It took four of us to slide this frame off of Dave's truck. It's laid
here in the grass along the road for 2 months. Now how am I going to get
it into the garage by myself?
Notice the original pintle hitch on the back end.
Well I guess moving it is not really a problem after all. After I redrilled
the gin pole mounting the poles could be swung low enough to get in my
12' high garage door. Note how the height of the poles is controlled by
the length of the cables that extend to the front corners of the bed. Thanks
Dave for letting me keep the gas tank with the truck.
We got the 49's axles under the frame so we could roll it in & out for sandblasting. We'll take the axles back off for sandblasting and rebuilding of the axles once the frame's painted.
I bought the sandblaster from the Homier Corp. They come around every 6 months or so and have tool sales at the local fire companies. Most of the stuff they sell is cheap stuff, but I would recommend this sandblaster to anyone. I found it takes a lot of air to run it, though. I am using a 5 HP industrial screw compressor that does a good job. I don't think a 5 HP regular piston compressor would be big enough. I also found it pays to keep your hose as short as possible and I remove all of the quick disconnects from the hose. They restrict the air flow too much. The Homier ceramic nozzles don't last long but Harbor Freight's 10 for $12.00 nozzles work great.
You get a hood with the sandblaster. The plastic faceshield gets cloudy right away. I found that the clear flexible plastic that Sears packs their radial arm or table saw blades in works perfectly. It is a lot harder and doesn't cloud up nearly as fast..
As you can see I use tarps, plywood and foam sheets to trap and recycle the sand. When I load the sandblaster I always screen the sand using a piece of common aluminum window screen. I reuse the sand until it is fine enough that it goes through the screen without shaking it.
It took me about 3 solid days to sandblast the frame and then the axles. One day it was 9 degrees out when I was doing it. The water separator on the sandblaster froze up. Had to put the torch on it. Was also hard to keep the mask from fogging up.
I only sandblasted the frame with the axles in place because I knew I was going to be tearing the axles down for rebuilding. Despite using masking tape there is no way that you can keep the sand out of the seals.
Here's the frame with a coat of primer. That's a Hobart 130 XL MIG I used to weld the PW's double frame together. I went the full length and completely welded the seams of the double channels together so I wouldn't get any rust bleeding out.
Next step is to put the frame on blocks and roll the axles out for sandblasting.
Here's the axles reassembled and primed. New brake lining, new seals from Napa and MSC. May have a problem on the left rear though. Apparently threads on the axle housing were damaged at one time. Someone sawed the axle off between the bearings and welded on a new end. They did a good job but I will have to keep an eye on it. May have problems with the seals.
It appears that the drive train on the 49 is in relatively good shape. No excessive play in any of the pinion bearings or any of the shafts in the transfer case or transmission. Front spindles were tight. This is the exact opposite of the 56. I guess with the front and rear winches and the gin poles it spent most of its time working. Every thing is shot on the 56. All the shafts and u-joints have all kinds of play in them. Rebuilding it is going to a much more expensive job.
Mounting the axles required new spring pins and bushings. I made
the pins from 3/4" round stock. For bushings I used brass pipe.
I adapted a master cylinder from NAPA, #4736308. Cost $37.00. It's for an mid 70's Dodge. Master cylinder and brake lines are all John Deere yellow. Brake line stop switch is NAPA.
Brake and clutch pedals both required new bushings. I built up the worn shafts with weld and turned them in a small lathe I have. I found the MSC Corp is a good place to buy bushings. They have every size imaginable for less than $4.00 each. Anyone with a credit card can buy from them. They have a huge catalog that is as good as or better than McMaster Carr. (you have to have a business to buy from McMaster Carr) www.mscdirect.com 800-645-7270 Order by 10:00 at night and parts are delivered the next day.
The master cylinder uses the original pedal. The old master cylinder
was held in place by 3 bolts. I took a piece of 1/4" plate approximately
4" x 4". I drilled it to match the top 2 holes used to mount the
original master cylinder and used 3/8" bolts to bolt it fast. On
the bottom hole I cut the head off a 5/16 bolt and welded it to the 1/4"
plate. ( I drilled a hole 1st and plug welded it.) The
stud went back through the original master cylinders bottom mounting
hole and I put a flat washer and nut on it. You also have to mark and drill
the 1/4" plate for a hole for the old pushrod to come through.
The new master cylinder has 4 holes. On the top I drilled the
2 new holes in the new master cylinder closer to the center of the
cylinder. You have to grind a notch in the flange of the new
master cylinder to clear the frame. (And also notch the 1/4" plate.)
For installation I bolted the new master cylinder to the plate 1st.
Then you bolt the plate to the old master cylinder bracket on the frame.
Note that the top bolt heads that hold the 1/4" plate to the new master
cylinder, space the 1/4" plate away from the mounting bracket on the frame.
This serves to tilt the new master cylinder so the front of it is lower
and clears the frame. I have also used this same cylinder on the
56.
FootNote:
When redoing the brakes pay careful attention to the brass fittings.
I attempted to reuse the brass tees on each axle, the tee for the stoplight
switch and the Banjo fittings on the wheels. They looked OK to me.
When I first put fluid in the system I had leaks everywhere. At first
I thought my flares were no good. But for most of the lines I had
purchased straight lines from the local auto parts store and each one of
those had a least one factory flare. Upon closer examination (using
a magnifying glass) I found that most of the old brass fittings were pitted
or the flare seats were scratched or nicked. I ended up replacing
almost all the old brass fittings.