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Taylormade

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Everything posted by Taylormade

  1. I'm working on it, Phil, believe me! I'm taking the front axle apart and have come to a screeching halt trying to remove the old kingpins. Which way does the tapered pin that holds the kingpin in go out? ? don't want to start banging on the axle, trying to drive it out the wrong way. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> Does it drive out from this side... Or from this side... Some help from the experts out there, please.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  2. I got my "Floating Power" motor mounts back for Now And Then Auto. They did a nice job. All parts had the old rubber taken off, the metal cleaned and painted and new rubber vulcanized to the metal in a mold that exactly duplicates the original. Take a look at the before and after pictures. front motor mount The "steady rest" that supports the engine under the rear seal area. The redone part is the lower piece in the before pic. The transmission cradle. This had a chunk of the metal broken off. They cut and welded on a new piece for me. The spring damper. The small traverse spring that extends from the frame to the motor attaches to this. The spring bumpers I'm very happy with the results. Total for all the mounts was around $360. I don't know how else I could have fixed these parts. I did some 29 Plymouth spring bumpers years ago with urethane rubber and they came out okay, but I don't think I'd want to trust my limited skills to a motor mount. Now I can feel safe the engine won't fall out of the frame on some road trip! <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  3. As far as I know that is the correct curve to the steering arm. There appears to be no damage or kinks to the arm. Without the bend, it wouldn't fit correctly between the pitman arm and the front steering post. I'm getting a new front ball with the rebuild kit, so that is not an issue. The pitman arm repair will be interesting once I see the replacement ball from Then and Now. I agree with Jason - the thought of welding a new ball to the existing shaft worries me.
  4. Tackled the steering arm today. Still snow on the ground, but it was in the forties and felt really pleasant with the sun out. The first job was to get rid of the massive accumulation of dried grease and dirt on the arm. A grinder and a wire brush took care of that in quick order. You can see how thick this stuff was... Before: After: A shot showing the thickness of this gunk. Sticky, filthy and just all around unpleasant. More than a quarter of an inch. It probably kept rust from forming on the parts, so I'm kind of glad it was there for the forty odd years it sat in Phil's garage.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> Once I had everything clean, I took a look at how the arm was put together. This may be old hat to a lot of you folks, but for those who have never dealt with this, here is how they come apart. Once you take out the grease fitting, you'll find a plug that screws into the end of the arm. There was a ton of grease in there, but from the holes around the outside of the arm, I could tell some sort of pin was holding it in. I forgot to take a picture before I removed it. The slot in the plug actually lines up with the holes in the arm. There are multiple holes so you can adjust the tension in the arm. It turned out not to be a pin, but this little U-shaped device that spans the slot in the plug. It snapped out easily. What holds it in is the grease fitting. When you put the U-clip back in, you rotate it so it lies flat against the inside recess of the plug. When the grease fitting is screwed back in, it centers the clip and prevents it from popping out.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> Now I had to figure out how to unscrew the plug. I don't have a screwdriver that big. Going through a pile of old tools my dad gave me, I discovered this (I think) tire iron. It fit perfectly and it and set set of vice grips made for the ideal tool. The plug came out very easily. All that lubrication had kept the threads clean and smooth.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> With tension off the inner assembly, the pitman arm popped out and a pulled everything out of the arm housing. You have from right to left a spring plug, the spring, a cup, the pitman arm ball, another cup, the plug, the U-clip and the grease fitting. The pitman arm ball rides between the two cups and the spring absorbs bumps and shocks and allows the arm some movement. I was hoping the ball end of the pitman arm would be okay, but no such luck It was still fairly round, although not perfect... But the bigger problem was the deep slot cut into the arm below the ball end. This was caused by the edge of the opening in the arm rubbing against it.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> More on that later. The front of the arm was disassembled the same way. And the same problems surfaced with the ball stud that hooks up to the steering. Note the slot cut in the metal. