84 Crewcab...AKA..Patches

So here are some before pics. This front end, and pretty much every drive train and suspension part on this truck is rusty and crusty....almost would think this thing was a East coast rust belt truck...but the body is in great shape!

Anyway crusty pics....





 
I had been soaking all the nuts, bolts and fasteners I could find with PB Blaster since I bought the truck back in March. Gone through several cans so far. But pretty much every thing I've had to put a wrench on has required heat and more PB Blaster.

Got the front calipers off and found the rear pads, on both sides, in rough shape.....





I actually drove 2 days with front brakes in that condition...Dooohhh!!
 
The the tear down started. Again much heat and PB Blaster was used.



Found the front splash shields were toast so had to order a new set.





I could go into crazy detail about pulling the front end apart...but instead I will just do a quick overview.
 
Thank goodness I had headed someones advice and bought a 2lb brass hammer, and brass drifts....they have been a life saver!!

The lower bearing plate on both sides was pretty much rusted in place. I removed the 4 bolts and had to beat on them mercilessly. Had to beat them 90 degrees so I could pound them out on the sides. Here's what they looked like.



Here you can see how crusty things were.



Tie rods...

 
Had a bit of a fight getting the king pin stub out. Tried lots of heat and the 3/4 drive socket with 7/8 hex head, and my big 3/4 drive craftsman ratchet and a big 10ft bar.....and it would not move. And I'm no light weight either...6'8" and 275lbs.

I finally remembered someone posting up that they cut around the diameter of the stub. So I decided to give this a try. Worked great! After cutting it required just a little extra heat, and a slight pull with the big bar and they were free.





Here you can see the condition of the upper king pin set-up...lots of rust in those bearings. Most of the grease in the front end looked like chunky peanut butter.

 
The front axle shaft U-joints were another treat. You couldn't even see the clips on the U-joint cups they were so rusted up.



Again much heat and PB Blaster later I was able to get things apart. You can see the U-joint was in rough shape to say the least. ;)



Got everything cleaned up and new Spicer U-joints...with grease nipples..installed.

 
Then came the fun of removing the front gear carrier so I could replace the front axle seals. With some great advice I was able to get it out with the help of a ratchet strap and a pieces of 2x2.



Then I had to beat the old seals back into the housing. Tried a few things but nothing was working...so I had to get out my backyard engineering cap. Here's what I came up with. A piece of 6ft 2x2 with a big washer that was just slightly smaller in diameter then the inside of the axle tube. The a couple washers and a wood screw. Worked like a charm!



Getting the new seals in place was a lot of fun too... :( Big socket and my brass hammer. Then slowly beat them into place. And the nice thing with the brass hammer is that if you miss...and you will...you won't hurt anything.
 
Can't tell you how many hours I spent cleaning and repainting all the parts. But I got everyting back together a couple weeks ago and all seems good.

Few after pics..





 
And just last weekend I pulled the injection pump one evening. Then next day I tore it right down and resealed everything...and installed my M&H timing spacer too. Will swap the 3200 spring out of the IP on my Non-IC motor once it's all swapped out. Then a few hours on the third day and it was back in and running.

And that's about where I am now. Just re/re'd the rear diff fluid the other night, and had to replace the long brake line since in wiggling it during getting the diff cover off it sprang a pin hole leak. Also cleaned out the axle vent.
 
Today I had to replace the input shaft seals on the steering box on the crewcab. I replaced the leaking high pressure hose last week and then the input shaft seal started leaking. Cost $7 for the re-seal kit, and about 2 hours to Re/Re everything. I did it with the box still hooked up...just removed the wheel, steering intermediate shaft and got at it.
 
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Well the tear down of the donor 93 is under way. Yesterday I got the running boards off....they fought me on every bolt and screw....they were pretty corroded.



And off...makes the truck look a lot higher.




Then it was time to get the exhaust off and the drive shafts out. Again fought me on every bolt, nut and clamp. A lot of heat and PB Balster once again.

Start...



Exhaust and driveshafts out....



 
Then I spent about 2 hours removing the 6 nuts from the studs that held the transfer case to the tranny. Once again the rust and corrosion monster was in attendance.

Ready to come out....



And out....



You can see the fluid in the adapter. There was no seal on the transmission tail shaft, only on the main shaft of the transfer case. So there was a lot of tranny fluid in there.
 
And then today I spent most of the day working on removing all the tranny cooler lines, linkage and getting the torque converter and bell housing bolts out, and dropped the 4x4 shifter. Again much heat and PB Blaster to make all this happen. Took me most of the day to get all this done. And once again I HATE Ma Mopar for mot putting a friggin drain plug in the tranny pan!!





Tomorrow the tranny comes down and out.
 
Well have slowly been tearing the rest of the drive train out. Got the tranny out about a week ago, and tonight got the motor out.





Will continue tearing it apart. Hope to get to pounding out rivets soon.
 
when it comes to the rivits..grind em flush with the frame and then drill into them the depth of the frame..prefferably with no more than 5mm of material left on the rivit..hammering them out once like this is ALOT easier

i sure wish i had that motor ..hell id even run the slush box for now
 
The power steering bracket was loose on the frame, and the frame had been welded a coupe times....still cracked again. Doesn't apear that the bracket is cracked...I hope.



And the inner fender is rusted pretty badly right under the battery.



Haven't decided is I will try and repair this one, or just use the nice rust free one from the crewcab.
 
Anyone tell me what these brackets are for? The one in the red box. There is one on each lower front of the inner fenders.




I suspect it might have something to do with the factory snow plow set-ups?
 
Old Hotr od guy who lives around the corner from me told me to torch the heads off the rivets, and then use a good Snap On or Mac air hammer to pop them out. He said that is how they used to do back in teh day. He offered me the use of his torches....would be a lot quicker, and easier cutting the heads off with a torch.
 
agreed..torching can be faster..depends on the hardness of the rivit.....

id agree thats probably something to do with the plow cause ive NEVER seen that before on any truck....but ive never seen a factory plow truck

from past experiances with frame cracks...unless you drill and brace the area that cracked its just going to crack again due to metal fatigue thats allready present...its why my ramcharger frame which has no cracks in it got braced up in all the spots that my previous frame cracked...to keep it from EVER happening..

personaly wouldnt run that steering box or brace...id go grab the box n brace off a 70s truck..they seem to be stronger both in how they mount to the frame and the way they steer the axle....hell you can grab a box off a chevy truck for that matter as its the same box...something about the way the 80-96? when the body changed again geometry works it causes the boxes to get more slop in them twice as fast and you end up with a intermittent dead spot....they basicly went back to the 2wd design and tryed to make it work..where the 70s 4x setup was STOUT
 
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Are you going to use that frame again? If not, torch away. If so, I would avoid using the torch simply because at that point you're fatiguing the frame metal. Remember the lower control-arm bolts I fought with for a year on my LeBaron? I could've torched 'em out in 20 seconds, but I needed the K-frame.

If you have not ground metal using a flap disc on a 4-1/2" angle grinder, you're doing it the hard way. Much faster than a grinding wheel and easier to control and keep flat to your surface, plus they're inexpensive and last quite a long time. They're available in different arbor sizes for various grinders. Think 36-40 grit... https://www.forneyind.com/store/results/?product_category_id=701 You'll go back and throw rocks at old-style grinding wheels. :dance:
 
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