The gift that keeps on giving-60 series edition. (1 Viewer)

[mongoose2231]

Dear members, over the years I have worked on a few cruisers, not too many but plenty to know my way around them pretty well. Having dedicated a few good hours working on a couple forum members' trucks in the last few weeks, I thought it appropriate to start a thread where I document the issues that I have been presented with, and the solutions employed to resolve them. Now I know that most of the time there is only one way to fix something but there are a million other ways to screw something up! This thread is meant to document exactly that. If ok with the mods on here, I plan on starting threads in each appropriate section, depending on the series truck I have the pleasure of working on.
The ultimate goal of the thread is just like the title says, the gift being knowledge acquired while taking on the challenges.
Enjoy!

 

[bentonrover]

Awesome you have my vote if it counts

 

[mongoose2231]

Thank you gents. First one up, Godzilla! Great truck with a great owner who is a member on here and owned this truck for a long time.

Issues and resolutions below:
Issue #1. Off center steering. Owner does not know how the steering was 90 degrees off. I suspect the spring over axle and suspension mods had something to do with that.
Fix: remove steering wheel and re-center, quite an easy fix.
Issue #2. Weird sounds from engine bay, sounded like banging on a bunch of pans under acceleration.
Diagnostic and fix: Exhaust manifold to downpipe gasket missing, missing hardware, loose hardware. New gasket and retorquing of nuts fixed problem. (This one was well received as the owner thought this was going to be something way worse).
Issue #3. Difficult starting on some occasions.
Diagnostic and fix: Choke cable wasn't actually operating the choke. Carb fan wire broken. Owner fixed carb fan wire on his own after a quick conversation before bringing the truck over. Retorque screw at choke cable bracket on carb to secure cable sheath properly, allowing for proper cable movement.
Issue#4. Rear main leak, squeal noise from below truck.
Diagnostic and fix: Replace clutch and rear main. Throw-out was found to be steel on steel with no grease left.
Issue #4. This one baffled me actually. After the owner picked up the truck post clutch job he reported speedo not working.
Diagnostic and fix: Speedo cable somehow knotted itself. Replace speedo cable. This one is indeed a mystery to me as I test drove the truck and all was good.
Pic of knotted cable below.

 

[CruiserTrash]

@mongoose2231

Question on #1: why did you remove the steering wheel and put it back differently rather than adjusting the relay rod?

Nice catch on the tweaked speedo cable, that sounds like a weird one!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

@mongoose2231

Question on #1: why did you remove the steering wheel and put it back differently rather than adjusting the relay rod?

Nice catch on the tweaked speedo cable, that sounds like a weird one!

Way easier to pull steering wheel if I recall than f w/ the relay rod. I’ve messed w/ my relay when doing a driveway alignment and it gets irritating when tweaking that area. I actually still need to do this because my wheel is cocked to the left. Some will disconnect the steering shaft from the gear box too… I’ve done that too… something not quite right tho that way either. If you do that be sure to install the bolt correct. Once I hadn’t and lost my steering w/ kid in car. Was super fun exciting experience. All was safe and easy to fix.
Pulling the wheel is the easiest for this issue than the other options other than needing a puller to do it.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Way easier to pull steering wheel if I recall than f w/ the relay rod. I’ve messed w/ my relay when doing a driveway alignment and it gets irritating when tweaking that area. I actually still need to do this because my wheel is cocked to the left. Some will disconnect the steering shaft from the gear box too… I’ve done that too… something not quite right tho that way either. If you do that be sure to install the bolt correct. Once I hadn’t and lost my steering w/ kid in car. Was super fun exciting experience. All was safe and easy to fix.
Pulling the wheel is the easiest for this issue than the other options other than needing a puller to do it.

Damn, that sounds terrifying to lose your steering! Glad you're still with us!

I think - and I'm not an expert - if you just remove and replace the steering wheel you now have more steering ability in one direction than the other. In other words you hit the limit stop sooner in one direction. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the geometry at play here. The way I did it last time is park the truck on a flat work area, jack up the front, move the wheel so the pitman arm is pointing dead straight forward, loosen both relay rod clamps, then use some channel locks to rotate the relay rod. As you rotate it the steering wheel will move, stop when it's centered. When you're done the pitman arm should be pointing straight and the steering wheel centered when you're driving straight ahead, and you should have equal turning range left and right. Am I putting waaaaay too much work into this?

 

[dbleon]

Way easier to pull steering wheel if I recall than f w/ the relay rod. I’ve messed w/ my relay when doing a driveway alignment and it gets irritating when tweaking that area. I actually still need to do this because my wheel is cocked to the left. Some will disconnect the steering shaft from the gear box too… I’ve done that too… something not quite right tho that way either. If you do that be sure to install the bolt correct. Once I hadn’t and lost my steering w/ kid in car. Was super fun exciting experience. All was safe and easy to fix.
Pulling the wheel is the easiest for this issue than the other options other than needing a puller to do it.

No puller needed for steering wheel

 

[dbleon]

There is a spec for the relay rod length in the FSM.. Using it to adjust the wheel may throw u off.. don’t know what effects it may have i’m no expert

 

[mongoose2231]

@mongoose2231

Question on #1: why did you remove the steering wheel and put it back differently rather than adjusting the relay rod?

Nice catch on the tweaked speedo cable, that sounds like a weird one!

Truck tracks straight, is aligned and I figured it'd be easier to pull steering..

 

[micruz60]

Truck tracks straight, is aligned and I figured it'd be easier to pull steering..

Do the turn signals cancel properly? I did a similar quick fix by pulling the steering wheel and re-centering a couple splines and the signal cancel did not work.

 

[micruz60]

What's going on with the- v v v -rear liftgate / this picture is skewed looking through the truck. . . fisheye lens?

 

[mongoose2231]

Fisheye indeed.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

No puller needed for steering wheel

Swore there was. My mistake.

 

[mongoose2231]

Next one up:

 

[mongoose2231]

This one has lots of issues under the hood.

 

[mongoose2231]

Has the wrong carb, carb fan wire is broke and is missing the red wire at the fusible. This will be fun!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Curious if the owners are new to cruisers?

 

[mongoose2231]

I think the man knew plenty about the truck. I think he just has no time to handle the repairs.

 

[Spike Strip]

No puller needed for steering wheel

Swore there was. My mistake.

Don't mean to pollute this thread (I will delete if OP wants it gone), but just for clarity, the FSM calls for a puller on the steering wheel but I've pulled about 5 or 6 of them on different trucks and only one time I did need to use a puller - wheel would not budge without it. Carry on!

 

[mongoose2231]

I did use a puller on big Rhonda above. I should have mentioned that. Hahaha.
Funny enough, my 60 never required a puller to get the steering off.