Tinkering with Deerslayer

DEERSLAYER LINKS including vendor sites for parts and tools as well as sites for old truck and hot rod organizations

TINKERING WITH DEERSLAYER chronicles the day-by-day maintenance and improvements episodes for Deerslayer, a '37 Chevy farm truck hot rod.

CRUISIN' WITH DEERSLAYER Roadtrips, cruise-in's and truck show stories and tall tales.

TONY'S DUNGEON Tony Pascarella's forum entries at OldGMCtrucks.com regarding Deerslayer, particularly the 302 GMC engine build in his farmhouse basement.

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

PROJECT NAILHEAD Chronicles the rebuild of a 1954 Buick Roadmaster 322 nailhead engine as a future replacement for Deerslayer's Jimmy 302.

30. The Doldrums

June 19^th 2013  Spent all day saturday in the BillyBob Shop, working on Deerslayer. Changed the oil and filter and performed quarterly maintenance. Also messed around with the brake light wiring some more. Tried the old hot wire from the wiring harness on the new brake switch and there was no joy, even tho' the voltmeter insists that 11.76 volts are available. I suspect a bad bullet terminal. It's the only thing I can think of. I put the jerry-rigged hot wire direct from the battery back in place and connected the old wire from the harness to the back of the truck to the other brake switch terminal. I had a mixed reaction over the result. I was happy that the wire turned out to be good. I was, however, confused that the wrong lights came on. Instead of the brake lights, the turn signals, high on the bedsides, lit up when I hit the brake pedal. Holy electrons, Batman! I must'uv reconnected it wrong. Time for pondering. Beer of the day was Rolling Rock.

July 31^st 2013  A couple of days ago, I got a PM from OldGMCtrucks forum member Jay Coutts. He's not far from me in Parkland, Florida. Jay was curious about BillyBob. I PM'd him back that BillyBob is currently in dry dock but I attend the tuesday nite cruise-in in Delray which is the closest venue to Parkland that I could think of. Jay responded that he would try to make the cruise-in. So, last nite, at the cruise-in, I was lounging on the veranda of Duffie's restaurant, sluggin' down drafts, when Jay and his son, Heath, came crusin' in in the "Kathryn J", a '54 Jimmy 3/4 ton longbed hydromatic. It's a work in progress but it is already far beyond the restoration level of BillyBob when we had our cross country adventures a few years ago. The 248 engine is beautiful. I had a good time having someone new to tell my tall tales to and Jay and Heath said they would be back again.

August 6^th 2013  I'm in a summer slump. I got no wind in my sails. It's the Doldrums.

October 30^th 2013  It's way past time to get the trainwreck I call my "work discipline" back on the rails. I'm even behind on general maintenance on the Deerslayer and, as a result, the truck is getting a bit grumpy over the situation. I'm still attending some shows and cruise-ins. Last night, I managed to drag the camera out at the Delray tuesday nite cruise-in.

A couple of radical customs prompted me to dig out the camera before it got too dark. Angelo drove up in this one. He has several cool rides but this is the first time I ever set eyes on this "Cadzilla" like lead sled. I didn't get any info on it yet as there were a lot of people vying for Ang's attention.

This '59 batwing chevy "roadster" has been around for a few years and I've taken pics of it before. I snapped a new photo because the owner/builder is in the process of fabbing up a "carson top" for it. The rear windows will be similar in shape to a '40 Ford coupe. He's got the lines "just right" in my humble opinion. It really helps accentuate the carrier deck of the chebby.

November 11^th 2013 Armistice Day  I thank Veterans, past and present, for their sacrifices to protect the freedoms that I still have. I pledge to do my part, as best I can, to help make America once again worthy of their sacrifices.

I was knocked out of the doldrums the hard way on Sunday. Went to the Sunday morning coffee cruise-in and Deerslayer's steering went south as I pulled into the parking lot of the bagel place we have coffee at. I could turn left and bring the wheels back to center but turning right was another story. I had to manhandle the steering wheel so much to turn right and straighten the wheel again that the steering column creaked in agony. I looked under the truck and under the hood but nothing seemed amiss. After coffee, I whacked the steering box a couple of times with the little ball pean hammer I carry on the seat. I didn't think it could help but it couldn't hurt either.

It didn't help. I calculated the shortest way back to the BillyBob Shop that required the fewest right hand turns and took off. Made it back with four right turns. There was no improvement in the steering effort. Next, I put Deerslayer's front end up on jackstands. The steering would go lock-to-lock, smooth but slightly tight, using the steering wheel with the tires off the deck. There was a slight noise in the column area. I could not, however, turn the wheels lock-to-lock by placing my hands on the tire and moving it. I could get it started left-to-right but I didn't have the strength to go the whole distance to the right lock. I topped off the steering box with lube and lubed the drop link and tie bar zerk fittings and sat around scratchin' my head for awhile.