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> The good news is that I ordered a rebuilding kit for the arm from Tom Hannaford at Then and Now Auto. All new parts - cups, springs, studs and plug . It's due to arrive in a day or so. I also ordered a new ball end for the Pitman arm. I'm not sure what I'm going to get. Tom says it's designed to be brazed on in place of the old ball. I'll post photos when it arrives. It seems to me that some sort of pinion or pin will be needed for extra support. I forgot to ask Tom if the new ball comes with a pin or extension. Since my wife and I are going to risk our lives on this repair, I want to make sure it's done right! The other problem is the wear to the slot in the arm. As you can see from these shots, the slot and the circular opening in both ends of the arm have been badly worn. They should be symmetrical and the slot should be narrower. Tom says a machine shop can weld this up and grind the correct shape back in. Has anybody done this? It's way above my pay grade. I got very lucky the other day. As you may remember, I huge slab of ice fell on Daphne when Phil owned her. One of the things that was badly broken was the trim piece in the center of the cowl. It is made of pot metal and didn't fare well against mother nature. I had always assumed I'd have to make one from scratch as they are no longer available from NAPA. I was browsing the site and noticed an ad from Hammer_31_Dodge with some 32 Dodge parts for sale. There it was! A cowl piece for 35 bucks. I couldn't believe it.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> I contacted Shawn and we made the deal. It arrived in two days. Thanks Shawn! More on the steering arm when my rebuild kit arrives.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  5. I keep hearing good, then bad things about powder coating wire wheels. I asked about it on another thread and got a bunch of differing opinions. Anybody else have any horror stories? I think some problems are caused by poor prep and application. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  6. The work was done by Loop 70 Motor Parts in Columbia on -guess what - the 70 Loop. Ask for Elson, he's a good guy to work with. Every time I'm there the place is filled with car guys, talking old cars and hot rods. Three guys showed up while my wife and I were there this morning and they all helped Elson and I get the motor into my SUV. Boy did I need a pickup! Thanks guys, we couldn't have done it without you! I paid $1600 parts and labor. If the babbitt was bad we would have had to send the bronze-backed bearings out and the cost would have been in the $2500 range for the total rebuild. Elson kept me informed of the prices of the items he was buying. This is a one year engine - the head gasket, for instance, is only used in 1932 - so parts are more expensive than more common engines. The gasket set alone was $250! Parts for a 1935 Dodge engine would have cost half as much. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  7. A three hour drive to Columbia, Missouri<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> to pickup my engine. Rebuilt and ready to go - after I wirebrush the surface rust and give it a coat of paint. I got lucky. Apparently, the motor had been rebuilt sometime recently before I bought the car in 1965 and Phil and I didn't drive it all that much afterwards. Work done: block cleaned and checked Rebore New pistons and rings New bronze valve guides new valve springs new camshaft bearings Crank polished valve job (the car had hardened inserts installed at some time (maybe at the factory) and they were in great shape. Just needed the valves cleaned up and the seats ground New timing chain all new gaskets and seals new thermostat The oil pump, babbitt bearings (main and rod) were in excellent shape and didn't need to be replaced. The crank and camshaft were also in excellent shape. I also had the flywheel resurfaced. I spent one of the most physically trying days of my life Wednesday taking the old tires off the rims. Forty-five years of sitting had bonded the rubber to the metal at the molecular level.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> Breaking the bead was a new exercise in futility. After spending five hours getting the tires off two wheels and breaking the front bead on a third - the rear bead would not break even after I ran over it with my car! - I took the remaining tires to the shop less than a mile from my house and, with their machine, they had the tires off in ten minutes. Live and learn. When I had the car, the three yellow wheels were on one side and the three black on the other. This matched the front upholstery, with vinyl on one door and the original cloth on the other. They will all be sandblasted and powdercoated the original yellow - or as close as I can get to it. I also have the springs back together and ready for clamp bolts and a last touch-up coat of paint. Now if it will just warm up enough so I can paint the engine!<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  8. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>PM sent.
