Day 30 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (28th July 2015)

Another job done tonight, stripped the old paint off the front axle, and cleaned up the stub axles in preparation for re-assembly.

I have had this axle since the 70's, and pleased to say the coat of zinc chromate under the black top coat that someone applied many years ago, did its job well, no rust to clean off anywhere.

After a few coats of paint stripper and high pressure water blasting, the black top coat was removed, and I had to remove the zinc chromate with a wire brush on the angle grinder. Its a bugger of a thing to get off, does its job very well.

The spring mounting pads are in pretty good condition, with no significant wear or pitting

I am using the king pins and bushes from the ute axle as they have been replaced recently, mileage wise, however the bushes have not been reamed in line, and were binding. I picked up a 28 Chev King Pin Bush reamer many years ago, and this was only the second time I have used it. The first was on Monty the 28 Chev.

Found a better set of bearings in my spares and will use these in the re-assembly.

Day 29 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (26th July 2015)

Can anyone help me out?

Thought I would strip the paint of the steel disc wheels to get them ready for a few weeks in the molasses bath.

Had not paid too much attention to them until now, and only discovered today that I have a mismatch of wheels and rims.

I have only 2 of the correct 3 3/4 inch wide rim and 2 3/4 inch steel disc wheel.

If anyone can help with 2 off 3 3/4 inch rim and 2 off 2 3/4 inch steel disc wheel it would be most appreciated.

In the meantime the 4 wheels are in the molasses tank and will be shortly joined by the rims.

That's about all this weekend, apart from high pressure washing the parts that have been in molasses bath and putting them back for another week.

Kev's Chev - Another 1928 Aussie Chev being restored - Update 24th July 2015

Kev's Chev - Another 1928 Aussie Chev being restored - Update 22nd July 2015

Day 28 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (22nd July 2015)

Just a small job tonight, but an important one.

I confirmed that the 4 stub axles I have are straight, as there was a concern that at least one of the ute axles may have been bent from a vintage accident.

Not having a lathe to mount the axles by the centers, I made up a wooden cradle with center pins and used a couple of screws to check the bearing surfaces.

The results for the four axles was either no contact, or an even faint mark all the way around on the white coating I applied to the surface.

There was not partial contact to indicate a bent stub axle.

Good result, on with the next job.

Kev's Chev - Another 1928 Aussie Chev being restored - Update 20th July 2015

The previous story so far can be seen at 

http://my28chev.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/kevs-chev-another-1928-aussie-chev_16.html

As at 20th July, here are the latest pictures of Kev's Chev, going very well indeed.

Day 27 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (20th July 2015)

Now that's a nice surprise.

I thought I would strip the stub axles of both the bent ute front axle and the spare, to at least remove one axle to the spares graveyard.

I stripped the spare axle first, knowing that the king pins would need at least re-bushing, most probably replace the pins as well.



I then stripped the stub axles off the bent front end, surprised to see the king pins had been replaced recently, mileage wise that is. I can see and measure virtually no signs of wear on the pins, and may have to ream the bushes a fraction, as they are a slightly binding.

The front brake lever pivot points on the bent axle are also very serviceable and will be used.

So providing the stub axles were not bent in a previous crash, its a bonus, if not, well I have plenty of spare stub axles and a few sets of king pin.

 

Ford Model T - 100 Years Later

Ford Model T - 100 Years Later

Day 26 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (19th July 2015)

My life seems to be revolving around springs ...... but at last something different.... a bit of front axle as well.

One front spring came out of the Rustbuster yesterday, looking pretty good, roughly clamped together in this picture for checking.

Another front spring having a Rustbuster bath since yesterday afternoon, high pressure cleaned this morning, back in the bath to clean up a few more bits and will come out tomorrow.

The Ute has had a very hard life, and the front axle is no exception. It has a bow both ways, up and down, and front to back. The up and down was not a major concern, but the combination of being bent both ways would not be the best for both tire wear and handling. Any one driving a Chev 4 would agree, these old things certainly do not want any reduction to the limited handling they came out with.

Luckily I have had a spare front axle tucked away in the spares collection since the seventies.

If you look at the picture below, the original ute front axle is on the left, with a bow left to right.

With the ute having had at least one major prang, I did a few measurements on both axles. With both axles butted up to each other, the gap between the brake backing plate mounting points, is different from one end to the other.

First picture

Second picture

The comparison indicates the ute axle has a slight bend between the spring mount and the stub axle as well as between both spring mounts.

 Both ends of the ute axle are showing a difference of 1/16 compared to the spare axle.

The next 2 pictures show the front to back bend in the ute axle (first picture) compared to the spare axle (second picture)

The next measurement checked was the up and down bend in the ute axle which was 5/16 compared to the spare axle which was zero.

So its no surprise to say "I will be using the spare axle" Very relieved that I have kept it all these years.

Another job I did this morning was to take the parts that have been in the molasses bath for 2 weeks, gave them a high pressure wash, then back in for another 2 weeks. I had thought the cold weather may have slowed down the molasses dissolving the rust, but at 2 weeks a bit more than half the rust has gone, another 2 weeks should clean it up nicely.

I am in no hurry!!

A few pictures of the partially de-rusted bits and pieces.

That's for this weekend except to say..... Once the weather warms up, I have a serious amount of painting to do.

Can't wait for that.