I've decided to start a thread specifically for detailing the path to restoring the truck back to proper, full functioning condition. 

 

I replaced the radiator with a fully aluminum one that's welded and brazed. Ebay special, $225 shipped. Actually looks to be quite nice. Even has a proper threaded bung for the petcock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also started work on the rear axle. All four bearings show pitting and damage. I found that both seals have been replaced before and the surfaces are both shot. They had been replaced with speedi sleeves and they were both worn.

 

Drivers side, also with shot wheel cylinder.

 

Pass side. 

 

 

Driver side

 

 

Pass side

 

One of the bolts that holds the axle shaft in simply snapped off.... I suspect it was over torqued the last time these were apart. Luckily, it backed right out with no fuss.

 

 

One of the speedi sleeves.....

 

 

Can anyone confirm that the speedi sleeve P# is 99287 for the D80?

 

I must have missed the drag racing golden age. Unless it was a huge event like Drag Week, I have never seen stands with that many people in them. Back in Chattanooga, the dragstrip is about 5 miles away as the crow flies. I can hear them clearly enough to know if they had a good ET or something broke.

 

 

In other news, the state birds have been trying to carry me off lately. 

 

 

Polished up the fog lights off the doner truck, the ones in the spare bumper, which you see here, have cracked lenses and are junk.

 

Finally looking like a proper truck again. I think I like the body color sport grill more than the chrome. 

 

The doner are both in need of welding from years of sagging hinges. Unfortunately all too common in these. 

 

Still rather sparse inside, got to figure out which seats I'm going to use. 

I've been trying to get the interior in order. My parts truck apparently has remote entry, and the wiring harness in the door is different apparently. The locks would not work at all. 

 

 

I stuffed some carpet padding in the seat. It looks terrible, but it actually sits level which is nice. I also put a piece of carpet between the foam and the springs. 

 

 

This is apparently a factory splice. It appears to be crimped and ultrasonically welded or something. It does not come apart easy and is wrapped in old school friction tape. Very very sticky friction tape that requires alcohol to get off your fingers. Driver side. On the driver side, the wires are the same. Pass side is different. You can do the entire thing with the harness still in the door if you have to.

 

 

The original non remote entry lock wiring, driver side

 

Remote entry wiring, driver side

 

Non Remote, driver side

 

Remote, driver side

 

 

For the driver side, I made a splice at the window switch, since it connects to that wire anyway at the factory junction.

 

 

 

 

Non remote, passenger side. 

Notice, the wires are in a different order. It will cause a short if you leave them.

 

Non remote:                         Remote:

1. Orange w/ black               1. Orange w/ pink

2. Orange w/ purple             2. None

3. Red                                   3. Red

4. Pink w/ black                    4. Pink w/ purple

5. Pick w/ purple                  5. None

 

Remote, pass side.

 

On the passenger side, you have to connect to the speaker side of the harness as that's the only place to connect. I twisted the wires and twisted a few times around the main harness so it would stay together and then zip tied it. 

 

I tinned all the connections, and then went back with modern rubber friction tape. You could use butt splices', but I still have all the fancy stuff.

 

Got the door panels back in. I apparently no longer have an intact drivers door pull for a 12 valve. The 24 valve has a different shaped and smaller one with a narrower screw pattern.

 

 

 

I have a pass side pull, it's just not in.

 

I have a big shop fan blowing in because the ac condensate drain wasn't attached properly so it put all the water in the carpet. Almost half a gallon, it was pouring out of the screw holes in the floor. I pulled the passenger seat... again, and am using a spare door panel to direct air under the carpet so it will dry in this 89% post hurricane humidity. 

I decided to try and weld the doors. It didn't go so well.

 

I managed to gas weld the drivers door to at least being functional, I ended up cutting out the latch section on the passenger door. 

 

 

What happens when you douse the door with water after welding and then walk away for 5 minutes. 

 

I attempted to save the original metal, gave up. Cracks went too far, and I had tried to use a stick welder on its lowest setting. Ended up using oxy/ace and got after I went and got another acetylene tank and a 00 size welding tip for it.

 

 

Not the best weld in the world, certainly not the prettiest, but the door shuts and latched flawlessly. Like a new car.