This morning, I headed up to the Krash Lab early before traffic got heavy, again choosing a route with the fewest right turns, three to be exact. By the time Deerslayer and I pulled into the Krash Lab parking lot, steering left was as hard as steering right. Deerslayer is staying put for awhile. I hope there is enuf play left to get him on a rollback for the trip back to the Shop when I get some parts.

Tony put a '41-46 Chevy truck steering box in Deerslayer. I found a fairly nice lookin' one on eBay for a $200 Buy-it-now price. The transaction is in motion. I then reserved a econo-box rental from Mr Hertz for a couple of weeks. I'm in a sorry state. Four vehicles and none of 'em in running order.

November 14^th 2013  When I got back to the Krash Lab with the Hertz rental (a Dodge Avenger as they were out of econo-boxes), my boss commented on the irony of a truck with a "I am John Galt" bumper sticker not being able to turn to the right.

On tuesday nite I went to the Delray Beach cruise-in just to have a couple of beers and benchrace with the fellas since I didn't have the Deerslayer. I ran into friends Eugene and Rich out in the parking lot. After telling them about the situation, Rich lent me his big ole surburban to use at Eugene's suggestion. Eugene came up to the Krash Lab on wednesday to shuttle me around while I turned in the Mr. Hertz Avenger and picked up the surburban. This is a big old boy with a 454. I'm afraid the police will stop me and ask for my CDL (commercial driver's license).

November 15^th 2013  Much to my surprise, the '46 steering box and column arrived at the Krash Lab yesterday, a week earlier than I expected (the USPS website still had it in Washington State when I checked early yesterday morning). It was well packed and looks to be in great shape. I went out to Deerslayer in the Krash Lab parking lot this morning after the sun came up and measured the length of the steering column. I compared the measurement to the length of the eBay column and I think we have a bolt in situation. The next step will be to get Deerslayer transported back to the BillyBob Shop.

November 25^th 2013  Okay, ten days have gone by and I'm not much farther along. When Tony built the truck, he wanted to keep the '37 steering wheel so he welded a stub of the '37 column to the '46 column. I don't want to go thru that extra step at this time so I ordered a new repop '46 wheel from Bowtie Bits. It arrived on friday. I also odered a '37 replacement droplink from American Classic Truck Parts but there has been no further info on that other than the e-mail confirming my order.

Yesterday afternoon, Rich Shumacher called me to let me know he needed the big surburban back since people were coming into town from Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. This morning, on the way to the Krash Lab, I topped off the burb's forty-two gallon gas tank and checked the oil. I walked to the closest car rental (Budget) which is a few blocks from the Krash Lab. I didn't have a reservation so there was no joy and I humped it back to the Krash Lab. It's Thanksgiving, afterall. Went onto the Mr. Hertz website and booked another econobox to be picked up in the next forty-five minutes. There were no red flags so the boss's assistant dropped me off at the Hertz location and now I have a pacific rim scrubbing bubble to get me around for the next week.

December 9^th 2013  I slipped back into my melancholy funk over the State of the Union and just re-emerged on sunday to finally get started on the Deerslayer repairs. I'm still driving the scrubbing bubble around and after the sunday morning coffee cruise-in, I steered it up to the Krash Lab where I called AAA for a tow and fired up a stoogie to wait. The tow arrived quickly and soon the Deerslayer was back in the BillyBob shop where the front end was put up on jackstands. The situation was the same as before except much tighter. I could go lock-to-lock with the steering wheel but not by moving the tire with my hands. The driver side front wheel was removed and the pitman arm examined. Removed the pitman arm bolt from the steering shaft and came to a screechin' halt. Last week, at the thursday nite cruise-in, Rich Shumacher asked me if I had a pitman arm puller. The question induced a palm-slap reaction from me. Damnation! Well, I don't have one and none of my gear pullers appear to be adaptable. I might be able to get it off with a couple of pickle forks but, if the steering box is not the real problem here, I risk damage to it with that solution. Time to order a pitman arm puller.

December 12^th 2013  Fedex delivered a Lisle Pitman Arm Puller from Amazon late yesterday afternoon to the Krash Lab. Yesterday, however, turned out to be one of those character building days where so many things go wrong that the best course of action is to hunker down and wait for better times. Our phone lines and intarweb were down most of the day which put my boss in an irrational state of mind since the phone is his favorite tool. The phone company guy didn't get finished until seven-thirty and I didn't get to the BillyBob Shop until almost eight-thirty, having to wait on two drawbridges and a slow-moving freight train. I decided just to fit up the puller and leave it at that for the night.

