Andrew50

Yeah, I saw that too was puzzled. Thanks. Hey Guys. This truck came back to me a couple weeks ago for more work. I've now replaced the whole wiring harness and replaced the water pump with parts purchased from DCM Classics. The old water pump was unbelievably worn out. Bearings were shot and seals leaking. The engine is now so much quieter with the valves also adjusted. So yesterday, for the first time, I took the truck for a real ride. As it gets to 40mph it develops quite a shimmy/shake seemingly on the front left side. I checked toe in with a tape measure and it seems pretty close. So it seems it needs wheel balancing, or is this a characteristic of king pins worn out? When I had the truck in the air I rocked the front wheels and noted a little movement in the king pins but figured it would be okay. How much is too much? How hard are these to change out? Update: Today (Nov 12) I discussed with Steve at DCM Classics. He suggests I check toe-in specs with a target spec of 1/4" to 3/8". I believe it now has very little and will check and adjust in the near future. I did rotate tires from front to rear & rear to front with no improvement. This doesn't completely rule out balancing but I'm going to first check alignment.

I actually set these valves on the loose side of .008 and .010. I am hearing no clicking and don't feel like now going through them again. In reading my B2B shop manual in the engine section I see the valve train covered but not the valve setting specs. I am pleased with how much quieter the engine became. On every vehicle I ever timed the light connected to plug wire #1. I read this vehicle to connect to #6 and thought that odd from the git-go. I do have the paint pen and will put it to use. Wonder why the timing tab is directly at the 12 o'clock position where one cannot directly view it? Will check timing again but I think it is pretty close.

About 20 years ago I got to explore the Denver area extending to Castle Rock and Colorado Springs. I went to hike a place named Blue Lake that was above Boulder. Colorado is a beautiful part of our country. Anyway, I learned the valves should be .008 intake and .010 exhaust in a Google search and on page two of this thread. I tried setting while idling but found engaging both wrenches concurrently while taking an oil shower was quite the challenge. So with the engine warm I bumped it over to set each valve. Now you say .010 & .014 hot. Are you sure this isn't a cold engine specification. I hope I don't have to do this again. Those valves were overall too loose and now the engine is much quieter. So quiet I can now hear what I believe the water pump bearing rattling. ? Another thing; The idle speed was over 1k RPM. I set it down to about 600 which further quietened the engine. I put the timing light on plug 6 but had difficulty reading the timing mark. Now that I have cleaned it and photographed it is the center mark with D | C TDC zero?

Adjusting the valves should be fun. What size feeler gauge for intake and exhaust?

I could see that happening. Thanks.

Well this truck's access port is offset from the fuel sender unit by about 1/2 of the diameter. It did allow me to reach with multi-meter but I was hoping for a larger opening. I dropped the tank and determined a few things. The tank is filled to about 5" to a possible 12" overall depth including the reduced width area. Ten gallons in an 18 gallon tank should register about 1/2 full, I think. The sending unit was preset to extend to 1" above the bottom of the tank, not to the bottom. This is to have some reserve gasoline. The sweep of the sending unit correctly reads 0 to 90 ohms. Wiring the sending unit to the gauge outside the tank revealed the gauge reads 1/2 full when the sending unit is at about 3/4 travel. The upper 75% of the gauge needle travel occurs in the upper 1/3 travel of the sending unit. Meaning; it starts out slow and accelerates as it nears the full mark. So, I extended the sending unit float to down below the floor of the tank and reassembled. Now my gauge reads 1/4 tank with the 1/2 tank of fuel when before it read just above empty. I am confident it will still show empty with some gallons of fuel remaining. I think this is the best I can do.

Did someone say access hole? Gotta check that out.

So I used the DCM fuel sender unit and wired a 12v to 6v diode inline to the gauge. I mock wired the sender unit before install and watched the gauge hand sweep from empty to full when I moved the float arm. Now I have it all assembled and with ten gallons of gasoline it reads barely 1/4 full. I suspect the new DCM fuel tank is 20 gallons or less so it should be reading at least 1/2 full. I did a visual check of the float arm length before install and was satisfied it would reach the bottom of the tank when empty, but maybe the arm length needs checked, which means dropping the tank. Thoughts? Or maybe like FlashBuddy I need to drive it down a dirt road. ?

Well I got it all sorted out and today took the truck for a drive. The brakes feel good and it stops straight. I am satisfied with them. The engine valves are chattering and demand my attention. I will again view the video posted earlier and will tackle them. This truck has front turn signals but no rear turn signals. There is a breakdown in the wiring somewhere. No brake lights either and no obvious wires to connect to the master cylinder brake switch. The wiring overall looks pretty bad. Now looking at the possibility of replacing the entire wiring harness. Any of you done this? I am considering purchasing from DCM https://dcmclassics.com/electrical/163-le-104-complete-wiring-harness.html?search_query=wiring+harness&results=4

What are the torque specs for the castle nut securing the rear drum to the tapered axle? Purchased the spare tire hanger. How does this install? https://dcmclassics.com/body-parts/475-b-606-spare-tire-carrier-15-16-20-wheels.html

That is a true statement.

Aren't they beautiful?

That $12 spent at Harbor Freight for the brake spring tool was money well spent. I cannot imagine being strong enough to string them across with channel locks. Got all the shoes set with the drums and then bled the brakes. Everything went well except for the brake indicator switch attached to the front of the master cylinder that leaks around the electrical connect pins. ? Thankfully Steve at DCM Classics is sending a replacement free of charge. Next I will again align the shoes with the drums then tighten and secure the castle nuts with cotter pins. How much drag should the shoes have against the drums?

Shouldn't the drum surface have some roughness to help bed the shoes? I know it helps to have the flywheel a little rough to bed in a new disc. I've gotten my hands on a pair of drum spring pliers. Even with them these springs have a lot of tension and they are difficult to get installed.

In that picture it is hard to see but I did mask off the shoe contact surfaces. They are all smooth surfaced and I've been considering how I might rough them up a little bit. I see you are in Greer. Howdy neighbor!