think of it...another thing I want to check is the wheel bearing preload. With the truck on all fours, if I jiggle the front from side to side the front wheels are a little "clickety." I know I've had to go back and tighten the bearings before after a rebuild once the grease spreads out. Man, wouldn't it be great if that solves my problem! I guess I'll do some investigation before I just throw money at it at the alignment shop.

 

[roadstr6]

I worked on the cruiser a bit last night. I changed the power steering belt. Part of my issue with the power steering is the fact that the Saginaw pump pulley is a smaller width than the rest of the LC pulleys. The old belt matched the LC pulleys and didn't really fit the Sag pulley correctly. The other issue was that the old belt had a worn spot in it so when it rode over the pump pulley it caused a vibration at speed. The vibration was bad enough that it caused the fluid in the pump to work it's way up and out of the cap. After a drive I could see a drop or two slung up onto the inside of the hood. I know that there are vendors who sell the correct width pulley to mount on the Sag pump (IPOR being one) and I will look into that. For now what I have done is dropped down to a smaller width belt. It seems to be working fine. In time it may begin to slip on the crank and water pump pulleys and squeal. I've read that that is a common problem. I guess we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'll hunt down a proper pump pulley.

Adam had changed out the steering wheel for a smaller diameter wheel from a 4Runner. I have never liked it. I will admit that the smaller diameter was nice for legroom and with the power steering conversion the big wheel is no longer needed for leverage but it looked like crap. The 4Runner wheel has a different hub configuration and it would not contact the inner workings of the turn signal switch to allow it to self cancel when the wheel was straightened out. Luckily, Adam kept the original wheel. I changed the wheel back to the original and I am much happier with it. Turn signals cancel, horn works as it should and it just looks right.

I jacked up the front of the cruiser last night and began my quest to solve a high speed shimmy. I checked the toe using push pins and a tape measure and it looks to be within spec (1/16" toe-in). It could probably stand to be toed in another 1/16" but it is fine. I pulled the hubs and tightened the preload on the bearings just a tad. There was a little bit of play, mostly on the passenger side. Everything else is nice and tight. I plan to disconnect the tie rod and check the preload on the trunnions. I just ran out of daylight last night to do that. When I had the tires balanced, the shop inflated them to 40lbs. That probably wasn't helping my shimmy either so I dropped the pressure back down to 30. I haven't taken the truck out on the road yet to see if my work has made any improvements.

 

[roadstr6]

I had been questioning the operation of the LSD in my rear axle. It seemed too grabby and on two occasions it made a loud banging sound. I decided to shoot in some LSD friction modifier and top off with 80/90. When I did that I found that the diff was almost empty. It took almost two quarts to fill it up! I guess the plates were running dry and locking up prematurely. I did notice that the hogs head down below the pinion was damp but it doesn't appear to be a big leak. I'll have to keep an eye on it. This thing must have been going dry for a long time. I'm glad I caught it before the bearings burned up. The diff is running much smoother now and I suspect it will only continue to improve as the friction modifier and the gear oil soaks into the plates and lubes everything back up.

Changed the spark plugs. The old ones looked okay but they were a little caked up with crud. I'd bet that the rich condition I had when I first got the cruiser caused alot of that. In any case, it is running well with fresh plugs.

I drove the Crockpot to work today on the interstate and the work I have done with the front end has really improved the shimmy (DW). It is still there to a much lesser degree from about 58 to 60 mph. If I accelerate up to 61-62, it goes away. I still need to check the trunnion preload, check the wheels for trueness and I may toe it in another smidge. I am just happy to be moving forward with this truck and making slow progress. It gets a little better every day.

 

[roadstr6]

Finished up the rattle can paint job on the tub...for now. I decided not to tackle the rear sill right now. I have a trip coming up in August and there is tons of work left to do on this thing. Doing the rear sill will require me to drop the auxiliary tank again and the patch work is going to eat up alot of time. It's going to be my winter project. I wire wheeled the crust off the sill and just sprayed over it. I purposefullly did not prep it or do any bondo over it. My thinking is that allowing the rust to remain and not trying to cover it will force me to fix it and not put it off again. It is not like me to shy away from a job like this but I need the truck ready to go in just over a month from now. I still have the doors, ambi doors and top left to do.

