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Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 1959apache, Feb 17, 2010.

  1. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member


    Yeah I will. I will limp it down there if I have to. :D
     
  2. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member


    Thanks Camaro Mike, you would think with a three day weekend I would be rolling on this, but it is well over 90 degrees with very high humidity all weekend. Good if you have a lot of outdoors stuff to do, bad if you want to work on a car in the garage for several hours lol
     
  3. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Well I had to modify my fill neck to incorporate a vent so the tank can breathe (pictures to come soon). I will cap it off when the truck is in the garage. I also cleaned a bunch of stuff up, worked on figuring out where fender braces went and what I am missing and put my wood bed in and cleaned all of the stainless strips. I will bolt it down tonight or tomorrow and hopefully move on from there in a hurry. I need to go buy some more hardware for the fender braces and new hose clamps for the filler neck (the two I bought were too small). I think I am going to have to drill into the side of the bed too to get the rear fender brace to work correctly. I decided to hook up my tail lights too to see if they work (yup!) the right blinker doesn't work though (something in the column)
     

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  4. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Here are the pictures of the tail lights and Shannon's approval of the truck so far
     

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  5. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Well I spent all day putting the nuts on the bottom of the carriage bolts. over 100 different bolts, but I didn't tighten them down yet until I have everything square. Eegad, 12 hours worth of work = no fun. I also hammered out the bed hole for one of the bed LED's since it was out of round. I started working on the passenger side one, which is far worse. Once I get that done I will hook them up to see how they work. Here are some pictures with the garage up. It has been 85-95 degrees out the past 3 or 4 days with high humidity. It is like working in a sauna, but that hasn't stopped me so far.
     

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  6. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Here is a shot of that other bed hole, which was almost square when I started. Hopefully I can get it where it needs to be soon so I can hook these lights up :D
     

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    Last edited: May 27, 2012
  7. jayarnold
    Joined: Nov 16, 2011
    Posts: 7

    jayarnold
    Member

    Still working on that truck or you out driving it?
     
  8. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Well I finally worked on it again the other day. I just bought a cool house with a 4 car garage and am in the process of getting stuff moved over. I will have some pictures of it soon. I am going to try and make it with my buddy Dave to the Road Rocket Rumble. I need to hook up brake lights and a couple minor things, but long story short I am getting everything tightened down and getting it ready to go. It will be scary for sure. :D

    Are you heading to the Rumble?
     
  9. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    So I have been working feverishly to try to drive the truck to my new house. Either way I am driving it the whole way today OR I am going to go park it in a parking lot and have it towed. It is so close, but I have a feeling with it being close to 100 degrees it may give me some issues, but we will see. Updates soon
     
  10. dubie
    Joined: Aug 17, 2004
    Posts: 698

    dubie
    Member

    thanks for the update and good luck with the move. we look forward to more progress pictures once you're up and ready
     
  11. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Alright, so I got this thing tuned in and running sweet. Hell, I even did a burnout around the back half of the block. I got in after about 4 times around the block and go to back out of the driveway and I hear, what sounded like a gunshot and my steering wheel started spinning.

    I am thinking that one of these control arms were a little bent/weakened from the wreck this truck was in (drivers side of the truck was damaged). So it bent the shit out of the tie rods, the gear box couldn't keep up, exploded, snapped a couple pieces off the splined end, and the steering column sheared off completely in one place. Pretty scary shit.

    Long story short, someone is watching out for me because it could have happened on the highway, which I was about 2 minutes from. The steering locked up turning hard left so it would have been a head on collision at best.

    Here a couple pictures:

    So a list of what needs to be replaced at this point because they got destroyed or bent or because I want to know for sure that they are good:

    Steering column shaft (or a new column all together)
    Steering shaft with new steering u-joints
    Steering Gear Box
    Control Arms
    Tie rod
    Tie rod ends
     

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  12. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,934

    squirrel
    Member

    Huh?

    I'm trying to figure out what happened here. I know that style of power steering is not very good, the pitman arm and drag link are way too short to have the right geometry, and the box fits where the tire has to go when you steer to the right. Also the box is no where near where the column is, so you have to use a couple Ujoints that have quite a bit of angle on them.

    If I were you I'd be looking into some other way to steer the truck. Consider this event (whatever it was that happened) as a warning.

