Cracked Manifold

[ggdad1951]

1 hour ago, Brent B3B said:

moderator, please post parts wanted in the "wanted" section!  no, really  

 

 

(luv ya man!)

 

giving Tim the request crap to get him motivated to head to American Canyon!

[Merle Coggins]

All done... Glad I did this before the trip. I got an early start this morning. Was out in the garage around 6:30. Got the steering box adjusted right away and was on to the manifold job by 8:00. I thought I was going to have a delay for a supply run. I wanted to grease the front suspension components before lowering it down, but my grease gun was empty. I dug out my second grease gun and it had just enough to grease the front end. Delay avoided... The manifold sway went fairly smoothly. I had 3 studs come out, so I had to drain the coolant. It was 3 with the conical nuts and cupped washers. It took a fair amount of heat to break the bond between the nuts and studs, but they finally loosened up and were reusable. The good part about that was that those areas were easier to clean up the old gasket material without having to work around the studs. A little sealer on the threads and it all went back together without any fuss. Had it running by 10:30. Got things cleaned up and backed it out of the garage for a test drive. Needed to run some errands anyway, including a stop at Fleet Farm for grease. Runs great. Steering is awesome now. Much easier to drive now. It smoked quite a bit at first until all of the gunk was burned out of the replacement manifold, but that cleared up fairly quickly. When I got back home I jacked up the rear and greased the rear suspension and driveline. All good to go now. A BIG thank you again to Todd for hooking me up with the manifold. 

 

The crack was worse than I expected. Red arrows are pointing at the ends. Wouldn’t have been long before it was a 2 piece manifold. 

 

 

All done... and retorqued after running it for a few minutes, and again after my errand run/test drive. 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by Merle Coggins

[Todd B]

Been thinking of you today wondering how it was going.  Very glad I could help. 

Have a safe journey. 

[Jeff Balazs]

Hey Merle;

I see that you replaced your drag link as part of this effort. Were the ball joints pretty bad on the old item when you got it off?

Jeff

[Merle Coggins]

I didn’t look at their movement while installed, and once removed there doesn’t seem to be excessive movement in the joints. I figured that since it was still the original piece it was probably worth the effort. Plus the adjustable ends allowed me to re-center the steering wheel. It was a little off since doing the disc brake conversion because of the steering arms moving inward to fit the caliper brackets. 

 

And I didn’t do any measurements before and after the drag link change, only after that and the steering box slack adjustment. I’m wishing I had done this years ago. The steering is much more responsive and easier to drive down the highway. 

[Young Ed]

6 minutes ago, Merle Coggins said:

I didn’t look at their movement while installed, and once removed there doesn’t seem to be excessive movement in the joints. I figured that since it was still the original piece it was probably worth the effort. Plus the adjustable ends allowed me to re-center the steering wheel. It was a little off since doing the disc brake conversion because of the steering arms moving inward to fit the caliper brackets. 

 

And I didn’t do any measurements before and after the drag link change, only after that and the steering box slack adjustment. I’m wishing I had done this years ago. The steering is much more responsive and easier to drive down the highway. 

does the OEM drag link have adjustable ends or is this aftermarket in some way?

[Merle Coggins]

OEM drag links are fixed length and ball joints are not replaceable. DCM Classics are reproducing them with tie rod ends so that they are replaceable and adjustable. 

[Jeff Balazs]

Merle;

Well I was just wondering if they were worn badly. Mine is original and it is still going strong but it probably wouldn't hurt to replace it at some point. This was one of those items that I reused as it was......it and all the spring hardware are on my list of things to do in the future.

X2 on getting the slack out of the steering box. It is easy to do and this adjustment made a noticeable difference on my truck. One other thing I did early on was pack the box with Mobil 1 wheel bearing grease. Great stuff truck steers nice and smooth .......and no leaks. I have put close to 13000 miles on my truck in the last year or so and am very happy with it. Once they are all dialed in they are truly usable classics.

Jeff