And it's my first time ever welding with gas. It was a 2 hour battle with tacking, checking alignment, cutting tacks, tacking, checking alignment again... Then warpage because the door metal is something like 18-20 ga. 

 

Drivers door looks terrible by comparison. Also, the window track had broken free from its bracket and pulled through the door.

I admire your tenacity. Couldn’t you have rented or borrowed a mig welder?

Neighbor has a full on 8.5kw gen/welder on a trailer, it got flooded in 2016 and the cable rusted up inside. I considered buying him a new cable, but the ace is slower and more controllable for someone like me who is self taught with maybe 10 hours of welding experience total. Neighbor hard core prefers stick welding and just never replaced it because he hardly ever used mig. 

 

Hadn't considered renting a mig, didn't realize that you could, but thinking about it now it would seem weird for there not to be welder rentals.

 

I still have to pull the driver fender back off and weld the inner mount and the cab corner back in. They both got mangled in a blowout years before I got the truck. Already did the passenger side cab corner, though I really should check it again considering it was the first thing I did.... and with an old stick welder no less.

 

The truck can get out of its own way again. 

I can only spin tires in snow or wet asphalt for whatever reason, dry pavement it just grabs and takes off like a rocket. Probably a good thing.

Spinning isn't winning... 

 

This where my weight base tire pressures really shine. Basically weight out your axles and then do a bit of math on them. For example my front axle is scaled at 4,440 pounds... Total truck weight 7,300 pounds.

 

Tires - 245/75 R16 Hankook ATm rated for 3,042 pounds at 80 PSI Load Range E's.

 

(4,440 / 2) = 2,220 / 3,042 = 0.72 x 80 = 58.3 PSI in the front tires. 

 

Then the rear at scaled at 2,860 pounds.

 

(2,860 / 2) = 1,430 / 3,042 = 0.47 x 80 = 37.6 PSI in the rear tires. 

 

Now if you want more traction drop 5 PSI again and the softer tire will bite in more. 

 

99% of people run match pressure front and rear which is actually wrong as you can see there is 7,300 pounds worth of truck 60% of the weight on the front axle. Only 40% on the rear axle so to keep the traction the rear tires have to be soften up a bunch to make them stick. Like this summer I was trailer towing so I was 60  PSI all 4 tires and easy to break the tires loose. Now back to 50 PSI in the front and 35 PSI in the rear and she is sticky! It will hold the shock of the turbo smacking 49 PSI on 245/ 75 R16 tires. 

 

No loss to softer tires either... MPG is unchanged.

 

Just for fun... 60 PSI in all four tires will hold the GVWR of 8,800 pounds. 

 

60 / 80 = 0.75 x 3,042 = 2,281 x 2 = 4,563 per axle. x 2 axles = 9,126 pounds at 60 PSI in all 4 tires!

 

Just to show most people over inflate there tires hence lack of traction...

38 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Spinning isn't winning... 

 

This where my weight base tire pressures really shine. Basically weight out your axles and then do a bit of math on them. For example my front axle is scaled at 4,440 pounds... Total truck weight 7,300 pounds.

 

Tires - 245/75 R16 Hankook ATm rated for 3,042 pounds at 80 PSI Load Range E's.

 

(4,440 / 2) = 2,220 / 3,042 = 0.72 x 80 = 58.3 PSI in the front tires. 

 

Then the rear at scaled at 2,860 pounds.

 

(2,860 / 2) = 1,430 / 3,042 = 0.47 x 80 = 37.6 PSI in the rear tires. 

 

Now if you want more traction drop 5 PSI again and the softer tire will bite in more. 

 

99% of people run match pressure front and rear which is actually wrong as you can see there is 7,300 pounds worth of truck 60% of the weight on the front axle. Only 40% on the rear axle so to keep the traction the rear tires have to be soften up a bunch to make them stick. Like this summer I was trailer towing so I was 60  PSI all 4 tires and easy to break the tires loose. Now back to 50 PSI in the front and 35 PSI in the rear and she is sticky! It will hold the shock of the turbo smacking 49 PSI on 245/ 75 R16 tires. 

 

No loss to softer tires either... MPG is unchanged.

