We had quite a surprise when we did though. The sandblaster, Leon's powder coating, charged me twice as much as expected! First I had to pay the bills to pick anything up and then we got the parts loaded on the truck. Then took a trip around the block to see Leon.
Leon was/is an ass**** first he told me that I was charged for sandblasting everything(even the stuff I'd had blasted before!) Then he changed his story and told me that I wasn't charged for the small stuff but only for the 2 chassis. No matter how he phrased it the amount was double what it should have been! I could see I was talking to a brick wall so rather than yelling I just left. He said he just cleaned everything on the pallets....
We went back to the galvanizers to let them know what had happened and they told us that they had told the truck driver what needed to be cleaned. I was caught in a catch 22.
Angrily some $400USD ripped off I headed home. Once there I started to remove parts from the truck while friends showed up to help with the chassis. When I got to the bulkhead I could see it had been damaged by the galvanizer or
blaster. I was brokenhearted especially after being ripped off earlier. I mean the bulkhead is the heart of the restoration and the main reason to go to the galvanizers. But I took pictures, as it was too late to call Oakland.
So the next morning I was up and headed to Pacific Galvanizing by 0900 as to beat the morning commute. The ride up was uneventful! Upon my arrival I went into the shipping office and met Bill's eyes, after exchanging good mornings I announced we had a problem that the bulkhead was bent and unuseable.
I was worrisome for the week waiting to hear from them. I was also trying to get ready for the Death Valley trip over Christmas. I decided to take down an old bulkhead so they could have a reference point to work from. Finally they called and I went down to look at it.
It was much improved around the vent opening but still I don't think a windscreen would have sealed/fit. So I told them to work on it some more. I went back the next day and they had been able to straighten it out so that it would be useable, he had also brought the feet into alignment too. I picked it up that day, it was Friday and Saturday am I left for Death Valley.
Once I came back I attended to some of the issues with my 88 from DV and finished mounting the axles and springs to the 109 as the missing parts had come in from Rocky Mtn.
I took upon myself to start mounting the brake lines that I obtained from Trevor at Rovah Farm. I got them done as far as I could and turned my attention to the bulkhead.
As I was doing the chassis holes I noticed that the footwell was out of plumb. Of course it was the one that had been streched, the drivers side. I looked it over and decided that I might be able to straighten it as I had already sent the invoice to the galvanizer(PG). I just need to bolt it up to my 88 frame and push on it with my foot......simple!
Not! Brian came over to help me the next day, So many thanks for having Brian around!!! We put the 88 frame on the ground and first tried to bolt in the damaged foot, WOW that showed us how bad the thing was out of alignment! Next we bolted in the good side(passenger). That at least went in.
Next I got out my come-a-long and hooked one end to the frame rail and the other to the bad foot. This pulled the hole into position with the chassis it had been some 3/4 inch too wide. From there we could put in the mounting bolts and the bulkhead would stand on its own. Next up was the 20 ton bottle jack! I braced it on the outrigger and had a piece of 3/16 flat sheet steel and a piece of wood to spread the load up into the top of the inside of the footwell. Using a 4ft straightedge I lifted the footwell up until it was aligned with the top and front of the other side.
Then came the tricky part, I used a propane torch to heat all the stressed parts carefull to not get the zinc too hot. I made care to heat the parts that had been bent in the dipping tank. I let that cool naturally for about 4 hours and loosened the jack. It only dropped back down about 1/4 inch so I repeated the process and jacked the footwell top up higher than before. I let it sit overnight. When I released the jack in the morning it settled right nicely into position! A few hits with the hammer to straighten up the tunnel sides and I think it will work just fine. Boy am I relieved!
Ater that I returned to the mundane, I put the galvanized frame in and painted the bonnet, flat black and put some sound deadening material on the inside.
I've had some issues with the brake lines as I received metric lines not SAE so I had to source
That's were I am right now waiting for the rain to end and hopefully get my disc brake conversion on next week. I bought the Timm Cooper conversion supplied by Roam Offroad www.roamoffroad.com I chose the 4wheel conversion, I don't want drum brakes.
I also have been working on my 88. As you might remember the four wheel drive in the front wasn't working in Death Valley over Christmas.
I took off the free wheeling hubs(FWH) and checked them out. I found that the LH drivers side was not moving and allowing the engagement of the wheel. So I cleaned it up and got it rotating. The closest place to go(legaly) fourwheeling to my home is 80mi at Hollister Hills SRVA. So I took awhile trying to figure out how I could stress my 4x4 and see if it is working. I finally decided to try to drive up this steep grassy hill across the street from my house. So I locked it in 4hi and tried to go up. When I backed down I could see that only the rear wheel had spun. This meant the front was still not working.
So since I had "fixed" the FWH it must have been something else, right!? In DV I had thought it was a u-joint in the front halfshaft. So early one day I tore the entire front end apart, end to end and took off the front prop shaft and removed the diff. Nothing was broken!!!...So I went back to the FWH I had "fixed". Sure enough it was frozen again. This time I really inspected it.
I have old M.A.P. hubs that are nolonger produced. They work by; on the outside you turn a hex and it rotates a cam. This cam moves 4 dimetrically opposed spring-loaded keys out of a central gear hub in the free mode. In fixed position is simply allows the keys to fall into place in the slots of the gear hub.
The action of the keys in the slots while fourwheeling caused the ends of the slots to mushroom out and not allow the gearhub to rotate. I took the body and the gear hub to a machine shop and had them clean it up so it would operate, $20USD. I have yet to test it but it turns smooth as silk now!
On another front. While in DV I realized that I was using all my stove fuel up heating water. That was one reason for a trip to Ridgecrest to get fuel. Meanwhile both Linus and Brett were heating thier water with Kelly Kettles www.kellykettlusa.com . They heat by just using twigs and grasses, pine cones, whatever combustables are nearby. Brett Likes to take the coals out of the campfire to get his going! So I bought one and it came yesterday. I bought the large(1.5l) stainless steel one with the pot holder and grill and pot/pan. I doubt I ever use the pot and pan but who knows. Anyway it is one of those pieces of kit that I won't go camping without and should be able to pass down to my grand kids.
Ouch, I know the pain!! I'm doing a repower/rebuild similar to you. Series 3 88" with a late model 2.5TD Land Rover engine also.
ReplyDeleteOrdered a new Marsland chassis/frame ands some S.O.B dropped it and bent the rear crossmember. I sulked for months.
Getting closer to completion..
As auggestion I'd use 21 spline stub axles on the front of the vehicle, give less problems and are stronger. Just change them at the U/J's. Have some spare & can post if want them. I know George @ Rovers Down South, he is friends of my relations...