Only posting as a reminder. These parts were cheap. No complaints here. But they were removed from a ride the owner thought was assembled by a competent shop. Posted this axle I picked up yesterday. It was raining so we just loaded it up. Took a good look at it this morning. Reminded me that maybe we should check things out on our own rides and/or make sure the people that you might hire to do work is competent. The old style tie rods didn’t have the cotter pin installed. A couple adjusting screws were lose enough to turn. I’m no IH expert, but usually this style has some sort of dust cover. the steering hit the shock No pin and not completely screwed in. The steering hit the shock due to the spacer needed for the disc conversion. Or needed the shock flipped. But I like to have the shafts up not down. one king pin had the proper wedge bolt. The other had a bolt. was it drilled out to fit this bolt? I didn’t remove it. But it seems to be larger than the other side. An issue? My mind wonders if the king pin could twist a little in the axle.
The hubs had roller bearings. We’re the original ball bearings? Don’t know. I do know I’d feel better with a washer behind this axle nut would help keep the preload The dust cap seem d to have some type of glue on it. But it seems a cap wasn’t available so a larger one was modified. that’ll probably do when you can’t find the right size. No foul, but looks like I welded it. ok. We don’t discuss modern brakes. I’m ok with that but, we know some of us run em. This bracket is bent and seems to cause a crooked caliper issue. Rotors were very hard to turn with the tires on. Impossible by hand. Had some rust but nothing worse than the average car that sits for a short while in a humid climate.
The story I got is that the truck was picked up from the shop as “drivable” Shop that has it now said the customer drove it and hated it. Said it drove horrible. The rear axle seems to have new brake components. You couldn’t turn the wheels hardly by hand. Adjusters needs backed off to remove the drum. Lots of brake dust for the few miles driven. Seems they were adjusted too tight.
Didn’t sell it. Sent to my friends shop to get re built. He’s tossing the old. That’s how I got these pieces.
Wow, what a mess... I gotta ask though,, are they "rebuilding" it with IFS, since the "primitive" solid axle drove so bad, even after it was 'professionally' gone over and converted to disks? These pictures are almost exactly what goes through my head when newbies start talking about how the "HAVE" to swap to disk brakes, you know, for "safety "
Anthony (or as I like to call you, Sir Anthony), setting aside the issue of that crummy axel, I just want to say I find your new avatar disturbing. Looking at it, I can't get your catchphrase "I'd drive it" out of my mind.
Disturbing? Did you see the one with (I hope!) the fake teeth? Anthony, that does look like a IH part number on that axle but the spindles and linkage look very similar to late 30's Chevy stuff. Any numbers on any of that?
You are correct. But part of the blame is the owner. The owner dropped the truck off, made some suggestions and basically told the shop to rebuild what was there. The owner isn’t familiar with how old trucks drive. The owner of the shop it’s at now realizes that the customer wants an old truck that rides and drives like his new one. So, out with the old, in with the new. But, it’s obvious the shop that originally built or rebuilt this truck, wasn’t versed in old technology. The kit for the brakes was installed but not set up. A see a kit as a foundation. It has to be assembled, then tweeted for things to work correctly. But also correct in stating that many think a kit will cure a problem or needs to be changed for an improvement. Many times it creates another problem. I’d rather have properly functioning drums over this set up. a much younger me thought all the old had to be replaced with new (except sheet metal). Now I see the coolness of the old. I like an old truck that rides like an old truck.
That mannequin was obviously designed by someone enamored with the female form. The lower rear portion was ample enough that the clothing being displayed had no chance of fully covering it. I was quite impressed. Now, had this washed up in that Tom Hanks movie “castaway” it would have been a completely different movie.
It looks like one of those 80's /90's cobbled together messes that guys without a lot of knowledge stuck together. Meaning quite possibly if they couldn't find or figure out how to put disk brakes on the stock axle they swapped spindles from a Chevy (if that is what they are) to use caliper brackets made for the Chevy spindles. I'd treat it as a science project and take it apart and examine it. You might even camp it in a vise with the spring pads level with each other and check king pin inclination and camber just to see if their mix match of pieces threw that off. If for nothing else those tie rod ends can serve as a teaching devise to show how they used to do it back when. Plus a lesson in how to not do things. I've probably driven 200K with that style of tie rod end though I don't have the issues with them as some guys do you just have to grease them on a very regular basis.
Squirrel posted a pic of the IH spindles. They look a lot like gm. I’ll probably trade the front axle off. But the new owner will know what’s going on. The taper of the front springs (the IH frame is narrower in front than the back)and spindles resembles a gm set up. The springs aren’t pitted. Either new are we’re in great shape. And I have the hangers. Who knows. Might could remove some leafs and use em under my 49 gmc
Ahh, yes... "kits". Should be more properly coached in terms of "builders' aid(s)". No, not the disease, regardless of your opinion of disc brakes. My problem w/that stuff is, it's priced as an actual drop-on/in bolt-up w/o issues real-life easy-to-use kit. Over-paid fantasy... BTW, Anthonys' avatars are always "interesting"... . Keeps you guessing what's next, & eventually, y'all *will* quit wondering "what's next?" ... . Go, Anthony, go! Marcus...
Looking at this set up, the bracket looks to be welded not square to the spindle. A flaw in its construction. Don’t know if this was bought or homemade. but things are taken for granted a lot during assembly. We will torque the head, rods and crank correctly. But how many don’t intakes or exhausts? A shop was having trouble with hub bearings. Customers kept bring them back. The shop changed brands and suppliers 3-4 times. But not once did they consider they could be the issue. This shop called a friend of mine looking for answers. My friend determined the shop was using an impact to tighten the hub assemblies (sealed bearing type) to the spindles. Well, there is a torque sequence and specified amount of torque the shop wasn’t following. This kit is flawed (if not homemade) The assembler should have noticed it wasn’t correct.
But the tie rods being assembled incorrectly and the spindle nut issue is the most concerning. These are very simple processes. No Einstein IQ needed.
I’m no expert, and still relatively new to the hobby, but have worked on cars regularity since my mid-teens, now approaching 60. From what I’ve seen at shows and cruise nights, there were a few things on “customized” rides that I would through into the “questionable” category. I say this also as a mech Eng. Modding a vehicle properly takes a lot of knowledge, skill, and time, but like everything in life we all tend to cut corners at times. The issue sometimes is one of safety. Not just for that of the owner/driver but for others on the road. We should keep that in the back of our mind when doing “mods” on.our vehicles.
With all the TV and internet DIY shows nowadays, a lot of unskilled and otherwise unintelligent people believe they can do anything, and many of the succeed. But many of them don't comprehend or just ignore some basics, and end up with so so results, many times dangerous results. Just another reason it's always good to have another set of good eyes look at things you might not be sure of.
My dad and I went in halves on a 1940 ford pickup at an auction that needed finished. I went through and redid many things that were fresh painted but not actually rebuilt. My dad was 12 in 1940 and grew up on a farm. The first thing he told me after he drove the pickup was " these don't drive as good as I remember them". It just took little getting used to after driving modern cars all the time.
I guess I never knew how lucky I was growing up with a dad that’s a machinist and uncles that are mechanics. Those old service manuals were used as much as the tools. We have them now at our finger tips. There’s no excuse to assemble things like this.
I'm still finding stuff on my car that I got from a fellow H.A.M.B.er. I posted all things on a another thread Mickey Mouse Repairs. If I had it to do all over I would have paid someone to inspect. The car was on the east coast and I'm on the Westcoast. Even though I got pictures and the guy builds race cars. I couldn't see all the problems from the pics.
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