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What did you do with your GMT400 today...or yesterday....

Ok, I didn’t realize that was the bolt/bushing he was working on. Only torch that works there is oxy/acy. Called him back and told him before the run to the store.

yeah, problem Stoney has is only the one rig so taken apart and getting to junkyard or Home Depot for a new bolt is a challenge. Being younger had some advantages, but shy of cash and no one around to help is something not missed.
 
If you don't mind dragging the job out over night, take some Liquid Wrench or a 50/50 mix of MEK&Tranny fluid and liberally spray/douse the bolt head/frame flange ear where they touch, flange ear/bushing on both ends and the flange ear/bolt threaded end while turning the bolt head back and forth as much as possible, preferably with an at least 500 lb/ft ½" air impact.

If it doesn't break free, douse all four contact areas liberally again and let sit over night. Next day, douse all four points of contact again, then try to break the bolt loose with the impact or with a breaker bar like the day before. It should break loose and turn 360°. If not, take your air hammer, put the pin punch tip in, place it in the center of the bolt end and drive it out OR if you don't have an air hammer, screw the nut back on until it's almost flush with the bolt, then take a 2 lb ball pein or hand sledge and whack the hell out of the end of it, making sure to hit the nut squarely, turning the bolt head between whacks each way. It should come out of the bushing.

If the bolt's body is badly pitted/rusted - replace it. Otherwise, lightly crocus cloth/emery cloth the bolt's shaft till shiny, wipe it clean, and before putting the bolt through the new bushing liberally coat the bolt shaft right below where the treads start before pushing it through the flange/bushing and out the other side, twisting as you do it. Don't forget a dab of anti-seize on the threads before torquing down the nut. That method's worked for me every time, even on the really reluctant 45 y.o. stubborn lower control arm bolts of my then girlfriend's '68 Cutlass convertible when I went to all polyurethane front and rear control arm bushings on it.
 
Okay so to catch everyone up.. I got it apart. Combination of a 12 lb Mall hammer, WD-40 and some ingenuity... I cut the rubber alongside the metal to expose the metal sleeve that the bolt goes through, it only let me see about a quarter of an inch of it maybe half an inch. But it was enough to let me find the split in the sleeve.. I got a punch in there and beat the crap out of it with a hammer until it opened up a little.. kept spraying WD-40 into that split while working the bolt back and forth with a wrench... What except for a while put the punch back in there so it was touching the bowl and be down in some more and repeated the process a couple times I also had the wife walk down to Dollar general to get some cigar lighters on Will's advice and used them to heat up the bolts on the ends... Long and short I finally got the bolt to break loose and it came out and it only took a whopping 7 hours to get that control arm out of the truck.. what a nightmare.. now for the next part I started putting it back together got the bolts back in holding the control arm in place went to put the coil spring in and I'm having a hell of a time getting that thing in there.. I got it up into the top but it won't push far enough on the control arm to get the end of the spring to go into where it catches on the control arm.. I gave up on it for tonight because it's 10:00 and don't always but does anybody have any ideas on how to get that spring in
 
Might have to get spring compressor from the local parts house/tool rental store. Maybe they might deliver if You tell them the situation.
Dangit. To have someone close to help would be great.
 
It’s dangerous but I’ve done it several times. You migh have to use spring compressors. Some times though you can’t get them out when the spring is in the truck. What I have done several times is use the spring compressors to collapse it and then put a BUNCH of zip ties on it to hold it. Take the spring compressor back off and try like hell not to drop the spring or hold it in front of your face. Once everything is back together start cutting the zip ties one at a time. It’s dangerous this way but works.
 
I had to replace both of my lower control arms. here is how I can describe how I did mine. although probably not the safest!!

when I did this I had to precisly turn the spring where it would line up if / when it popped in, but before I placed the spring in, I ran the two shock bolts up from the bottom all the way through, just for incase it decided to pop out! after spring was in a far as it would go, I wedged a long pry bar in through the lower coil of the spring and down through the hole where the shock goes. placed a jack under the lower ball joint and began to slowly lift. as I lifted a little at a time I would smack the lower part of the spring with a sledge. each time going up slightly and a few more smacks it got closer and closer. the pry bar is key at this point. the end of the coil spring will now be caught on the back lip of the hole where the shock goes through. I used another smaller jack to lift on the end of the pry bar sticking through the hole. this started pushing up on the spring at the lips edge. another few smacks. a little more lifts on the jack that's on the bar. and that last smack was a whammy. spring popped into place. dropped the jack that's on the pry bar, removed the bar. lifted up more on the jack under the ball joint. installed the shock and began on the spindle. the rest was history.
 
Just like jaryd except used 1” ratchet straps (motorcycle tie downs). But you can’t safely undo them- have to cut them when done. Dont go over the top or bottom coil or ya wont get that out. Good coil compressor is so helpful.

get that shock in there like brannon said.
 
Man, you guys always love to live dangerously on the ragged edge! I've had a pair of coil spring compressors in my tool kit the past 25 years. Made removing the front coils on my ex-gf's 68 Cutlass and replacing them with hi-lift coils a piece of cake, replacing all four strut cartridges on my first 95 Camry so much easier (I now just buy the much quicker to r&r 'quick struts') and when I tore down and replaced bushings and all front steering/suspension components on my '98 K2500 Burb.

