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.

BILLYBOB MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for BillyBob, including required tools, materials and procedures.

14. Frame Job: Reshocking

December 8^th 2001  Not doin' much today. I can't work on BillyBob tomorrow and I don't feel like dragin' out the tools for only one day's worth of activity. I'm just messing around and preparing for the next phase of the frame work. I picked up a good book on this phase of the work a month or so back: "Engine and Chassis Detailing" by Jim Richardson. It's simple, to the point, and an easy read. A good primer for a non-expert like myself. Jim uses a lot of stuff from Eastwood Company, but that's OK with me since I do too.

The next phase will continue from the just finished parking brake cross-shaft area backwards along the frame to the rear axle centerline. This area includes the rear running board supports and the rear shock mounts. Existing third-party helper spring remains will be removed and the drive shaft will be cleaned and painted. I've got new shocks from Chevy Duty for all four corners so, some front end work will also be involved.

December 15^th 2001  Got ready to replace the rear shocks. By the looks of the rusted connections, I suspected I was in for an Octagon Deathmatch. The shock hex nuts were treated with penetrating oil and tapped with the ball-peen hammer and treated again. BillyBob's rear end was jacked up with the floor jack under the pumpkin and the jack stands were placed under the frame just forward of the rear spring front pivots. This way the rear suspension could be raised or lowered to it's limits with the floor jack. The rear wheels were removed.

Then I attacked the rear shocks . . . I had both of them out in twenty minutes! I couldn't believe my good luck. All the hex nuts came off without much trouble and By lowering the axle, I was able to get the old shocks out as a unit without removing the helper springs that were rusted to them. Next, I used the air-powered three-inch cut off wheel to cut the U-bolts holding the remainder of another set of helper springs to the rear axle.

The frame in the shock area was worked with wire brush for awhile 'til I ran down both batteries for the cordless drill, then the rear shocks were mounted. The shocks that came from Chevy-duty have replacement pivot pins for the lower shock mounting which thread into the spring mounting brackets. I decided to save these until I replace the spring hardware which will be a future phase of the frame work. I found out that the new hex nuts and pivots had a slightly different thread than the existing ones . . . I had to go dumpster diving to get the old hex nuts back. Finished up the day by cleaning the wheels and tires.

December 16^th 2001  Things went so well yesterday, I jumped right back into it today. I ended up having that fight I expected yesterday . . . The front shocks weren't as accommodating as the rear shocks had been. I used the same methods with the front shocks but, when that didn't work, I got out the MAPP gas torch. OOPS! The gunk on the frame and the rubber shock bushings tended to catch fire so I gave up that approach. OK, no more Mr. nice guy. Time to end this nonsense with the cut-off wheel.

The new shocks went in easy. You don't want to overtighten the hex nuts, so I used a dab of threadlocker blue to keep the fasteners secure. Again I cleaned the wheels and tires. When the driver's side wheel had been removed earlier, I found the paint on the drum to be bubbled and lifting off around a hole in the drum. Uh Uh, darn. Signs of a leaking wheel cylinder. Looks like a brake job in my near future.

December 29^th 2001  An indian summer day here in South Florida. Took a break (no fun intended) last week from this work to replace a wheel cylinder on the driver side front wheel. That story will be logged in another episode. Jacked up the rearend and placed jack stands under the frame again. The shocks were disconnected from the upper shock mounts and the shocks were dropped down. The frame on both sides was wire brushed and sanded from the rear running board brackets to the rear axle center line. I made the decision today to bypass the running board brackets. I will have better access to work on them later on when I remove the running boards.

Prepped the frame rails with Eastwood's PRE and protected the brake line from painting with plastic drinking straws. Brush painted the prepped frame rails with Corroless rust stabilizer. After the Corroless had dried about ninety minutes, I finished up with a rattlecan coat of Eastwood's Chassis Black paint. After a couple hours more, the shocks and wheels were bolted back in place and we were finished for this week.

January 5^th 2002  Cold for South Florida - 42 degrees when I left for the Krash Lab this morning. Doesn't seem to bother BillyBob. He started up on the first revolution. I waited 'til nine to drag out the air compressor and jacks. After jacking BillyBob's front end up, I pulled the wheels and shocks. The fittings on the shocks were rusting already so, I threw them in the tumbler for cleaning. Then I went after the frame and suspension in the driver side wheel well with putty knifes and gasket scraper. There was more than an inch of gunk buildup in this area. The good news is that it had preserved the frame from rust a lot better than in the rear of the truck.

Knocked the dirt off until noon, then started putting things back together for the day. Put the shocks back on and sprayed the connections with silicone to temporarily keep the rust at bay. Later, I will employ a more permanent solution.

