The Truck Project Thread

Very Nice!! A great job well done. That is a fine looking truck!

 

Oh, that's just a Bluetooth wireless speaker I was using while working on the interior. Listening to music from the cellphone through it.

 

Looks great!
Polish up the alum and put on some taller mitered stacks and you'd be styling. But theres probably a purpose behind those shorty pipes im sure.

 

I ran a Freightliner COE with that same type of power steering, and also had a run-in with the inspector at the Truckee scales right after they opened the new ones over that steering.

 

That's exactly the same thing that I went through. I told the guy that if I take out the cotter key and tighten the large screw on the end, it might not turn at all (I wasn't sure because I had never messed with it before. He wouldn't have it, so I did what he wanted, and I could not turn out of the lane of the bay that I had been in. I marched back and told he could try it if he didn't believe me, but that truck will NOT turn to the right now. He finally let me adjust it back ( I was careful to count how many turns I had turned it), and told me to get the hell outa there.

 

No, I'm with you 100% on everything you said swaan. I just don't have the motivation to do the aluminum for some reason. Mainly due to the 1000 other little things I attack every day to try and make things right I guess. That polishing project I'm going to farm out to someone else soon. I agree, the stacks aren't doing it any justice, but that was one area that I was trying to cut costs on when I was doing the build. Those are brand new 6" straights into 5" that came with the truck, so when I get a few extra $$$ I'll pull them off and put a set of straight miters or might do straight cuts...I'm torn with that decision.

I ran it yesterday for the first time. Overall was a good day. Have an air loss issue that I have to find today. It builds 110 psi, cuts out, then immediately drops to 90 psi and the air dryer cycles continuously every 15 seconds. I ran into that years ago after rebuilding a dryer and found that there's a non-serviceable little slave piston internally that you can't get at, so you have to throw the dryer away and get another one. I'm fortunate that I have a new one in stock here, so I'm gonna bypass it this morning and see if it solves it.

Next LARGE ticket item is to find the parts to convert to power steering. I unhooked the supply to the air assist yesterday while trying to diagnose the air loss issue. I forgot just how rugged it it to drive a truck with manual steering, lol. It's not even so much the fact that it is hard to turn the wheel as it is the forward planning you better do when making a left or right turn into a street, driveway, etc. You get extremely busy planning, then setting up for...then executing the turn, hahaha. It's a lot to think about all at once and if you misjudge you're backing up and making a fool of yourself.

Pulling a lowbed makes it even worse...need every inch of real estate as it is without having to think about needing more. Just going down the road, it's not as pleasant either. Geez, my other A model rollback with PS drives like a Lincoln town car compared to this one right now.

Mark my words, this kid will be searching for some power steering gear for an A model with intensity as of today. It wasn't bad in 1980 when I WAS a kid, as it didn't matter if the steering wheel was missing and there was a pair of vice grips on the shaft to steer with as long as I was driving a truck back then, LOL! 37 years has brought along some attitude adjustments with the whole big picture evidently.

If anyone knows of anyone that has parts to convert this to PS, please don't hesitate to let me know. I am going to be looking HARD for the stuff now. Need a box, drag link and possibly the spring hanger that the box bolts to, but rumor has it that a particular Shepard steering box will bolt right up to the existing bracket, eliminating the need to change the hanger I'm told by some who've done it.

 

I'd go with mitre cut. Straight cut always looked odd on a truck to me.

 

I like the curent stacks. I only like the tall ones if you got a van or refer. Like pulling a flat with a condo Just doesn't quite look right to me.

Bet it looks good when your Rollin into it with a load on. The days of Rollin coal are slowly disappearing. I know it's a waste of fuel and not good for the environment and all but remember being a kid seeing it and getting the tingles.

No offense @rollin coal

 

I'm not offended. I do like that black smoke though. If I see clouds of it and someone finds that offensive I like it even better.