 

[roadstr6]

More body work this weekend. Wire wheeled the crust off of the top, POR-15'd the rusty areas, primed and painted.

 

[roadstr6]

More:

 

[roadstr6]

More:

 

[roadstr6]

I finished the doors. There were several holes to be welded up and skimmed with filler. Then prep and paint.

 

[roadstr6]

Finished doors:

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Beautiful.

 

[roadstr6]

Crockpot Update: I was able to spend some time working on the Crockpot over the weekend. The hard top is now completely painted and ready to install. I also purchased and installed a roof rack which will come in handy on my upcoming Hurricane Creek trip with the ONSC group. Again, the top sides are rattlecanned with Rustoleum Flat Khaki and the top cap (and bezel) are Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy in Biscuit. Say what you want about the rattle can stuff but I am actually quite happy with how the whole truck has turned out. I really like the Biscuit appliance paint. It is a beautiful creamy off-white color very close to the cygnus white from the factory. It lays down nice and smooth and thick. Dry time is a little longer with the epoxy than with regular paint but it shines nicely and is rock hard. I'm curious to see how it holds up on the top. It has done well on the bezel these past couple of months.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Looks great! I read up on the biscuit appliance paint after seeing that your top looks really nice. It says on their site- for indoor use only. I'm curious as to how this paint will hold up in weather conditions. I painted my top with Cruiser Corps Cygnus white, but it did not spray very well at all and looks uneven. So I'm looking for another option.

 

[roadstr6]

Thanks snowdogyyz! From what I've read the appliance epoxy does not hold up as well to UV in the long term. I would imagine the lighter colors would fare much better against the sun's rays than would the dark ones. However, apparently the model T guys swear by the appliance black and several have painted their entire cars in it. As I understand it, in time when the paint starts to dull and chalk a coat of decent car wax brings it right back and it will stay shiny for several months. The epoxy goes on thick and layering it will allow for some extra material for cut and buff. I didn't wet sand and buff mine. It's shiny enough for me right out of the can. I'm not too worried about using this paint in my particular application. The truck is always garaged unless I am driving it. The cap is a light color which will reflect, rather than absorb UV and I made the decision long ago to do the rest of my rig in spray bomb so it fits with the rest of the $100 paint job. FWIW, the appliance epoxy goes on beautifully, covers well and even fills some small scratches. I used three coats, applied each coat when the prior coat was tacky and overlapped my strokes by an inch or so each pass. You would be hard pressed to find any stroke marks or dull spots at all. We'll see how it holds up. Time will tell.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Well I bought some of the rustoleum biscuit last night. I'm going to try it on my bezel first and see if I like the color and look. If so, it's going on my top as well!

 

[mtweller]

Now you need to drop a SM465 setup in that thing and it'll be trail ready!!! Just happen to know a guy that has a smokin' deal, especially for a fellow ONSC'r

R

 

[roadstr6]

Snow, Let me know what you think about the fridge paint. It seems to be a little lighter than Cygnus white but I've not compared the two side-by side.
Ramon, You're right an SM465 would go nicely in the ol' Crockpot...maybe when I swap the engine over to your old one would be the time to do it. Let's talk some more about it. For now I just want this thing driveable enough to make the Hurricane Creek trip in August. The old truck still has plenty of issues to sort out. Still got some death wobble. I think the rear end is shot and needs a rebuild. I need to take care of that kind of stuff before I can even think about upgrades.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Got the bezel painted and I really like this color! You're right about it laying down nicely. It looks much better then the Cygnus white from CC to my eyes, but still very similar in color. The cans of Cygnus never seemed to spray and lay down nicely. This stuff paints easily! I will be painting my top before cold weather hits for sure. Pics taken at night, will try to get better pics tomorrow.

 

[roadstr6]

With the help of angerhater, johnvee and a couple other friends of mine the top is back on the Crockpot! I took a few pics last night but it was so hot and muggy here in Charlotte that I didn't realize my camera lens had fogged up when I brought it out from inside in the A/C. This is the only pic that came out half decent. I'll take some more and post up. I still need to finish the ambulance doors. I didn't put them on.