  9. Ian, Sorry, I didn't send those - although I sure wish I owned that car! <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  10. Sorry to hear that, but if it doesn't give you any enjoyment then I would sell it, too. A two door sedan is a bit more desirable than a four-door because it's a bit harder to find, but sedans are always going to be on the low end of the price list. If that was a coupe, it would go for 8 grand in a heartbeat, but I think that is probably top end for your car, even though it is a nice original. Mid-Missouri has a lot of car lovers, but most of them are pretty cagey when it comes time to lay the money down. They'll drive a hard bargin. Please try to find someone who will appreciate the fact that this a straight, original car - I'd hate to see it cut up. If I didn't have my 32, I'd be on the phone with you today - you're only 120 miles away.
  11. Nice job - it looks great, even before the bondo.
  12. Finally, some warm weather! Snow melted, garage and drive clear and I finally found some time to clean and paint parts. Yesterday, I took the springs, front floorboards, front motor mount, rear tranny mount and the battery box supports over to the sandblasters. This is why I usually hire this out - not the greatest job in the world. They did everything in about an hour and a half and I took it all home hoping the temperature would get above 60 so I could paint everything before rust came back. I got the primer on last night as the temps were margial, but okay. I used the heat from my worklamps to keep everything warm. Today dawned warm and clear and I put on a thin coat of black on the springs. Probably overkill, as the motion of the springs will probably wear it away, but hopefully it will keep some rust from forming. As this is going to be a driver, I can't expect perfect springs after a season on the road, but maybe this will help some of the expected rust from showing up on the edges of the leafs - or is it leaves? The two primed parts are the battery box supports. The one primed spring leaf - the little one - I had to go back to the sandblaster to get. It got buried in the sand and was temporarily lost! 32 spring leaves in all! Front motor mount. Rear Tranny mount. Front floorboards. Some pitting from those Syracuse winters, but no holes and they are plenty solid. The rest of the floor is wood. The weather forecast is for a cold front moving in tonight, so it's back to the deep freeze. I can't wait for Spring to arrive. Where the heck is Global Warming when you need it?
  13. Thanks, a better look than "bare metal." <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  14. I'm cleaning up my Delco-Lovejoy shocks and can find no trace of any paint on them - just lots of grease. Does anyone know if these units were painted (black?) or left bare metal? If bare metal I will probably paint them with "cast iron" paint to replicate the unpainted look and still avoid rust.
  15. I checked the rear axle now that things have warmed up a bit. There is no way the axles can touch. The design has a shaft that connects the gears in the differential that is between the two axles. So now I have to see if the axles would be pushed in too much and actually come in contact with the shaft. I'm taking my springs over to be sandblasted tomorrow along with some other parts - the front engine fixture and the transmission mounting support. I'm also starting on the wheels and have the job of trying to break the beads loose on tires that have been in place for over forty years. Not looking forward to it.
  16. You don't have to pull the hole front end (clip) off. Leave the fenders on and just take the hood and radiator off. Then the engine/tranny comes out as one unit.
  17. I think there's pretty much of a consensus that the drawback to placing the shims outside is that the axle may move in too much and interference may result. The other question is will it move the axle inward enough to cause problems with the brake drum interfering with the backing plate. Until I figure out just what the thickness of the shims needs to be, I won't know if this is going to be a problem or not. I mean, are we talking a few thousandths of an inch or an eighth of an inch? I'm going to attempt to measure the thickness of the bearings clamped together with the bearing cups and then the distance inside the bearing housing. The difference, minus the required axle play, should give me a ballpark figure where I stand. The whole purpose is to set axle end play in the bearings. As soon as it warms enough that I can feel my fingers out in the garage, I'll give it a go. Until then, we've probably beaten this topic to death.