 

Just for fun... 60 PSI in all four tires will hold the GVWR of 8,800 pounds. 

 

60 / 80 = 0.75 x 3,042 = 2,281 x 2 = 4,563 per axle. x 2 axles = 9,126 pounds at 60 PSI in all 4 tires!

 

Just to show most people over inflate there tires hence lack of traction...

Very col how would you adjust the rear pressure for a dually?

3 minutes ago, leety said:

Very col how would you adjust the rear pressure for a dually?

 

Full article including dual pressure math...

 

 I may have to look into this more. When I first bought the truck tire were new (less than 500 miles on them) and inflated to 80psi. What a harsh ride! 

 I checked the door sticker once I got her home and deflated to the prescribed 65psi/front and 50psi rear. Ride was much better. I've left it there ever since. 

 After reading this I'm thinking my wet traction would improve by applying this formula. On wet rainy days the rears seem to spin pretty easy. I just attributed this to the torque of the Cummins.

 Only draw back is it's difficult to check the rear pressure without removing the wheels. 

80 PSI will carry a total of 3,042 x 4 = 12,168 pounds. 4,000 pounds over the rating of a 2500 truck. Again 60 PSI will carry just over 9,000 pounds. Why make the ride crappy?

I actually have no idea what the pressures are currently. I had the tires put on the rims and that's been the last I thought of it since the truck is still being worked on. Though, I imagine they set all the tires at one pressure, I would guess in the 70 psi range just off feel when I was moving then around. They are softer M/T's so I'm sure the lack of contact patch has something to do as well. They were free tires, and basically new (3 months old on a parked vehicle). To be fair, I did apply the brakes while rolling in 2nd to get em loose, but third surprised me. I just grabbed it and it kept spinning. Then I felt the clutch start to slip after a few seconds so I let off, no clutch burning smell, only light rubber. Stock napa replacement that is 9 years old doesn't like 32psi from the HX35. 

 

3 hours ago, Doubletrouble said:

 On wet rainy days the rears seem to spin pretty easy. I just attributed this to the torque of the Cummins.

 Only draw back is it's difficult to check the rear pressure without removing the wheels. 

Last trip over the scales (5 years ago) I was 4200 on the front and 3000 on the rear. For comparison, my Prius is like 3100 total. For the rear weighing as much as my car, it feels very light.

 

https://www.jjkeller.com/shop/Product/Tire-Pressure-Gauge-10-160-PSI?PromoCode=205087&cm_mmc=Google-_-ProductFeed-_-015099-_-58052&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=&scid=scplp58052&sc_intid=58052&PromoCode=205088&gclid=CjwKCAjw0On8BRAgEiwAincsHJS92M7QEfpMSK3GjynR3L4ovYX6LNKYKO5CGuVmnJFW4BW09d8HohoCEBQQAvD_BwE 

I use a gauge like this to check the pressures on duals. Don't have to hold it directly on the valve core, and makes life much easier with bigger hands that can just barely fit in the holes to get to the valve cap.

 

I think at one point in the past I was running 40psi in the rears so it wouldn't hop going over railroad tracks. 

 

 

5 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Spinning isn't winning... 

But it is awful fun sometimes.   I was smiling the whole time.

I have gone to 4th in the past, so it was merely a jest. Can't be doing it too much, tires aren't getting cheaper.

 

It is nice having a vehicle that will actually get up and go though. The Prius isn't exactly exciting with 130hp, but surprisingly will do a proper tire warm up/cleaning in a burnout box. The 2012 with no programmer isn't nearly as instantaneous as the old 12v either. 

 I also have a pressure gauge like that. Part of my problem is I have factory steel 7 hole wheels but the simulators are 4 hole so thins don't line up. 

Was hauling feed to the barn the other day and discovered that I had a much sharper turning radius to the right than the left. Turns out I only thought I had the pitman arm centered. Anywho, I am off of school till my finals in december and decided to tackle the hubs/calipers/ball joints/ujoints/and rotors. I think my ball joints may have been original, but I'm not entirely sure, they weren't knurled anyway but they were very much toast. just over 3/16" of vertical play in the lower on the pass side. 

