When I first purchased my 1939 Chevy, back in 1962, I was young and ambitious, but not to knowledgeable. I could see that the car was in an accident sometime prior. The drivers side front was hit and pushed in. Over the years I managed to repair the body. I found that the frame was not damaged, but the suspension had replacement parts and the bolts that attached the lower A arms to the cross member were sheared off and someone had welded new bolts in place. I had always wanted to repair this and now is the time. Since obtaining the car I replaced most of the suspension parts, except the cross member and shock absorbers. Recently, I found a replacement cross member. It looks to be in good shape. My plan is to remove the front suspension and replace the cross member without removing the engine. I'll have to suspend the front of the engine while the cross member is out and also remove a few items. Is there anything I should be aware of as the work is being done? Both cross members were bolted to the frame, is there any alignment concerns. Anything else? Thanks Mike
Hey Gene, I've removed springs like this a number of times. My method is to rise the car and place on stands. Then with a floor jack under the lower A arm, remove the A arm bolts and drop the floor jack until the spring is loose. Thanks
Well..... I started to work on changing out the front cross member. Being an old man I work a lot slower, seems things are much heavier than they used to be. Removed the hood and made a buck for it, so that it should not get damaged. Next removed the radiator. Had to get the water pump out of the way. There isn't alot of space between the radiator and the water pump. Making progress, but the 1939 will have to wait a little. The 1924 Model T is acting up and needs some attention. Maybe this week end I can get a few more items removed. I called the Filling Station to find out about getting the front shock absorbers rebuilt. Mike
Mike, The bravery you illustrated by admitting that you have a Model T has inspired me to come out of the closet and admit that I have one also. Thank you. I feel so much better now.
Actually, I have this 1939 Chevy, which was my high school car. A 1924 Model T, a 1937 Ford 4 door and a 1983 El Camino. THese are the ones that I have kept, In between there were many more ranging from a 1909 Model T to a 1951 Packard. They are all fun. The real interesting part, these days is these forums where you can talk to A LOT of different people about these cars. Thanks for the help, Mike
Well..... this weekend, I had time to remove the wheels, the pitman arm and tie rods and the stabilizer rod. Thanks Gene for the shock. Hope to do more in the up coming days. Mike
A little more progress. I removed and plugged the brake line, and the control arms, spindles, shocks and springs were removed. Later this week I want to make a buck or cradle to hold the front of the engine so that the cross member can be removed. Mike
Again a little more progress was made. In the pictures you can see the cradle that is blocked up to hold the front of the engine. Works good and is out of the way. The crossmember was removed. I found that all the bolts that hold the crossmember to the frame had nuts and lock washers on them. Seems most of the threaded holes in the crossmember were damaged. Then I found that the lower A arm on the passenger side was held on with 7/16" bolts and nuts, but the welded in bolts on the drivers side were 3/8". With crossmember out, I also removed the steering box. A few months ago I found a replacement sector shaft. My steering was rather sloppy. All I had to do to get the gear box out was to remove the steering wheel, loosen the shaft cover clamp and remove the three frame bolts. The gear box slid right out. With all this "stuff" out of the way, I noticed that the crankshaft seal on the cam gear cover was leaking. So the vibration damper was removed (didn't come easy). I was hoping to be able to remove the cam gear cover and look inside, but the bottom two bolts for the cover are inside the oil pan. What were they thinking. I want to get a repair sleeve for the vibration damper. There is a groove where the seal fits. I'm thinking that re installing the vibration damper maybe a little difficult. There are no threads in the end of the crankshaft that would help push the damper on. Again that should be standard. Well, I'll have to remove and replace the seal with the crank nose in the way, and clean and paint the cam gear cover in place. C'est la vie. Next I want to get the replacement sector shaft into my gear box and back in the car, look for a repair sleeve and do some general clean up. Mike
You can pry the seal out and tap a new one in. The seal fits from 1937 up thru the '80;s If the old seal is leather it isoriginal. neoprene after 1946. I would not worry about the grove, the new seal will take care of that,
YOU AN DRIVE THE DAMPER BACK ON WITH A BIG HAMMER AND A BIG PIECE OF PIPE SO YOU DO NOT STRIKE THE THE OUTER RIM.
