With our dreams of outrunning a tsunami in the old van dashed,
we headed back from the mountaintop,
with just enough time to play with the 40's front suspension.
The spring was installed without too much fuss.
I was waiting for the axle to pretzel with the force of the spring.
Nope.
First test passed.
A couple weeks ago I had disassembled all the front end parts,
ran out of time and jammed them under the car.
The wheels were still joined by the tie rod,
not the easiest way to store them.
Time to get them apart.
The first person to comment on the proper way to remove a tie rod,
with a hammer,
gets a special care package straight from PERICH B&S central!
Everything was set and ready to go.
The spring was looking a little tall at this point,
but there were enough modifications with the axle,
I had to see if it was going to work.
The second test -
putting the load on the worst possible part of the customized axle!
The 40 was finally suspended off the frame.
No snapping or twisting of the axle.
I rushed to put on the spindle...
Only to find out the front was now higher than when I had started!
Cool for a gasser but not what I was hoping.
Okay let's take all this chit back out...
This spring had been sitting in the middle walkway for two weeks.
Seriously not on the side or under the car,
but right in the center of the walkway.
I'd actually back Chief in until the rear wheel hit the spring.
Every time I stumbled on it I thought of lowering it.
I needed to make sure it wouldn't be too low first,
or was I just being lazy?
No problem - reversing the main leaf spring eye is easy,
a great "how to"!
First make a chalk line of the original curve.
This pipe bender is used more often in this direction
than in the tube bender position.
The spring isn't riding on the bare receiver cylinder,
there's a special form on it.
The first pass straightened it out almost perfect.
The second pass was almost perfect.
Only a couple little wobbly parts that were easy to bump out.
The spring had the plastic sliders inbetween the leaves,
which I planned to reuse.
This was still the best and hopefully only chance I'd have to clean each leaf.
The ends were rounded out a bit and the rust wire-wheeled off.
This spring pack had 11 leaves,
and the 3rd one looked like it was not original,
almost the same size as the 4th one.
I removed it and a smaller one to give it a little more flex,
and hopefully lower it as well.
The second leaf was also trimmed about 1/4" on each side,
as it jammed into the corners of the eyes.
All greased up the spring was reinstalled,
and it was time to test the axle again.
This picture shows why I replaced the flathead.
The underneath looks all rusty,
but it's actually all the rusty steam residue from the many boilovers!
As the sun went down I rushed to get the wheels on.
This was almost exactly what I had hoped to see.
Not in the weeds or too slammed like the rusty 40,
but a simple hot rod stance.
Just enough space away from the lip,
and the tire almost in line with the fender curve.
As usual working to the 34 watt bulb!
On the ground,
the 40 had a way better stance than last month.
There's no tie rod so tricky to push out easily,
and it was getting too dark to get a good view or picture.
In the morning I can't wait to see how it really looks,
and I'll do a quick update!
TP
we headed back from the mountaintop,
with just enough time to play with the 40's front suspension.
 |
| custom spring compressor |
The spring was installed without too much fuss.
 |
| stool time |
I was waiting for the axle to pretzel with the force of the spring.
Nope.
First test passed.
 |
| removing tie rod ends |
A couple weeks ago I had disassembled all the front end parts,
ran out of time and jammed them under the car.
The wheels were still joined by the tie rod,
not the easiest way to store them.
Time to get them apart.
The first person to comment on the proper way to remove a tie rod,
with a hammer,
gets a special care package straight from PERICH B&S central!
 |
| the office |
Everything was set and ready to go.
The spring was looking a little tall at this point,
but there were enough modifications with the axle,
I had to see if it was going to work.
 |
| scar |
The second test -
putting the load on the worst possible part of the customized axle!
 |
| jacked |
The 40 was finally suspended off the frame.
No snapping or twisting of the axle.
 |
| stool time |
I rushed to put on the spindle...
 |
| gasser style! |
Only to find out the front was now higher than when I had started!
