Chevrolet C8 1940 Cab 11 restoration, The Netherlands

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

...... Some other things prove to be more difficult, like rubbers for the shock links, the link itself and clips for the leaf springs.......


Alex

Hi Alex

If you can not find the rubber parts you are looking for give these people a try http://steelerubber.com/ I've used them when I could not find a bit of rubber anywhere else. Not always the cheapest source.

Cheers Phil

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks for the tip, Phil! Sometimes rubbers are so simple in design....finding a company that makes them is the hard bit!

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Attached are a few pics of last weeks progress. Removing the axle was done with the help of two axle stands and two straps as mentioned before. I used a strap to support the drive shaft so it wouldn't drop on the ground when it came loose.
It seems part of the brake lines were replaced at some stage as I have both steel and copper-ish pipes on the rear axle.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

The weather has been terrible here over the past two weeks, so I spent most time in the garage cleaning up smaller parts. One of these is the exhaust support, definately not something I need today or tomorrow, but I removed it to get more access to the two rails behind the cab, which are also used to attach part of the brake system. Anyway, I had a go at straightening the support and it just feels good to bolt a freshly painted part to the chassis.
I also removed the rear springs and tried to investgate which parts can be reused and which have to be replaced. I think I need at least two new U-bolts, new centre bolts and bolts for the spring clips. I only have the remain of one "spacer" as used between the spring cips....is this just a piece of pipe?

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Last week I disassembled one of the rear springs. The C8 springs are narrower than the springs of it's bigger CMP sisters, but the brackets are the same. So. there is a spacer between the spring and bracket, on the inside. You can just spot it on the pic of the spring and shackle on the bench.

The clip-bolts were hell to remove and all of the spacers have gone, so I will have to replace those as well as one of the spacers mentioned above, and some of the bushings and pins.
I spent more time than I hoped for cleaning up the leaves with the wire brush disk on the angle grinder, and gave it a coat of primer on the sun.

[Alex van de Wetering]

I also cleaned up the worst of the two rear shocks, after removing the link holding the remains of the rubbers and retainers used to secure it to the axle.

I came across a small imperfection on the casting of the Dayton shock, only to find out later that it was what remained of a hex bolt! (last pic, just net to the hole) You can see on the pics that the big screw plug has also seen better days. I have been soaking both with penetrating fluid and hope to have a go at removing them in a few days.

[Alex van de Wetering]

In preparation of removing the front suspension I have started by loosening bolts of the front springs and disconnecting the drag link. I didn't have a large screw driver, so I use a piece of steel strip and a wrench to get the plug out.
I noticed the spring clips on the right Front spring all have a hole in them just under the bolt. It seemed somebody extended the clips by welding a piece onto them and than I realised the right spring has one more leaf compared to the one on the left. The parts manual shows both springs to be the same, so I have yet to investigate why my truck has one extra leaf....maybe one leaf is broken or the driver was just a heavy bloke???



Alex