1949 Chevy 3600......making it a daily driver!!

Appears to be the same rotor and caliper as both kits I've tried. Did it also come with the roller bearing conversion kit?

I noticed that you're going with a dropped axle. You may not run into the same trouble I had with clearance between the steering stop and the caliper bracket since the geometry will be different. Just wanted to let you know that there may be an issue, and where to look for it if something arises.

Damon

 

Nice!!!!

Dropped axle, eh? That should be fun! I guess I know what you'll be doing this weekend, huh?

 

I plan on stripping down the stock 1/2 ton axle I have this weekend to see if it has the steering stops like you mentioned. I will let ya know what I find.

 

Yea a drop axle.....but I am still a ways off on it. SID does not have any cores the last I heard, and I have not sent him mine yet.

I am not in a huge hurry since I will not likely drive it until spring anyway.

Just stockpiling parts now.

 

Awesome!!! I am going to try your CLR, and scrub pad here this weekend if I have the time. Then a good coat of sealant.

Glad you are getting the parts in. Should be fun! Oh and don't throw away any of your Huck brake parts. Drums are no longer made, as well as rear shoes.

 

All my Huck brake stuff will be for sale as soon as I upgrade everything.

 

He has one as of Yesterday.....My old one with spindles

 

I will contact him today!! Thanks!!

 

More parts came in today. I ordered aset of seatbelts from http://www.seatbeltstore.com/.

The stuff looks great. I know I could have saved some cash pulling seatbelts out of a junker, but sometimes time is money!!

 

Huge progress today due to a beautiful December day and some help!!

The story of the day was this:



Broken bolts. Uggghhh. Everyone of them was seized, but what do I expect out of such old iron.

No chance of getting the bed bolts out, so a skinny wheel was put to work right away. Cut and chisel the head off, and use a punch to push the bolt down and out. Worked great on the 8 bed bolts!!



After an hour or so the two of us had the bed off and then removed the fenders. No suprises at all.









Up next. Research on a small C notch. Removed existing axle, axle flip. Shock mounting, new brake lines. Fun, Fun, Fun!!

 

Go to a welding shop and ask about a 4" pipe drop. Cut it to the width of the frame, then split it in half and you will have 2 c notch pieces. Mark and cut above the axle center line, cut it out, weld in the notch and box in the rear frame if you want. If you are removing the cab, these frames are very flexy from the factory and benifit greatly from a full frame boxing.

 

Thanks Russ.

By my measurements, I will have 2-3/4" travel (bumpstop removed) right now if I removed the overload pack and do an axle flip.



Using the 4" pipe would gain me another 2" which should be adequate.

The frame rail is 4" tall at this location, so I do not feel comfortable doing anymore than a 2" without adding material to the top. I would have room to add some material to the top without raising the bed. Not sure if I need it or not.

 

At this time there is no plans on removing the cab......but things change daily!!

 

Properly welded, you can do a 2" notch. You would probably want to make boxing plates about 2' long to cover the inside.

 

Is that the set up you had prior to the bags?

 

I spent a couple hours this afternoon attempting to strip my 1949 GMC 1/2 ton donor axle. Someone really took care of it, the bearings looked great!!



I found 2 castor shims on the drivers side spring mount. That seems odd. None on the other side.





Of course the tie rod ends are seized. I doused with Knocker-Loose to try again another day.



The brakes were in amazing shape. This truck was a driver when it was torn down.

 

Yes, that is the way I had my notch. The pumkin would just hit the bed floor when aired out.

 

All my ball joints on my donor axle are shot and siezed.

What is my most painless option to upgrade tie rod ends and draglink ends?

 

Thanks for sharing the photos of your progress... looks great!

I purchased a new tie rod and modern-style tie rod ends from our host. I think there are some photos of this in my build thread. My drag link set-up will be different due to changing over to power steering.

Damon

 

The answer was just under my nose.....ha.

I have our host's catalog sitting right next to my computer and sure enough they have the stuff. Think I can do a bit better online at Rock Auto or a local parts store.

Thanks!!