Cool for a gasser but not what I was hoping.
 |
| holey chit |
Okay let's take all this chit back out...
 |
| spring disassembly |
This spring had been sitting in the middle walkway for two weeks.
Seriously not on the side or under the car,
but right in the center of the walkway.
I'd actually back Chief in until the rear wheel hit the spring.
Every time I stumbled on it I thought of lowering it.
I needed to make sure it wouldn't be too low first,
or was I just being lazy?
 |
| curve |
No problem - reversing the main leaf spring eye is easy,
a great "how to"!
First make a chalk line of the original curve.
 |
| custom spring jig |
This pipe bender is used more often in this direction
than in the tube bender position.
The spring isn't riding on the bare receiver cylinder,
there's a special form on it.
 |
| flat |
The first pass straightened it out almost perfect.
 |
| reversed eye main leaf |
The second pass was almost perfect.
Only a couple little wobbly parts that were easy to bump out.
 |
| grease monkey |
The spring had the plastic sliders inbetween the leaves,
which I planned to reuse.
This was still the best and hopefully only chance I'd have to clean each leaf.
The ends were rounded out a bit and the rust wire-wheeled off.
 |
| reversed eye spring pack |
This spring pack had 11 leaves,
and the 3rd one looked like it was not original,
almost the same size as the 4th one.
I removed it and a smaller one to give it a little more flex,
and hopefully lower it as well.
The second leaf was also trimmed about 1/4" on each side,
as it jammed into the corners of the eyes.
 |
| deja vu |
All greased up the spring was reinstalled,
and it was time to test the axle again.
This picture shows why I replaced the flathead.
The underneath looks all rusty,
but it's actually all the rusty steam residue from the many boilovers!
 |
| street rod! |
As the sun went down I rushed to get the wheels on.
This was almost exactly what I had hoped to see.
Not in the weeds or too slammed like the rusty 40,
but a simple hot rod stance.
Just enough space away from the lip,
and the tire almost in line with the fender curve.
 |
As usual working to the 34 watt bulb!
On the ground,
the 40 had a way better stance than last month.
There's no tie rod so tricky to push out easily,
and it was getting too dark to get a good view or picture.
In the morning I can't wait to see how it really looks,
and I'll do a quick update!
TP
If you are going to use a hammer to remove a tie rod, then you better screw the nut onto it enough to protect the threads while beating on it like a caveman or you will be crying the blues when you try to screw on the nut after mushrooming the tie rod stud. On the other hand, you could easily make the tie rod splitter tool or go to Harbor Freight and, more than likely, purchase a Chinese tie rod splitter for less than $10.00 or a set with three different sizes for less than $20.00. In your case, it would not surprise me if you were driving along and an unfamiliar man walked out the front door of his home to flag you down and beg for you to take their like-new, fancy-ass refrigerator and every single tool and gadget piled in their garage, which happens to include a set of tie rod splitters.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that our recent discussion, while examining that leaf spring, was foretelling of the necessity of flipping the long leaf of the spring in order to reverse the bolt holes and, subsequently, lower the vehicle approximately an inch for that project.
First off,
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna have to give you the old Family Feud RED X for the answer!
The spring trick lowered it almost 2 inches,
probably cause of the removal of the 2 leaves which was 1/2" just in their thickness.
I really thought it would be lower without needing to do that though.
Gonna roll it outside in a bit hopefully it will have settled more.
A radiator, coolant, distributor and all the other junk will bring it down a bit more.
TP
I've had better luck removing Tie rods with 2 hammers.
ReplyDeleteStriking both sides of the'hole'
Like this (Hammer) \HOLE/ (Hammer)
You can swing both or hold one and swing the other.
The shock will loosen the grip of the taper and the tie rod will drop out. I do leave the nut on half way to catch the dropping parts and protect the threads from Missguided hammer blows.
Winner winner chicken dinner!
ReplyDeleteDam J Jeep you described it better than I could.
Send me your address you'll get a prize!
TP