1948 Fordson E83W pickup

Bugly

You could have saved yourself some pain by just buying this little fellow.

Anyhow, you might have got someone else inspired with your beaut job on your machine and they will rush out and buy it.

lang
www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/maroochydore/car...n-minivan/1041115889

I've been looking at that one Lang (from a distance). There's been a lot of work go into that van!! It would be good value at that price, and it's been advertised for a while. So who knows how far the "negotiable" bit can go? :

Clarry's rear suspension is basically a single transverse leaf spring with a shock absorber bolted to each chassis rail, with the lever arm fixed to the end of the axle below it. All shackle bushes and pins were seized, worn out and rusted into the shackle bush housings in the ends of the leaf springs and the axle. Hmmm.

I had visions of the spring flying all over the place when I cut off the shackles, so I de-stacked the springs while still fitted to Clarry. When I got down to the last of the 13 leaves, I was able to cut the shackles off.

Once the rear spring was clear of the shackle, I welded a high tensile bolt to the shackle pin on the right side, and tried to wind it out of the housing with the nut. No such luck. Alright then, if I can't pull it out maybe I can push it out ...

Again, she wasn't going anywhere. Plan three was to heat the housing with the oxy-acetylene, but because I haven't got a set I slipped straight into Plan 4, which is to carefully drill it out. Leaving the right side under tension (hoping it would part all by itself) I started with the left side. I can line the drill up horizontally by eye quite easily, but vertically? Hold on, I've got a line level somewhere ...

This did the trick. Drilled straight down the centre of the inner bolt. I then tried a drift to see what would happen and wadda you know!! Out it came!

In the end, the one on the right didn't fall out by itself under tension, so I had to drill this one out as well. But it was stubborn right to the end, and I am now in there with the little die-grinder and the rat-tailed file getting the last of it out. Then I've got the springs to do, followed by the spring on the front axle. Life wasn't meant to be easy. I am a bit too scared to give it too much of a whack, in case I break the casting. If that happens I am well in the old proverbial.

Wow Bugly I've not looked at your progress for some time it's coming along very nicely your post has me motivated to do some more work on my dodge cheers Bryant

Wow Bugly I've not looked at your progress for some time it's coming along very nicely your post has me motivated to do some more work on my dodge cheers Bryant

Thanks Bryant! Old Clarry's been full of challenges, that's for certain!! Once I fix something up I prep and paint it, and it makes it look like I'm really making good progress!!

After removing the old shackle bushes from the rear spring perches, I also drilled out the tapered bolts that fixed the shock absorber arms to the rear axle housing. This now clears the way to mount the new shockies straight on to Clarry. I pressed the new spring shackle bushes into the rear spring perches, ready for the reassembly of the transverse spring-set. The rear brake back-plates were removed, cleaned up, painted and refitted, and the rear axle, diff and torque tube were also wire-brushed, cleaned with turps, primed and painted. As soon as I clean up the rear springs, I'll be able to refit the rear axle to the chassis.

ANZAC Day, so no work until after the local Humpty Doo ANZAC Day march and commemoration service. This afternoon I finished assembling the rear axle and brakes ready for it to be mounted to the chassis.

Then I cleaned up the brake drums, removed the oil seals and checked out the roller bearings. I already had a new set of seals on hand, but I was taking a gamble that the roller bearings would be OK, seeing how they are lubricated from the diff. Unfortunately one of the rollers was missing, and no sign of it inside. I guess this means that a previous owner at some stage had a rattly bearing, took it apart, and removed the detached roller. It would no doubt have run quite comfortably with the roller missing, but I will fit a new set of rear bearings to Clarry now, so I know it'll be 100%. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Hokay ... I'm looking for some advice from you knowledgeable blokes. I have stripped my leaf springs down, and will shortly reassemble them. Should I ...

1. Wire brush the leaves down and leave them bare metal, or should I prime and paint them?
2. When I reassemble the spring packs should I grease the leaves to give them some 'slip' in service, or should I leave them dry?

All advice gratefully considered. :

G'day Bugly I would be painting them individually and then assembling them dry that is how all the spring packs I have seen come for the works


Jon

Thanks Jon, appreciated!!