Well... some more progress, all be it slow. Cleaned and painted the front of the engine. Removed the old copper fuel and vacuum lines and replaced them with steel. Checked the groove in the damper and it looked rather large to me (1st picture). I found another damper in my collection of stuff that looked a little better (2nd picture). Installed the repair sleeve on the better damper. I was concerned about installing the damper, especially since it was difficult to get off. So I made sure that the damper hole and key way were clean. I noticed I had dribbled a little paint in there and could feel some dirt way down the hole. I also made sure the crank snout and key were clean. I little dub of grease to help slide the damper on. A few slaps with a 4 pound mallet and the damper was home free. I could feel the damper against the crank and prior to removing the damper I made a measurement so that I could be sure the damper was on all the way. Now onto the steering box install, cross member and front pans. Mike
I've installed the steering gear box, lifted the new crossmember into place and lowered the engine onto the crossmember. There are 18 3/8x24 bolts that hold the crossmember to the frame. 17 of the bolts went right in, the last bolt on the drivers side right next to where the radiator is would not start. Turns out either the frame hole or the crossmember hole was off center about 1/16". I loosened all the bolts and tried to wiggle the crossmember to gain access, but that didn't work. I tried using a drift in the hole next to the offending hole, to push the frame over slightly. The frame moved, but not enough to allow the bolt to enter. So.... I dropped the crossmember about 1/2", but still on all the bolts. Then I ground the frame hole just the smallest amount and then while pushing the frame, I got the bolt in. Next I was wondering how tight to make these bolts. They are 3/8x24 and a torque table I looked at said 36 FtLbs. Didn't seem like enough, but the pinch tension was over 5000 Lbs. So that is what I set them to. Next I installed the motor mounts and lower the engine onto the crossmember. Fortunately, there was enough enough of a gap between my cradle and the crossmember to get a bottle jack to lift the engine so I could remove the cradle. The engine mounts were screwed into the engine plate and the engine was dropped down. Before the engine bottomed out, I installed the long engine bolts through the cross member. As the engine was lowered, it snapped into the rectangular holes. That was a great sound. A question I have is, Is the 36 FtLbs on the bolts OK? Next I want to install the splash pans and the brake lines, Thanks, Mike
A little more progress has been made and I have a question. I filled the steering box with 90 gear lube a week ago and I have had no leaks. So my bottom seal and gaskets are OK. I spent the week end installing the splash pans and the brake lines. I really do not like splash pans, they are difficult to get in place, but they are now behind me. The hard brake lines are in place. I also decided to flush the old brake fluid, in that is must be at least 30 years old. Now I'm at an impasse, until more parts show up in the mail. So, I have been spending my time cleaning some of the other parts. This morning I started on the pit-man arm and tie rods. The little rubber caps that fit over the pivot bolts are hard, I hoping I can find some replacements for them. The tie rods themselves are nice and tight. After cleaning the tie rod ends, I pumped a lot of grease into them. This is to clean them out as best a possible. Then, while pumping on one of them I noticed some grease coming out of the bottom. I have never seen this. It can not be a vent in that there is no real hole. It appears that the bottom cap that is pressed in to the tie rod end is slightly cracked. See pictures. I'm wondering if I should replace this tie rod end? Mike
Than your the updates. It is great to read about your progress.
I agree with Gene. That metal plug is peened into place So it is not a perfect fit around the full circumference. That is a major reason these cars were supposed to be lubricated at such relatively short intervals. None of the steering and suspension joints were well sealed. The new grease was purging the dirt that had become embedded in the old grease.
With respect to the 90 weight gear lube in the steering box, I am pleasantly surprised that you are not seeing any leakage around the pitman shaft. Unless that steering box has been modified to accept a lip style seal, there is only a cork or felt seal around that shaft. Keep an eye on that after you start driving the car.
Great, I didn't want to spend another 40-50 dollars on a tie rod end that seems to be OK.
I have a NOS replacement sector shaft with a new lip seal on it. Hopefully the steering will be improved along with the elimination of any potential leaks. Anyway, the next few days, I'll be cleaning and painting some of the parts that I will reuse. Waiting for the Mail, Thanks for the help, Mike
The mail just came and I received a radiator to frame mounting kit. I got it from the Filling Station FS-511A. BUT it doesn't look like it will work on my car. The bolts in the kit are about 2 inches long and what was in my car was about 7 inches long. First the radiator frame does not sit directly on the crossmember, there is about an inch or so gap between them. There are holes in the crossmember where these bolts would go thru. My original bolts (although I'm very sure they are NOT Chevrolet bolts) went thru the entire crossmember, that is why they are 7 inches long. I missing something here? Thanks for the help Mike
The master 85 used a front cross member which is a lot thinner, and used I beam front axle also,the thinner cross member was used from 1936 onwards with th I beam axle. It doesn’t look the the fillingstation sells kits with the correct bolts for the master deluxe.
I believe you are correct. Apparently there are two types of radiator supports. One for the master 85 and another for the master deluxe. I found this picture at the Chevy's of the 40's. This looks a lot like what came out my car. I think that I'll just go to the hardware store and purchase a couple of long carriage bolts. Thanks for the help, Mike
