BillyBob Work-in-Progress Log

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

4. Spifin' up the Steering Wheel Page 1

June 24^th 2000 I'm gonna have to pull the steering wheel, I think, to get at the horn wiring, and it would also help me with my shift lever repairs with the wheel out of the way, so I ordered The Eastwood Company's Steering Wheel Restoration Kit (catalog #52061) since that job has to be done sooner or later and the kit includes a wheel puller.

Here's what the steering wheel looks like after forty-five years of bad roads. Lots of the ole truck vendors have a replacement horn button for the previous AD years but it changed for 1954 and 1955 1^st Series and I haven't found a replacement for BillyBob yet. I may have to do my best to clean up his existing button.

I pulled the steering wheel for the first time in many years, I suspect. The Factory Assembly Manual Steering Wheel Instruction Page was checked first for reference. It's nice having a battery cut-off switch in times like this. Power was cut and the horn button pried off with a flat-bladed screwdriver. Steering wheel nut and flat washer removed with a 3/4" socket, then the horn button contact assembly lifted out. Contact and spring assembly lifted out of its "well", then Kroil/AeroKroil applied to the shaft below the nut. A squirt of WD40 went into each of the puller holes as the threads were slightly rusty.

I made sure the front wheels were straight ahead and took note of the wheel position at this point in case the shaft isn't keyed for the standard position. The puller is a universal tool with bolts for three different steering wheel threads. It goes together pretty straightforward (no instructions) and worked nicely in BillyBob's case. Turned the wheel over and removed the Hub Cover Assembly from the back. Here are all the steering wheel parts in the unrestored state.

Cleaned up the steering column a little after removing the gearshift lever assembly for other work and the aftermarket turn signal assembly. Looks like some previous owner painted BillyBob's interior a darker green than original some time after installing the turn signals.

July 1^st 2000 We've got a storm front stalled over us on the Gold Coast this Independence Day weekend. I'm not getting much done on BillyBob. I ordered AutoSol metal polish (catalog #13170) from Eastwood early in the week to clean up the horn button. I washed the the button with soap and water, then applied Goo-Off to get some of the more stubborn dirt out of the painted area. I had only limited success. I tried an application of the AutoSol by hand. It did pretty well, but there's still a lot of rust and I think some kind of machine buffing is called for.

Some research is called for. A few months back I ordered How to Restore Metal Automotive Trim by Jeff Lilly. from Amazon.com. Guess it's time to dig into it some. This last week I ordered a new Horn Contact Spring and Bushing assembly (catalog #27-225) from Chevy Duty. When I had the steering wheel dis-assembled last week, I noticed the old contact was well-worn where it where it rode the top of the steering column. This is as good a time as any to replace it. Pulled the steering wheel again and went over it with the Cleaning Wheel (#31095) I got from Eastwood back when I was doing the wheels refurb. I quit when I ran down one of the cordless drill batteries. I've found I tend to start getting sloppy when I do the same tedious task too long. The interval it takes to run down a battery is a good timer for me. I washed the steering wheel with soap and water and re-installed it.

July 6^th 2000 Last Saturday, the constant threat of downpour kept my BillyBob activity to a minimum. The overcast sky had a dampening effect on my mood. So what can we boys do when we can't do anything else? Pop a top on a brewski would be my first choice, but since I'm saving drinking for my rockin' chair retirement, that option is currently closed to me, so I did the next best thing . . . I went online and ordered a shiny new tool. At Amazon.com I ordered a Dremel "Professional" high speed rotary tool.

I've wanted a Dremel moto-tool for over two-thirds of my life. When JR and I were growing up in the early sixties, we used to stand in front of the Dremel display at the local hobby shop for hours slobbering. With our meager allowances of the time, we couldn't afford drool cups to keep the spittle off our shirts, let alone this ultimate of hobby tools. But we could dream, and dream, we did. The dreaming is over. I received my first Dremel today courtesy UPS delivery.

July 8^th 2000 Seventy percent chance of rain in our neck of the woods again today so I'm workin' on the steering wheel again. Pulled the wheel and went after the horn button with the new Dremel tool and the AutoSol polish. Much better! Afterwards, I had another session with the cleaning wheel and the steering wheel. Then used the Dremel again to sawcut all the cracks in the steering wheel plastic down to the steel substrate beneath. The sawcuts don't show very well in the pic, but they're there if you look close (an' use your imagination).

July 15^th 2000 Struck out in my efforts to get any more of the gearshift linkage project done today so I'm back to the steering wheel where I can make a little progress and save face. I picked up a Craftsman 10" Multi-kut Flat File, 7" Triangular Taper File, Tool Handle, and File Cleaner at Sears early in the week. The Dremel 16-piece Cleaning/Polishing kit also arrived from Amazon.com.

I pulled the steering wheel and beveled last week's sawcuts with the triangular file. The steering wheel was cleaned with canned air then I mixed up a small batch of the epoxy that came with the Eastwood steering wheel repair kit. Warning lights were coming on in the dark reaches of my brain but I didn't know why yet. I was half-way thru applying epoxy to the steering wheel when I realized I'd had a doozie of a brain-fart.

I always have logistics problems to hammer out for my "Stage I" projects. They primarily deal with the fact that I have to drive BillyBob back and forth to his warehouse bay at the beginning and end of the work sessions. I had planned to take BillyBob's steering wheel off at the warehouse and bring it to my workplace in my Jeep for the epoxy and painting process, but here I am putting epoxy on the wheel and BillyBob sits out in the parking lot! I had gotten ahead of my plan and now I'll suffer for it. I finished applying the epoxy and remounted the wheel on BillyBob. The epoxy build-ups were shaped a bit at this point by the "finger dipped in Lacquer thinner" method. I'll just have to manage the drive back to the barn without touching the epoxy. At least the streets along the route are fairly quiet.