The old tires and rims (For sale, btw, and quite reasonable!) were beat. Tire carcass was coming apart, you can see how the rubber is flaking off here. Since the rears are radials, the old bias ply couldn't stay in the front. I was able to source a 9R20 from Nebraska Tire, but cost with shipping would come out to $611 for two tires, two tubes and shipping. Seemed a bit high for me, so I went looking for alternatives, including having custom rims made for 22.5 tires with the old Budd pattern.
Instead, I was able to find these Accuride rims (#27403) from Wheels Now in WI. They are 10-lug, 11-1/4" BC, stud piloted with ø8.72" center hole. Cost with shipping was $300. This allows us to use modern tubeless tires on the front, same as the rear.
It would be nice to have more than two hand holes in the rims, but the price was right and I wasnt' going to argue. Dismounting and mounting to move the 245/70R22.5's I had over onto the new budd lug rims cost $42.11 at the local semi-truck tire shop.
Just throwing hydraulic fluid into a wheel cylinder that had not been used in 25 years went surprisingly well. The brakes did work. However, the left one started leaking immediately. The right started leaking a few days later. Disassembly of the wheel is straighforward, once you have the correct octoganal (yes, it's an 8-point) socket, (Stock#: ANS1924A Socket, Axle Nut, 2-3/4", 8-Point) to remove the cover. Snap-On sells the correct tool for $29 in their online catalog. The brake shoes were in fantastic condition, apparently just relined before the truck was put to pasture. Material appears to be semi-metallic.
Interestingly, the wheel cylinders were ø1-1/4". Most books show the 614 as having ø1-1/2" cylinders. And now, as a result, I have a pair of unneeded Wagner-Lockheed rebuild kits (FC3604) for ø1-1/2" cylinders. Disassembly showed water corrosion/pitting in the cylinder. I have a pair of new Raybestos WC949 cylinders from Capital parts. Still looing for some ø1-1/4" cups, which I will use to rebuild for use as spares once we resleeve the old cylinders.
The exhaust needed to be routed. Separate page covers all that detail. Notice that the oil filter is missing, with the exhaust going here there is no room for the filter and a relocation kit is in order. The Perma-Cool kit that I bought didn't fit (my fault, bad research) and so the correct adapter (PMC-1156) which goes with the 1"-16tpi oil filter thread is still on the way. And the turbo oil drain needs to be reworked.
The shifter moved from it's block of wood strapped to the frame mounting to something more permanent and usable. First intention was to locate it bewteen the seats in a small console- obviously there isn't enough room. The location in the center of the dash is out of the way and actually a bit better. On the right you can see the additional cutout needed for the exhaust. The quad cab is going to be quite a nice addition, there is very little footroom in this cab. Also on the left you can see the complete lack of footroom available to the driver. I need to recut the throttle pedal area.
Side view of the bracket. Not terribly elegant but functional. Attachment to the trans tunnel cover is via two 5/16-24 bolts which have captive fasteners installed in the tunnel cover. Comes on and off quickly.
The windows took a bit of a time to assemble. Rubber parts come from Bodie Cummings, new window glass from Sander's Reproduction. Of course these were the frames from the first cab, fit in the third cab, and the upper hinges were ~1/16" offset. End result is pretty nice though, they look good.
7/Feb. The foot area required some extensive revisions. Not enough room for two feet, especially with the small cab! The pedalbox is extended into the tunnel cover as much as could be done without hitting the back of the motor. Still thinking about moving the brake pedal around at this stage, it's oddly offset to the left.
The bracket for the throttle cable, which comes from some sort of a Toyota Corolla. Pedal is from a Geo Prism (which is a rebaged Toyota Corolla).
The throttle return spring needed some rework. Now it's a positive return on the pedal.
Pedal box area, after final fit and some ivory paint. Finally starting to look clean.
Right hand side, showing the new box area to make room for the exhaust.