  18. I ran into the same problem with a 48 Plymouth I had. I finally ended up having to take the entire front clip off. I'm not an expert on 35s, but from you pictures, you might have enough room to work on that plug - looks like there is some working room between the engine and the firewall. If not, you'll have to take off the hood, remove the radiator and grill surround, disconnect the driveshaft and take the motor and transmission out as one unit. On the 48, I removed all the old freeze plugs, then used a power washer through the holes to blast out all the rust and gunk. There was a ton of it! I think your engine may have a water distribution tube also (not sure when Dodge went to that, my 32 doesn't have one), so see if that has rusted out and replace it if necessary. With the engine out, you can clean and repaint as necessary. I had my generator, water pump and starter rebuilt at the same time. This way you can avoid taking apart anything else as the fenders, headlights and such will all stay in place. That is a very cool car, I'd keep as much of it original as possible! <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  19. Yes, there is a freeze plug on the back of the block and that is probably what is leaking. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
  20. The winter weather is slowing down progress. Although we are up to a balmy 21 degrees today, there isn't much I can do since most of the cleaning and derusting has to be done outside - or the inside of the garage would look like a grease storm just went through - and painting is not going to happen until it warms up. This shot of my garge/workshop says it all - Better news with the springs on the old DL. After I posted shots of the disassembled springs a while ago, several folks from the Dodge Brothers Club thaough they might be too rusted to be safe. Just what I needed, another thing to worry about. They suggested taking them to a spring shop to have them checked out. I checked the good old web, hoping to find someone close, and, much to my surprise, there was St. Louis Leaf Spring right across the river in (where else?) St. Louis. On their website they mentioned they had been in business since 1945 in the same location. That sounded good, so I loaded up the springs - all 32 leaves - and hauled them over, hoping the thirty minute drive would be worthwhile. I arrived at an old building that did indeed look like it had been there for almost seventy years. I went in and explained my problem and they said, "bring them in." After a short examination, my springs were deemed slightly pitted, but solid and safe to reuse. They offered to heat them up in their oven to remove scale and rust. They also noticed that the eye bushings in my rear springs were incorrect. They were too large in diameter and whoever installed them had forced the spring eyes and enlarged them. This was bad news. Where the heck was I going to get new bushings? I was actually going to ask them to press out the remains of the bolt that was still stuck in one of the bushings, but since they were both inncorrect and the eye had been forced out of shape, I figured I was sunk. That's when the old guy at the counter whipped out a book that looked as old as he was and checked out what bushings were necessary. He then walked over to the shelves behind him and pulled out a set of NOS bushings. He said they would reshape my spring eye to the correct diameter and install the bushings, plus install new bronze bushings in the front springs. An hour and a half later, I loaded my assembled springs back in the car and drove home. I was amazed they still had the correct bushings at the shop. He also gave me a new set of bolts, a welcome gift as I had cut one in pieces getting it off the mount. One thing I can work on down the basement - where it's warm - is the wood inside the body. Although the DL has an all steel body, there are pieces of wood bolted on inside to attach interior trim above the doors and around the back window. My wood looked pretty good at first. There was absolutely no rot or decay, but the wood was very dry and full of staples where the trim had been attached. I started removing the staples and nails, and the wood started to split. There were also areas that had been sanded at an angle and the wood at the top of the angle was very thin. This was all split and some pieces had already fallen off. I think some of the splitting actually happened at the factory when it was originall installed. The only remedy was new wood - not that big a job. I still have to sand the edges and those angle sands in the back (so it can clear parts of the metal body framework), but they are about finished. My frame should be back from the powder coater as soon as it warms up enough to sandblast. Their sandblasting equipment was frozen solid the other day! Once that is back, I have a clean base to start putting things back together.
