How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

First time in a few years the truck is off the axle stands and back on its own wheels. The steering was hooked up today and all is good with all the rebuilt bits.

[Bob Carriere]

....inspect very very closely your steering arm?????

Mine came apart at the welded ball connection....... 70 year old weld was NEVER done properly....only surface weld.....sure went for the snow bank very fast........ on rewelding the ball end to the arm I noticed numerous hair line cracks in the inside of the curved portion. I had washed the arm prior to welding in the kerosene wash tank and paper towel dried them before welding.
The cracks only appeared when the welding heat travelled up the arm..... it caused residual kerosene to darken the hair line cracks....... much similar to magnaflux testing. I kept the steering arm as a souvenir and installed a spare one that I heated slightly but found NO cracks.

It's a weird feeling spinning the steering wheel one way and having the truck go in the opposite direction...... at 5 miles per hour I just plowed into a snow bank.

Cheers

PS.... now is the time to clean up the contact brass ring on the steering shaft.

[Jordan Baker]

The brass ring on that shaft was all cleaned up. New wire down the tube. Testing was done with the ohm meter. The horn button was pressed and the wheel turned full rotation. All is good.

Yes when I cleaned it up I checked out the arm. It was fine.

And now for more good news........

THE ENGINE IS IN....

All went reasonably well. I had some initial issues with balancing the weight of the engine. It fell off the stand and thankfully the hoist took the weight. The biggest issue I had was clearance between the cab frame and transmission. The frame was catching the top of the big gear in the transmission. I ended up using my floor jack to lift the cab frame up on one side. I then put in a metal spacer between the front cab mounts. Then I repeated on the other side. This still wasn’t enough. So I used the floor javk and some wood cribbing and jacked up the rear part of the frame. This gave the transmission the extra 1/8” it needed and it slid into position. All in all it went well after I had some supper.
I’ve got a few things to sort out but I’m happy I hit this milestone.

[Bob Carriere]

.....with a cab 11/12.............

Will you be ready for the New Years morning first of the 2020 run out in the snow?????

Bob C

[Jordan Baker]

Busy day putting stuff back onto the engine. I also got the front engine mount sorted out. I used a new rubber bushing.

I also got a package of rubber bushings and bumpers in the mail today. The company had a great selection of sizes and I was able to get exactly what was needed.

[Jordan Baker]

I also sorted out my hood and dog house cover latches. The two on the left side are NOS ones.

Lastly does the starter handle lean towards the driver or towards the passenger?

[Jordan Baker]

Parking brake handle and linkages are all installed and setup for proper tension. The starter lever is also in along with its return spring.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

A question Jordan, what do you mean "catching the top of the big gear in the transmission"? It looks like you have the transmission tower on and no gears would be exposed to catch. Was the lack of clearance getting the transmission tower (assuming it was not removed) under the cab crossmember that is at the back of the engine cover? I expect probably so as this cross member has been cut on a good number of Chev CMP's. Of course the other way to do it is install the engine without the transmission (nothing to catch and lighter) then install the transmission from underneath.

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

The brass ring on that shaft was all cleaned up. New wire down the tube. Testing was done with the ohm meter. The horn button was pressed and the wheel turned full rotation. All is good.

Yes when I cleaned it up I checked out the arm. It was fine.

And now for more good news........

THE ENGINE IS IN....

All went reasonably well. I had some initial issues with balancing the weight of the engine. It fell off the stand and thankfully the hoist took the weight. The biggest issue I had was clearance between the cab frame and transmission. The frame was catching the top of the big gear in the transmission. I ended up using my floor jack to lift the cab frame up on one side. I then put in a metal spacer between the front cab mounts. Then I repeated on the other side. This still wasn’t enough. So I used the floor javk and some wood cribbing and jacked up the rear part of the frame. This gave the transmission the extra 1/8” it needed and it slid into position. All in all it went well after I had some supper.
I’ve got a few things to sort out but I’m happy I hit this milestone.

[Paul Singleton]

Bruce, I have seen many GM crossmembers with the lip cut off. Some people do this to make it easier to replace the clutch. With the lip removed the pressure plate and clutch disc can be pushed up into the bell housing at the same time. If the crossmember isn’t cut you need to push the pressure plate in first and then the clutch disc, which can be a bit difficult and hard on the fingers.
As far as Jordan’s comment about the gear, the large gear at the rear of the transmission does protrude above the case so I believe the tower wasn’t installed.

[Jordan Baker]

The top of the big gear was hitting the cab frame cross member. The tower was off on the transmission when I went to install the engine. The issue was only when trying to get everything into position. Once it was in place there was lots of room.

[Jordan Baker]

I also made up a felt gasket for sealing where the transmission tower comes up through the floor. For cutting the hole in the felt I used one of the pressing sleeves/cups from a Speedi Sleeve. It was the right size for the felt to be nice and tight against the shift tower. I simply put it in the shop press and it cut right through the felt and gave me a nice perfect large size circle.