 

I got the old out and the new in, got the knuckle back on the truck and ran out of light. Turns out I didn't have all the tools handy to do everything. My harbor freight ball joint press isn't quite large enough  length wise to be able to press the lower out completely without some antics. 

 

Side note: I think the impact gun is older than I am.

 

 

Some idiot decided is would be a great idea to overtorque the grease zerk on the $60 spicer U joint. Naturally it snapped right off and would not back out for anything. I Ended up drilling it out which is where I discovered that not only does Spicer case harden these things, they harden them all the way through. Ended up using a masonry bit to drill it out, what for having a carbide tip. I had of course installed the UJ before installing the zerk so I got to pull it back apart after drilling to clean out all of the sparkly bits.  Thankfully, after sitting overnight with jbweld on a new zerk, I had an uneventful putting it back together.

 

 

 

I also discovered it is much easier to install the ball joints with the press used as though you are pushing it out, just with the cup reversed. Also much easier to keep straight that way.

 

 

 

I rebuilt the brake calipers while doing all of this as well as replacing the hubs and the rotors. Figured I may as well since I had it all apart. 

 

Now all thats really left is track down a power steering leak, replace the valve cover seals, and figure out the abs light. Pinion seal on the rear axle leaks a tiny bit, but Ill let a shop take care of that with it's insane torque spec. 

 

Wish my ball joints were in the knuckle. It would be easier than in the yoke of the axle. Not that replacing any of them is much fun. 

I have a set of sealed u joints going into mine one day if the oe sealed ones ever wear out. 

21 minutes ago, dripley said:

Wish my ball joints were in the knuckle. It would be easier than in the yoke of the axle. Not that replacing any of them is much fun. 

I have a set of sealed u joints going into mine one day if the oe sealed ones ever wear out. 

I'm wondering if that wouldn't be easier because it is mounted to something solid, though you are then constrained by height. Honesty, ball joints is one of the easier things I've replaced.

 

 

I was a bit surprised, I had 3 OE and 1 replacement upper that was knurled and still tight. I went back with non oversize joints. Passenger side was worse than the driver side. It had started clunking (rarely) on uneven bumps in the last 2000 miles or so. Everything I've read suggested that ball joints were going to be a massive pain and everything would go wrong. My first set came out and went in uneventfully. The wheel lugs were the hardest part to reinstall. It has been on 33" tires basically since the day it rolled off the dealer lot, neighbor said "it didn't look right with 245's, it needed more tire to fill the wheel wells".

 

After seeing the condition of the ujoint on the passenger side I elected to leave the drivers side alone. It didn't have any appreciable wear compared to a new one. The other one is sitting in a box on my parts shelf. Probably could have done the same with the hubs but I replaced them anyway. 

 

I had assumed (incorrectly) that virtually everything on the front axle was either gone, or close to it. Even the brakes had over half their life and the rotors look like they had never been turned. I will guess a lot of this is due to being a mostly flatlands truck and all the farmers I know are apprehensive to putting themselves in situations where they would need 4wd even though they wouldn't buy a truck without it, but could count on one hand the number of times it was used. Things tend to sink here. You are either driving along fine in 2wd or buried to the frame in 4wd. 

 

Other than the brake calipers and ball joints, everything was in perfectly serviceable shape.

I think the part that makes it harder is the first time it is done. Everything is so frozen together with rust and corrosoon since the factory used no anti sieze on any thing. I have had mine apart a couple times since the first time and that has been easier because l used anti seize on everything when reassembling. Have notmtouched the ball joints since l replaced them at 250k. Figure my day is coming again with near 270k on the MOOG replacements. All is well for now though.

 

I did use greasable ujoints on the front. Already had them. But I do have 3 sealed new old stock ones for the drive shaft. Thats the ones on mine that are still OE.

I was actually surprised that nothing was rusted together. All of it basically fell apart. The axle stubs came loose from the hub with the slighted tap with a hammer, all the bolts came loose fairly easy, hub wasn't rusted in... it was nice. There is absolutely no rust on this truck. Even the knuckle came out with just a few moderate whacks with a 2lb hammer. 

 

Got everything buttoned up and...WOW.... it's steering is almost on par with my Prius. Better than the 2012, and way better than the chevy. Alignment is out, but I'll take it.