  21. Yes, it's the length of the axle housing area for the bearings. You're shimming to make that distance correct for axle shaft end play. It also states that "the two axle shafts are entirely independent of one another. In order to make this adjustment it is necessary to remove the axle shaft and bearings, including the cup of the inner bearings. The shims may then be removed." The fact that there were no shims in the axle when we drove it, Phil, leads me to believe, since they were as far inward as possible without the shims, that there is no way the axles could touch. One suggestion was to clamp the bearing cups on the bearings on the axle, measure the length of the assembly. Then measure the depth of the axle housing and subtract the difference. This would give you the play without shims. You could then install the correct shims to get everything in spec. Whether I can accurately measure the depth of the housing is another matter.
  22. This is why I wondered if putting the shims on the outside would cause the axles to move to far inward. However, I can't believe that that tiny distance could make the ends meet in the center. Certainly the axles aren't that closely machined during manufacture that a few thousands would make any difference. Again, I'm often wrong!
  23. I'm getting ready to clean and assemble my rear axle. I posted a thread about this some time ago here: http://forums.aaca.org/f143/rear-axle-advice-346213.html I solved many of the problems I was asking about and thought I'd get everyone up to date. First my previous questions: What is the best tool to pull the axle and the outer bearing cup out of the housing without damaging anything? It turns out no tool was needed - with the brake backing plate off I just slipped the brake drum back on and put the axle nut on a few turns. This let the brake drum slide back and forth on the axle for maybe a half inch or so. I pulled the drum forward sharply several times and the imtact against the nut pulled the bearing cup and axle right out of the housing. This may not be a good idea if you are going to save the bearings, but I checked them afterwards and didn't detect any damage. What is the best tool to pull the inner race out? There isn't much of a lip to catch or attach any puller to, and it's pretty deep inside there. This was easily accomplished with a rental tool made for the job -something I obviously should have checked for in the first place. It worked so well I forgot to take a photo of it, but it's just the usual three pronged claw with a slide hammer attached. It did the job in nothing flat - once I noticed I wasn't grabbing the bearing cup but the lip that holds the inner seal in place. Lucky I didn't break the axle! Once I was hooked on to the cup, it came off with six or seven good pulls. Do the roller bearings have to be pressed on the axle by a machine shop? How do I get the old ones off? I haven't gotten this far, so I have no answer. It was suggested I cut them off with a cutting disk, and I suppose that will work since I plan to replace them. More on that when I actually remove them. Now for the actual reason for this post. I'm trying to figure out exactly how the axle end play is set up. According to the owner's manual, the only "shop manual" available, the end play is determined by shims placed deep into the axle assembly. Why they would make this so difficult mystifies me. Here's how the axle goes together... First the cutaway of the housing. Next the inner seal is put into place. Now this is the point where the shims that determine axle play go in. You stack them to get the correct clearance. The blue indicates the shims. The inner bearing cup is driven in and rests against the shims. Now you press both bearing races on the axle. Notice the raised lip that locates both races which are driven on from both ends of the axle. Now the axle goes in the housing with the inner bearing race seating in the inner bearing cup. Finally, the outer bearing cup is installed by driving it into the axle housing. The brake backing plate is now installed and this plate forces the outer bearing cup in to its final position. Now you can determine the axle play with an end guage, BUT according to the manual, if it's not correct, you have to take everything apart back to the installation of the shims and add or remove shims to get the play correct! Now I'm sure the engineering experts out there are going to correct me, but what difference does it make if the shims are all the way back in the housing, or are just installed at the outer portion of the housing, here: According to Phil, the previous owner, there were no shims in the housing when he took it apart years ago. I have been told there is a source for them if I need them. Any opinions as to why I couldn't shim the front and get the same result as the factory recommendation? All you are doing is making sure the length of the space between the back of the housing and the front is correct so there is proper axle play. I can't believe that shimming up front would move the axle back toward the differential enough to cause any problems. Then again, I have been proven wrong - more times than I'd like to admit.
  24. Interesting that both the main and con rod bearings are standard. The crank must have been in great shape, or they put a new one in.
  25. Ian, I think that ripple effect is deep rust pits that have been painted over. This is what leads me to believe this car has more rust than what might be apparent from a casual glance. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>
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