January 12^th 2002  Chilly but not as cold as last week. Set the parking brake and put the tranny in neutral. Removed the driveshaft and taped the rear universal joint to keep the bearing cups in place (don't wanna lose any of those tiny roller bearings). I messed around with the idea of taking apart the front universal joint for a good cleaning but I don't have a place currently to mount my bench vise and trying to press out the bearing cups with two sockets and the vise just doesn't work very well with a free-floating vise. Instead, I dipped the whole front end of the driveshaft in carb/parts cleaning chemicals for an hour, then continued to clean it with several applications of "Purple" concentrate degreaser using the Eastwood Grime Blaster. This universal joint appears to be fairly new (the rubber seals are black and shiny without cracks or deformation.

The cleaning took a long time. I lubed the front universal joint with a new "Wel-Bilt" Air & Hand Operated Grease Gun purchased from Northern Tool a couple of weeks ago. I set the air pressure at the lowest setting of 30 psi. I'm not familiar with air powered guns and I am fearful of blowing seals. I re-installed the driveshaft and buttoned things up for the day. If I clean the rear joint the same way I'll have to get a C-clamp to keep the bearing cups in place since tape will not stand up to the solvents and would cover areas that need cleaning.

January 13^th 2002  Pulled the driveshaft again and secured it to the Black & Decker Workmate with bungee cords. Wire brushed the front half of the driveshaft and prepped it with Eastwood's PRE. Masked off the front yoke and grease fitting and applied a coat of Corroless rust stabilizer from a rattlecan. Started getting some sprinkles from the overcast sky while the Corroless was setting up so the Workmate and driveshaft were manhandled into the shed for protection. After an hour, finished up with a rattlecan coat of Eastwood's Chassis Black.

January 19^th 2001  During the week I picked up a C-clamp assortment at Home Depot. The first thing I found out today is that a 3" C-clamp is just a shade shy of being big enuf to hold the universal joint bearing cups in place. ~!@#$%^ Have to pick up a larger C-clamp next week and do something else today. For you folks reading this, I do these stupid things and report them so you will be spared the ignominy of my misteaks if you have to do the same job someday.

I jacked up the front end again and removed the shocks. The shock fittings were thrown in the tumbler for another cleaning session. Started scraping the gunk buildup off the frame and suspension in the passenger side front wheelwell area. After I got the worst of the dirt off it, I saw that the front spring hanger was in pretty bad shape . . . starting to come apart. I sorta suspected this since there is sometimes a "Boinnngg" sound coming from this area when I make a left turn. I want to replace the hangers when I install new springs but I'm not sure this will wait until then. I'll have to keep a close watch on this hanger.

The shock fittings (hex nuts and large washers to contain the rubber bushings) were removed from the tumbler and tin-zinc plated with Eastwood's kit. Then back to the tumbler they went for a polishing session with the dri-shine media. The rubber bushings were cleaned with soap and water, then treated with protectant. The shocks were cleaned with spray cleaner and waxed.

January 26^th 2002  Got a late start today . . . Too many people stopped to talk about BillyBob and the world in general. Internally, I gave in and accepted that it was going to be a day of interruptions. Removed the driveshaft again. Discovered one flaw in my C-clamp plan - the C-clamp on the end of the drive shaft was too big to fit into the chemical bucket. I carefully removed the bearing caps with the roller bearings intact and set them out of harm's way. The rear end of the driveshaft with remainder of the universal joint was submerged in the chemical bucket for a couple of hours. Afterwards, I put the bearing caps back on and clamped them in place. Continued to degrease and clean the universal joint and then lubed it and put the driveshaft back in the truck for the ride home.

January 27^th 2002  Finished what I started yesterday. Jacked up BillyBob and removed the driveshaft and rear shocks. Prepped and painted the rear half of the driveshaft with Corroless and about ninety minutes after that with Chassis Black. The Corroless rattlecan started clogging up. ~!@#$%^ This stuff costs a lot, I hate when a can goes bad with paint still in it. Cleaned and detailed the shocks the same way as the front shocks last week. My friend and co-worker, Moe, dropped by to drag me out from under BillyBob to an open house. It's Moe's mission in life to get people out of rental apartments and into homes. This was too much house for me, but it did have a nice air-conditioned two-car garage and a back yard screened by a 10-foot hedge on all sides. It was located in one of the few areas of Boca Raton without deed restrictions too. Moe is still on the hunt but what I really need is what Janeyiv of the Stovebolt forums calls "the perfect garage with shack attached".

Time to bring this log entry to a close. The next episode in this series will concern itself with refurbishing the brakes, backing plates and master cylinder along with continued frame scraping, cleaning and painting.

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Issued Monday January 28, 2002

Updated Tuesday May 23, 2017

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