Overview of what it looks like mostly complete. There will be a trim panel to extend the dash downwards to the floor and blend the shifter in. Since this isn't requred to run... It's probably going to be a ways off.
One nice thing about having a machine shop in the garage is being able to make weird adapters. The Permacool kit wants you to use a Fram PH8 filter, I would prefer to use the stock filers for the Cummins. So I turned an adapter to take the 3/4-16 threads up to 1-16. Outer threads were cut on the lathe, inner threads I bought a tap for.
Left hand side under the door, showing where the secondary oil filter and fuel filters are located. I will need to come up with a sheetmetal guard to keep rocks from damaging the filter cases.
2/14 Oil filter has been relocated to the RH fender area, just outside the frame. Clearance to the wheen on a left turn is 2". Should be easy and clean to change.
The throttle area was in need of extensive work. The transmission cable (which tells the trans how much throttle you are applying, and hence how much pressure to apply during shift flare) was broken. Tried rethreading it but ended up silver soldering a 10-32 nut onto the end and inserting a 10-32 rod between the rod end and the trans cable. Problem fixed. The end of the Toyota throttle cable needed a custom mount, and the cable needed a track to run in. Also added a return spring. Couple hours of work right there, though it doesn't really look like it.
4/29/09 update. 2 weeks til Pismo vintage trailer leave time- no time for writing web pages, it's all been straight out working. Lots of time spent doing frustratingly small things... Like an afternoon bolting on the fenders.
Brakes. Talk about no end of trouble... The brakes would barely hold the vehicle at idle! I replaced the front lines with 1/4" tubing, bled to the end of the world front and rear, adjusted the front brakes mechanically, only to find that the hydroboost unit was in need of bleeding! The trick is to pump the brake pedal with the engine off (to relieve the pressure in the reserve tank) then hold the pedal down to the floor while you start the engine up and wait for fluid to take up the space you just purged. Repeat a few times... Then you have a brake pedal that actually stops the vehicle.
The transmission cooler was mounted to a pair of custom bars which were welded to the radiator shell/frame. 6 captive nuts provide a little wiggle room for attachment. Lines are 3/4"ID parker push lock hose. Trans external filter is mounted on the passenger side, outside the frame.
Engine oil filter moved off the outside of the frame (asking for trouble) to inside, under the radiator.
Ah, the start of the wiring. Fusebox mounted inside the passenger side of the cowl. There's no space on the driver's side and I wanted to keep it cowl side for future updating to the quad cab.
1/4-20 studs welded to cowl and the wiring clamped in place.
The original signal stat 900 was pulled out and cleaned up.
The dash, with VDO gages. The Deluxe gages are still being worked on (OK, I haven't decided what to do yet and so work hasn't even started) so these will have to do in the short term. Of course they are 2" cutouts, not 2-5/8" so I had to make aluminum adapters to get them to fit.
The parking brake was a bit of a job. Got the brake repaired at the back of the transmission, then ordered a set of brake cables for my 82 chevy C10- which fit perfectly. Scavenged an emergency footbrake assembly from a 1976 C20 and bolted it in. Custom bracket on the bottom of the frame to connect front and rear cables with a custom connector partially made from a Ford bit. The Ebrake works very well now!
Floor is done. The doghouse cover over the transmission and rear of engine was complete, the floor section between the doghouse and the seats is now bolted down as well.
5/7/09
The headlights required rework to bring them up to modern standards. A H4 adapter kit was purchased from the filling station.
The kit wants you to install such that the adapter and spring are inside the parabola- for better light I wanted to have the spring clip on the backside so a bit of custom machining was required. The mounts are silver soldered to the brass headlight reflectors.
Manufacture date is still intact on these- April 1941. Amazing...
The tunnel cover has a ceramic blanket insulating it from the engine bay. I'm hoping that this will help with the noise a bit too. Several 10-24 weld tabs are on the cover, allowing for the blanket to be bolted down and secured with fender washers.