Been meaning to update here for a while. Have gotten some stuff done over the last couple of months.
-Made a new front ebrake cable. Used one from a 1994 C3500 HD.
-Blasted, painted, rebuilt and installed the parking brake drum assembly. Got new shoes and springs from Herms.
-New rear output seal for the D20.
-New fuel lines, feed and return all the way to the tank.
-Had a pair of correct for '68 exhaust manifolds surfaced. They are painted and installed. Also fitted up a home made Y-pipe and a near new Ford muffler from an F350 351/2bbl I had kicking around. Nice and quiet now. Exhaust dumps in front of RR tires.
-Re-did the front shoes, again. Finally found a pair that fits correctly.
-Blasted, painted and installed a pair of correct for '68 valve covers and the correct hot air tube to feed my 2bbl air cleaner.
-New tranny mount.
-New T-case torque arm/bushings
-Replaced the grille with a much nicer one.
-Replaced the carrier bearing for the rear drive shaft.
-Installed the rear shocks.
-Made a new rear brake line and installed a new rear hose. Just need to do the rear brakes and the lines across the axle now.
-Replaced my bent nail ignition switch with another one that I had re-keyed to take a very clean original Kaiser Jeep key I had kicking around.
-Installed a used pair of dual note horns from a late 68 J3000 and an NOS horn relay. Low note horn is bad and the relay is stuck. Great success!
-Hooked up the parking brake. Needs to wear in, but it holds well enough to pass inspection.
-Rear drums turned .030"
-Fixed up rear leaf springs, new u-bolts and center pins.
-Went through the rear springs. Removed two add-a-leafs from each pack, needle scaled all the rust and crud from in between the leafs, coated them mating surfaces with dry film lube and reassembled with new u-bolts and center pins. Still need to cut the pins down. Also all new grease fittings. You can see how well they came out in the before and after pics.
-Installed a pair of WORKING Jeep dual note horns and a new Napa relay. Nice loud horns now.
-Replaced all the zinc coated hardware that came with my mirrors with all stainless. To the tune of $54!
-Rebuilt the washer pump. Squirters work well now.
-Blasted, painted and re-installed the rear diff cover, bolts and tags.
-Bought a new gas tank, sending unit and straps from BJ's.
-Changed rear diff, tranny and t-case fluid.
You can see the repop vent hose from the valve cover. It's for a 4bbl, hoping I can make it work on my 2bbl air cleaner when I get that swapped on.
Terrible quality pic of the t-case brake.
Blasted and painted 68/9 correct 2bbl pre-heater tube.
"New" grille. I cleaned the right half. Still need to clean the left half.
Someone reused the original bolts. Probably the company that converted it to a camper. Very little thread engagement.
Nasty gaps in the leafs and I can't get bolts through the rebound clips.
Nasty in general.
Much better.
No gaps. I still need to install the spacers for the bolts for the rebound clips. I had some cut from stainless tubing.
Stock size tiny 1/2" u-bolts.
Beefy Dana 70 Power-Loc with 4.88's. And what looks like original fluid.
How's that for an early Buick rig? The front ring gear is dated from January of 1968. I know they probably sat on a shelf for a bit, but it's still a very early Buick powered truck.