Sorry Gene, I must not have been paying attention. I have the later pitman arm 599645. That is why the cotter pins will not go through the tie rod stud. So..... I suppose that I will have to look for an early pitman arm. Mike
You are correct. I just found that information in the Master Parts book. I must have something screwed up. Tomorrow, I want to take it all apart and look at it closer. Mike
Well...... this morning I got out into the garage. A little cool, but the furnace eventually warmed the place up. I removed the tie rods and then ran into a problem with the pitman arm. The gap between the pitman arm and the steering box is about 0.030" smaller than my puller. Had to face the puller arms in order to get the thing in place. Must not have had the arm on all the way originally. I may want to make a small spacer that fits over the sector shaft so the pitman arm to steering casing can receive my puller. Anyway after a while, the arm came off. On the bench I was inspecting the arm and the tie rod ends. Then I noticed the problem. The part of the pitman arm that connects to the sector shaft has the number 599639, but the part that connects to the tie rods is 3651543. See pictures. Fortunately, my spare pitman arm has the correct parts. Now I have to clean up the spare parts and swap the new bushings. I believe that the tie rods will now fit and I will be able to install the cotter pins. This relatively easy job turned into a challenge. But I learned a little and eventually got it right. Mike
Gene, most cars that are of any age, are most likely a Frankenstein car. In my younger days, each car I owned, evolved with me. Each time I went to the junk yard for spare parts, I grabbed what ever would get the old beast back on the road. Seems cars go through a cycle. When they are new we really care for them, as they age, they become second car and receive less care, later they become the kids car and just seem to exist. Then if they survive the crusher, they begin to become vintage cars and the care level rises again.
I had thought that I could transfer my new pitman bushings from the old to the new, but they were ruined when taking the arm apart. Rats another $75. Another problem with ageing, at least mine. I have the ability to remember the old price of items. Anyway, I'm installing the new shock and I decided to drain the old brake fluid and replace it with new, thanks for the help, Mike.
Over the weekend, I installed the new shock and the remainder of the suspension parts, plus the steering. The new tires are on and the car is on the ground. After filling the carburator with gas, seems after a while of sitting around the gas evaporates, the engine started and ran fine. I got the hood on the car but I have a question about how close the fan blades should be to the radiator. Reason I ask is that right now there is about 1/2 inch between them, but the hood holes that bolt to the radiator frame do not line up. They are off by at least 1/4" and that means the fan will be even closer to the radiator. It that correct or do I have something amiss? Thanks, Mike
In order to line up the radiator frame holes with the hood holes, I have to move the radiator closer to the fan. It probably was very close when I started, but I don't see any alternative, Mike
Well..... this didn't turn out to a problem at all. I had to loosen the support rod and the fender bolts that tie into the middle of the radiator frame. Then I could push the radiator and frame back some. I had forgotten that the 1/4 inch or so of movement I needed at the top of the frame is only 1/8 inch at the fan, because the radiator frame pivots at the bottom. The middle moves only 1/8" at the middle, Mike
Something else I noticed as I was installing the hood. The latch mech has a rod with catches at the front and back, but I only have latches at the back. See pictures. There appears to be a place for a front latch, two threaded holes, but I do not have anything to install there and I do not know what they look like. Mike
It s a kind of V shaped folded thing, There is a picrure of a 1939 front end exploded in the front of the parts books. What year book do you have?, i FOUND IT IN MY 1953 BOOK ALTHOUGH THE PART NUMBER IS NO LONGER IN THE BOOK.