December 16^th 2013  Saturday arrived and I finally had the stones to tackle this job. The puller was removed from the pitman arm and the nut was loosely screwed on to retain the arm when it popped. I remember years back when a brake drum on BillyBob popped and bounced on the floor in front of me. The great mechanic in the sky gave me a mulligan that time. I didn't expect another. I also applied some duct tape to indicate lock-to-lock positions of the pitman arm.

It was a good thing because the pitman arm let loose with a bang after a few turns on the puller with a two foot breaker bar. After the pitman arm was removed from the steering box, the front end was easily turned lock-to-lock with hands on the tire. Turning the steering wheel was still slightly tight. I breathed a sigh of relief since I was not one hundred percent positive of my diagnosis. I should have taken things apart before buying parts and I was afraid Murphy was going to call me on it.

The steering wheel was next. Disconnected the battery and fiddled around with the horn button until I got it out. Oh spit! There are no holes for my steering wheel puller. I looked in the service manual and there was a photo with a big C-clamp type puller. Nothing I had would work. I jerry-rigged a muffler puller clamp below the steering wheel and part of my steering wheel puller on top. These were taped to hold them in place while I sandwiched them between two big C-clamps. This did not work at all - too many moving parts. The contraption went out of kilter every time. I was still fiddling with it when my friend, Nye Woodhouse, pulled up to the BillyBob Shop.

I decided to let the steering wheel problem percolate for the time being. I had originally thought that the steering box and column had to come out the bottom of the truck. The problem was that the axle, tie rod and exhaust header were in the way and I didn't want to mess with any of those items. I figured that once the steering wheel bracket at the dashboard and the seat were removed, the steering box and column could come out over the top of the frame with the fender and inner fender off. With that in mind, Nye helped me get the fender and inner fender off. Most fender fasters screw into captured nuts but there are always a couple that require hands and eyes in two different places. Nye was a big help with these especially.

When Nye left to help our mutual friend, Eugene, set up for a cruise-in, I was left to ponder the steering wheel situation some more. I was sitting there with a cigar wondering if I could drill and tap a couple of holes in the steering wheel hub so my puller might work when my neighbor, Gato, walked in. He asked me if I was working or just thinking about working. Yeah, he knows about my crappy work habits. I told him about the steering wheel and he suggested we try to do it the way he did when he was growing up in Argentina. Gato is a big man. He got in Deerslayer and put his knees behind the wheel to apply pressure. We put the steering wheel nut back on flush with the top of the stud and I got him a brass hammer and a ball pean hammer. He placed the brass hammer on the nut and hit the brass hammer with the ball pean hammer while applying pressure from the back. Twenty seconds and the steering wheel was loose. Gato headed off on his way and I went back to work.

I was surprised to find that the thirty-seven wheel was not a spline but a tapered shaft with a key. It wasn't long before I had the turn signal director and steering wheel bracket off and the seat out of the cab. After a little figuring, I had the steering box collar clamp at the frame apart too. In short order, I had the box and column up over the frame and there wasn't even any cussin'.

Took a pause to enjoy a cigar, then threaded the replacement box and column into place and re-bolted the collar clamp. The new repop forty-six wheel was temporarily placed and the pitman arm was connected using the duct tape lock-to lock guides. When I wuz pretty shure it was close enuf, It was gently tapped snug and the pitman arm bolt was was tightened up with the impact gun. I did not want to pound on the pitman arm and possibly mess up the bearings and seals in the replacement box.

Okay, it was six-thirty and we were on the home stetch. If I could get the fender back on, I could take Deerslayer on a sea trials run to the sunday morning coffee cruise-in. Of course, the lights directly above the work area had burnt out again and I was in the dark pretty much. Body work is often hard to get apart and It's always hard to get back together. This is where the cussin' came in but by nine-thirty, Deerslayer was back on the floor and ready for the morrow.

I've got to find a new horn button solution and a trim collar of some kind to clean up things in the cab but that is not critical to getting back on the road again. I'm not sure but I think the steering wheel is 'bout an inch closer to my chest now but that's not a problem either. Deerslayer was grumpy on our run to breakfast, cutting out a bit and even stalling at a traffic light. Coming back to the BillyBob Shop, I stopped for gas as I was down to about three gallons. As soon as I left the Shell station, Deerslayer's engine started to smooth out. Deerslayer had been sitting a little over a month, Rightly or wrongly, I suspect the corn squeezins' gas. He was back to normal on the run up to the Krash Lab this morning.

I hope that Murphy has kick-started me into spending more time in the shop and getting things done. Only time will tell. That's it for this slow year in the BillyBob Shop. I wish all of BillyBob's fans a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Issued Monday December 16, 2013

Updated Friday June 8, 2018

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