I agree with @Will L.! If you're gonna risk killing yourself use a couple of 1,000-1,500lb (1"-1½") ratchet straps on opposite sides of the coil, one loop down and up to compress the spring, have the shock down the middle (2WD) after you set them into place, and use a floor jack to raise the lower control arm and compress the coil slightly to take the tension off the coils so you can reuse the ratchet straps for the other side r&r.
 
Not on the truck today, but drove 2 hours out to Kerrville to help my step mom get the power back on in her house. several wall plugs had shorted out due to age. replaced about 8 wall plugs to get the living room and kitchen alive again. gonna plan another trip soon to do lots more maintenance on her house. it was a long drive and well worth it, a much needed visit too :)

We all piled into my daughters new car going up there, I got to drive :D . A 2020 Toyota corolla. she told me before, it had some cool features like lane assist, but during the trip today, the car pretty much drive it's self! when I set the cruise, it was like full auto pilot lol. all I had to do was keep the weight of my hand on the wheel, it did the rest. it steered all the long turns and even slowed down on it's own as traffic did! technology can be nice but also very scary.
 
VICTORY IS MINE...!!!!!....
I have conquered the beast...with only a few injurys..... And I discovered something...coil springs are like Tigger's....they bounce..😊...I will say..next time I'll just bite the bullet and pay someone to do it...I hurt in places I can't see with 3mirrors...I'll get the pics posted..
 
Stoney said:
VICTORY IS MINE...!!!!!....
I have conquered the beast...with only a few injurys..... And I discovered something...coil springs are like Tigger's....they bounce..😊...I will say..next time I'll just bite the bullet and pay someone to do it...I hurt in places I can't see with 3mirrors...I'll get the pics posted..
Click to expand...

Pictures of the truck yes. We don’t need pics of the 3 mirror angle on your body- thank you C6B7BC3F-44D5-49BC-8251-0B0E2E127D5F.jpeg
 
Big T said:
I replaced the OEM lower steering shaft with the rag joint with the Borgeson lower steering with the universal joint. Major pain in the ass to get it in because the upper shaft fit too snug in the Borgeson unit. Had to tap and pull back and forth, lube, back and forth, lube, repeat to get any semblance of sliding. Still made for a pita to get it in and I had to undo the upper to finish this. Spent 3 hours on something that should have taken 30 minutes.

View attachment 66812

Still not sure if it is all the way on:

View attachment 66811

That set screw was backed out and went in less than a turn, suggesting that it is not hitting the groove in the steering box shaft.

Video of the play in the rag joint:

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Guess how much play that caused at the steering wheel?
Click to expand...

First extended highway drive after the new lower steering shaft install and the steering is very tight. Need an alignment done as it has me holding the wheel clocked slightly left to go straight. Let go of the wheel and vehicle goes to the right with the wheel clocked level. That condition existed before this change though the amount I have to hold it to the left has been halved. The tightness of the steering has me shaking my head over why I waited so long.
 
Big T said:
First extended highway drive after the new lower steering shaft install and the steering is very tight. Need an alignment done as it has me holding the wheel clocked slightly left to go straight. Let go of the wheel and vehicle goes to the right with the wheel clocked level. That condition existed before this change though the amount I have to hold it to the left has been halved. The tightness of the steering has me shaking my head over why I waited so long.
Click to expand...
Thats odd. My truck, it too slightly pulls to the right. Alignment shop said that when I get new tires installed of the proper Smaller size, they could align it so it would track straight down the road.
I had to jack on the torsion bars to keep the tires from rubbing the inner fenders corners when turning and going through any kind of a dip or bump.
I need to check through the steer components to make sure it all is worthy of an alignment after it gets them new tires and gets dropped.
I would get new tires now except I tried selling these with no takers and they’d give me only $50.00 on a trade for near new tires.
 
@MrMarty51 “when I get new tires installed of the proper Smaller size, they could align it...”
WHAT?
Go to a different shop!! It can be aligned properly with tires other than factory size. They don’t know what they are doing. You think when a guy gets bigger tires on a truck like yours it would always pull to one side?!? No way. It’s been a lot of years since I owned a 400 truck so I don’t remember details of alignment but that is just nuts.
 
@Will L. I was just wondering that as I read @Mrmartey51 post...cause I just put 245/75 r16s on the front...cause that's what I could get cheap from the parts yard..with all the new parts in I can finally get a alignment done. So seeing him say they can't do it with oversized tires almost made my heart drop..
 
Will L. said:
@MrMarty51 “when I get new tires installed of the proper Smaller size, they could align it...”
WHAT?
Go to a different shop!! It can be aligned properly with tires other than factory size. They don’t know what they are doing. You think when a guy gets bigger tires on a truck like yours it would always pull to one side?!? No way. It’s been a lot of years since I owned a 400 truck so I don’t remember details of alignment but that is just nuts.
Click to expand...
Two shops in town. I didnt trust the first shop so took it to the second one, got the same answer from there too. Torsion bars are cranked way up, almost to the max limit with stock keys.
Might be too that the frame could be tweaked. It would have to go to a frame specialist to find that out. Money is just much too scarce right now to mess with anything.
Been thinking of selling the little 1970 JD round fender mower tractor just so I could get the motor mounts, cooling system upgrades for the truck and send WW some more money on that A-Team turbo. That weighs heavy on My mind.
 
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