Pick up Restoration (Part 2)

Post by **leyther8008** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:07 am

Make splitpins?

Post by **davidmiles** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:23 pm

The small wire pin that spread out and stop the bolt unscrewing. once I can find the hole the pin goes through.
Ive got unrestored wheels fitted back on, simply makes the whole unit easy to move about. The plan is to wheel it into the garage for the winter weather.

Post by **leyther8008** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:30 pm

I know what a splitpin is, never heard of anybody making one before!! they are easily availiable.

Post by **davidmiles** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:32 pm

But before that, Ive got this area to deal with, the gearbox cross member, experienced hands have urged me to get it stripped off and checked. looks sturdy, can anyone tell me if the hole through the top chassis rail (bottom of picture) should be bolted up before or after cab fitting?

Post by **pfgiz** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:09 pm

What progress....

This is totally inspirational and makes me want to tackle the Travellers……

Good work Mr Miles….

Post by **davidmiles** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:18 pm

Bless you sir, those bolts can't go on before the chassis or they'll foul the underside of the cab floor, logic see.....

Post by **leyther8008** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:41 pm

That bit of the chassis is usually closed off by the cover over the brake cylinder one one side and a bit of the gearbox cover on the other (opposite way round on LHD), so the chassis is left open. And theres an appropriate slot in the cab floor.

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:21 pm

Thanks Ley. The offside torsion bar went on without any greif.

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:26 pm

But the nearside eyebolt wasn't budging. I tried all sorts of ideas to get it out including two g clamps pushing it out with wood to protect the chassis leg. In the end I had to cut off the torsion bar and use the end to twist out the eyebolt. mankind 1, machines 0. Here you can just see it coming out.

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:30 pm

Just as well I have a cleaned up and ready to go torsion bar from my previous project, now where is that photo of the ride height positioning bracket from my pickup relic?

Post by **davidmiles** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:24 pm

With a little adjustment here and there, then realising i'd used the totally wrong washer on the tail end of the torsion bar, I had to strip it all out again, but, once the eyebolt is lubed smooth its easy to take apart. got it all in and bolted up. might need adjusting later on to get the correct ride height. But I'm tackling one problem at a time at the moment, and so far I'm rather pleased.

Post by **davidmiles** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:26 pm

can anyone remind me what these little rubber seals are for? they came in the van/pickup rubber seal set.

Post by **davidmiles** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:28 pm

To give you a fair idea of size here they are with other parts for scale.

Post by **WPR678B** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:20 pm

They look to me to be the one's for the engine steady bar so i have no idea what they would be doing in the kit!

Post by **aupickup** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:30 pm

yes i wouldsay enginre steady bar as well

torsion bars

make sure you have used the torsion bars as they would have been originally, ie. left side originally left side now and the same forthe right

a good proxinity is 17 inches from the bottom of the hole in the inner wing to centre of lower rear thick wishbone centre hole where the bottom fulcrum pin goes

do not tighten it all until the pick up is weighted

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:06 pm

Thanks Dennis, here are my trunnions, good threads, but the top pivot bolts and the bottom fulcrum pins need to be changed for new ones.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:09 pm

getting the pivot bolts out of the top is proving problematical, its difficult to get a purchase on the tapered end to stop it turning with the bolt

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:12 pm

mercifully the door hinge bolts came out without incident. Its amazing how light removing the doors makes the cab.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:17 pm

The doors stored in the dry for a bit of attention to the surface rust on their bottoms, then a bit (a lot)of sanding later as well.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:20 pm

This means of course that my spare rusted out doors, from the previous pickup relic, can be scrapped, once they are stripped of anything usable of course.