Builds The 60 known as Mamabear: a tale of rust and good times.

[gregnash]

Yeah I have the same one you do Alex but it doesn't quite fit tightly in the neck so it leaks. The one I linked has been recommended by Georg, Jason, Jim, Spike, etc. as it has multiple necks that are supposed to screw on like your cap does and create a true seal. Eventually I will get one, but $28 aint bad.

 

[HemiAlex]

The yellow is actually the one that I've got. My dad bought it by chance with the coolant before oreillys closed.

I think I'm about .5 gallon shy of full and it needs to be bled again. I think that it will be perfect if I bleed it again tonight after it cools off a bit from the drive home.

I also had to tighten my alternator up a bit. It was throwing the charging lite at low rpm and the belt was making noise from being a little loose. Thankfully I left my tools in the truck because I knew something would be loose after that much work.

 

[gregnash]

The alt bolts are easy ones... 12mm and 14mm and you are good to go. Have cheapo ones in my bag in the truck that never leave. Hell there is TONS you can do on these trucks with just those two wrenches. I invested in a NAPA belt tension meter (little finger click thingy) and it has served me well, think it was all of like $15 too, though they had to order it.

 

[HemiAlex]

I've been driving it daily for about two weeks now. Here are the highlights:

- @mk4leo says my truck is running good, feels strong. The tune up has helped.

-tried to install my bj60 intake. Needs more work than time that I've got.

-replaced the fuel filter, the 3 months the truck sat for the head swap really gunked the tank up with flash rust. I need to replace the the fuel filters monthly to prevent things from getting really bad.

-my cooling system hoses are all new, but I still can't gauge how tight is tight enough on the oem hose clamps. I ended up getting normal worm gear clamps and double clamping the straight hose to the radiator. Leaks have been gone since Thursday last week. My office parking lot thanks me. I've got an oem thermostat to go in next. I also don't trust the temperature sending unit, so I'm going to add a mechanical gauge.

-replaced the oem steering stabilizer with an OME replacement. Huge difference! Steering feels way more confident. The highway is amazing now. It will track straight at 65mph with no vibration in the steering wheel at all. One of the best upgrades to the truck.

-my alternator is not able to keep up with low demand at idle. Battery runs 13.5v and alternator runs at lower than 13v under a 650rpm idle. Add the AC into the mix and it won't keep up at all. The alternator is a rebuilt unit from what I can tell. I ordered a 55amp Remy unit from rock auto. If that helps at idle, were in good shape. The photo shows where the alternator sits at idle with AC off.

-I've tightened the AC Belt several times. I still get a high pitched dog whistle sound on the highway about 2000rpm that stops when the AC is turned off. The belt is a new oem unit. I'm lost on this and have no idea. Idler bearing is new also. I can only think that he clutch may be slipping because of the low voltage issue from the alternator not keeping up. Pure speculation.

-bought an a pillar gauge from eBay. I'm getting a mechanical oil pressure, coolant temperature and vacuum gauge. Just to be redundant.


-washed it for the first time ever. Looked good and the wheels polished nicely.

 

[gregnash]

Nice work dude. So what a-pillar pod did you get and how does it fit??

 

[2 E L O]

Nice work dude. So what a-pillar pod did you get and how does it fit??

I'm also curious about this as I'd like to add couple supplemental gauges...

 

[HemiAlex]

Nice work dude. So what a-pillar pod did you get and how does it fit??

It was the last one available on eBay. It was $40 and I took a gamble on it. I'm fully ready to send it back if it fits like crud.

Didn't get a photo with it, just have my fingers crossed.

 

[gregnash]

Saw it via your link and the seller threw up another sale. Interested to see what it looks like when you get it. I have a vacuum gauge I have been waiting to mount because like you I don't want to throw below the dash.

 

[gregnash]

Hey Alex did you ever get that gauge pod???

 

[HemiAlex]

It's in the mail as of Friday. I'll let you know and post lots of pictures when I get it.

I'm trying to make room to take the down the cruiser for a week to do brakes and an axle refresh.

 

[gregnash]

It's in the mail as of Friday. I'll let you know and post lots of pictures when I get it.

I'm trying to make room to take the down the cruiser for a week to do brakes and an axle refresh.

A whole week? what kind of axle refresh are we talking about here? And knuckles only take maybe 2days and that would be including brakes.

 

[HemiAlex]

I'm being generous with my time. I can only work for a few hours in the evening around the weather since I don't have a garage.

I bought the seal puller tool, brass hammer, ball peen, seal installer kit and some other tools that should help the install along. I'd like to take the hub housings off to clean them and install the wheel bearing races at work in a clean environment with a vice.

Front right caliper is leaking badly and making noise, so I'm driving the Tacoma since its crossed the line of not being safe.

Once the front end is all rebuilt and I've got the brakes perfect, I'm starting the lift kit install.

 

[gregnash]

Get the piston rebuild kit for the calipers while you are at it. Super simple job with some long needle nose pliers in both straight tip and angled.

Sounds like you got all the tools for it so you should be good to go and will go lots quicker than you expected.. however lots messier than expected too.

 

[HemiAlex]

I bought new remanufactured calipers (I'll be keeping the old cores) along with new rotors, master cylinder and braided longer lines.

Should be a very complete swap.

 

[HemiAlex]

I think my wheel bearings are a little shot.

 

[HemiAlex]

This knuckle rebuild has been an exciting bit of work, it really has taught me a lot about how the truck goes together and the forethought the engineers put into it.

I had no major issues taking it apart. The instructions that @cruiseroutfit included with the kit were great and his customer service to answer a question right before closing is great.

My dilemma has been the wheel studs. Rockauto has a messed up catalog, and I didn't pay close enough attention to the pictures. They sent a completely wrong part. I went to the local parts house and bought the Raybestos 27729B. That's what is pictured above. I can't confirm this, but @Spike Strip did for me. The OD is a few thousandths too bit before the knurling and they don't sit nicely. If I'm going to be pressing these in (I've learned my lesson) then I'm just going to order the right ones from @beno instead of doing this over.

So the rest of the PS side is done. The new races are in on the hub and bearings are packed, just waiting for studs to get it all finished up. I'm happy with the finished product. Added trail gear backing plate eliminators while I was there.

From this:

To this:

The only thing I regret is not putting a quick coat of black paint on the bolts. I cleaned them in evaporust, rinsed them and they flash rusted. Since I forgot to add grease to the brass/bronze bushing in the knuckle I'll pull it back off and clean them again when I lube all that stuff again.

I bought one of these by Lincoln and it made lubing the birfields a breeze, I was able to get everything properly packed with my greasegun.

Now to start the DS hub rebuild...I took my time and learned as I went but now I'm confident that I can do this much faster.

 

[gregnash]

What tool is that? Just a new pointed grease gun tip?
And yeah, doing one side and then the other you always learn new things as you go along and some good do's and don'ts. Oh and got the package over the weekend by-the-way, thanks for sending back.

 

[HemiAlex]

Yep, it made getting grease into the balls of the birfield joint very easy. I could see it push stuff out on the other side.

It's really difficult to put stuff together wrong. So, now that I know how stuff falls apart I think I can get the DS back together in a few hours, but I'll pause for cleaning and do it at work with the parts washer and the ultrasonic cleaner to make it easier.

Thank you for loaning me that stuff.

 

[HemiAlex]

I didn't take a picture of the other side but I'm 100% sure my inner axle seal was done!

Now to clean all the lovely gunky parts and start reassembly while I wait for my oem studs from beno.

 

[gregnash]

while you are at it and bored why not mock up that pod cluster!!