    I still have manual steering on mine. It's not like I haven't thought about power steering over the past 35 years, I have....I just haven't found a good enough way to do it.
     
  13. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Here are the pictures of it in the new garage! The wheels are stuck to the left so it took 1.5 hours for the AAA guy to get it onto the trailer. He was a cool cat and I helped him get it up there, he buckled it down to the trailer with tie downs, chains, etc. I offered him some beverages when he got to the house and then asked if he had a truck and trailer for the Plymouth since he did such a good job at taking the time out to make sure it was buttoned down securely. He said that he did and it would be free of charge because I was so nice to him. He even put his dollies down in my garage to move the truck into a good position.

    Here are some pictures of the new garage and my truck
     

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  14. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    A couple more pictures of the mess before it gets cleaned up.
     

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  15. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    The steering u joints I was using were not in a bind, but yes they had a weird angle (had that set up correctly). I had to pull the steering shaft out of the truck to unlock the wheels a little so we could turn them to try to get it on the trailer. When the tires turn full right they do not come close to rubbing on the gear box, so that seems to be okay for now and the turning radius seem to be decent. I totally agree with you about the steering so that is why I am going to start over with new stuff or stuff I know will work. Its hard to determine a root cause on this one since all this happened all at once (checked it before going around the block). Once getting it up on the trailer I could see the extent of the damage... I can't really do manual steering, what would you suggest instead Jim?

    I still got a lot of compliments on the truck and heard "Man that is a nice truck, its a shame" about a dozen times while it was on the trailer.
     
  16. Damn! That is some scary shit. I'm glad you're okay.
     
  17. servi53
    Joined: Jun 28, 2006
    Posts: 338

    servi53
    Member

    keep at it, looking good
     
  18. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,934

    squirrel
    Member

    Why not? do you not have the strength? The steering effort is not bad if you run skinny tires, a full size steering wheel, and rebuild all the parts. Or maybe I'm just used to it, and I don't know my own strength.
     
  19. 55Hydramatic
    Joined: Apr 24, 2011
    Posts: 459

    55Hydramatic
    Member

    It feels like I have power steering in my 55' after I drive my 59' chevy dumptruck that weighs 19,500 lbs!
     
  20. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Shock mounts have changed location, power steering bracket is over old location, the list goes on. To top that off I would not be able to run headers because of the engine sitting as low as it is (would interfere with the gear box location.
     
  21. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member


    Thank Saxman. Just happy it happened in the driveway and not on the road
     
  22. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Thanks servi53
     
  23. Shane Spencer
    Joined: Oct 3, 2009
    Posts: 2,160

    Shane Spencer
    Member

    cool build dude. buildin an apache myself, yours is looking awesome
     
  24. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Thanks GreenGrenade, it looks nice just wish I could drive it!
     
  25. 36DodgeRam
    Joined: Dec 16, 2008
    Posts: 505

    36DodgeRam
    Member

    Glad it happened at home! You have mentioned several times you never felt good about the steering setup, good gut feeling there. You have to listen to yourself first when building rods, you were right about that steering being unsafe. It will be better with your second design, I'm sure!
     
  26. Buzznut
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,349

    Buzznut
    Member

    I'm right there with you on this Squirrel, I have manual steering in mine for the same reason.

    Had one with 80's Toyota power steering, one with a fatman front clip and one with late 70's Blazer power steering. The only one that didn't give me geometry issues, or stress cracks, bends and failures is the fatman set-up. Mainly because the power steering on the fatman was designed to work with that front-end.

    Hate to say it, but adapting power steering to these trucks is never efficient or effective unless you go with front steer and fabricate special-purpose steering arms with correct geometry....and THAT takes bucks.
     
  27. farmer12
    Joined: Aug 28, 2006
    Posts: 7,717

    farmer12
    Member

    Nice new garage Scott! One day I'll have some decent space, some day.....
     
  28. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,934

    squirrel
    Member

    I have a pair of steering arms from the 56, but the tie rod is bent in the middle.
     
  29. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Do you think the arms are messed up as well because the tie rod is bent?
     
  30. 1959apache
    Joined: Nov 22, 2009
    Posts: 2,635

    1959apache
    Member

    Thanks Eric, You can use the other 2 spaces in mine if you want to park that beautiful 41 in there :p
     

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