'34 Dodge Brothers, double build.

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I made the two bottom, shoe, anchor bolts today. [the first two bolts are from the, too shallow original backing plate and the new rear backing plate. I needed bolts that looked like the third one.]
Anyhow the backing plate is on and the shoes are reattached. Next the drum and hub were tested on there and spun a bit. There needs to be a little more corrections.
 
The hub and drum are finally on the spindle. There were a lot of little corrections to be made. [pic one]. The bearings are in and greased.
My new front spring pins and bushings came in the mail today so I pulled the old bushing out [pics two and three], and lo and behold the new mail order bushings aren't right and aren't even close so I can't use them.
 

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Today I went looking for bushings in town. A frustrating day. At one store, after I explained what I needed, and after explaining that I knew they couldn't find 1934 bushings but could you look at some other car spring bushings, the parts girl said, "would this one do" and showed me a picture. Whoooa. "I think so, there's a little ridge on one side but that might just fit anyhow, or I could cut that off. Yes, bring me in a couple." "Oh", she said, "we have them right here on the shelf". Whoooa, look at me go. She came back into view with a box and started to open it. She was grinning, so was I. She pulled out a ball-joint. Whoooa. She checked the number on the box and on the screen. Right numbers; wrong part. At the other store, after waiting in the long line outside, to get in, I found that they had the right spring pins but their bushings had the wrong outside diameter.
Anyhow, I checked and tightened most of the bolts I'd installed lately and put in a few cotter pins. The tierod end is back on and I started taking the rear spring shackle off. The part that was supposed to rotate back and forth was rusted solid and the part that is supposed to stay stationary was worn right out. I had to get rough with it. Out came the gas ax.
 
After another day in town, yesterday, I think I have some bushings ordered in. It was neat to deal with a guy who was gung-ho and found the parts for me, I think.
There is still lots to do on the truck so I didn't get bored. Here's the lefthand side front spring shackle done. This looks like a fairly straight forward job. Don't be that naïve.
 

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I roared to town today and picked up the bushings that my gung-ho parts guy ordered in. Two of the dimensions are right on them, the ID, and OD, but they are a little long. I'll have to cut them down.
The hanger bracket was almost completely broken out of the bottom of the frame, only holding on by one worn out rivet, and no metal frame at all. I welded the patch back into the frame and ground it all smooth. Then I bolted the hanger back on, after I welded up the spring pin holes and re-bored them back to 9/16" diameter.
 

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Thank you guys for cheering me on.
Today I tackled a weird dilemma. There's a downside to running into trees and buildings to stop a truck, when you actually should have fixed the brakes. Sometimes when you're loaded and going a little too fast, you hit the tree too hard and wreck things. Well the old fellow "PO", bent the frame in front of the front crossmember on the drivers side. The first picture is straightening it out again, 7/8". That went along pretty good.
I had a fun time cutting my too long bushings down to size in my hill-billy lathe, the ID and OD were right on. Pic two is a full length bushing and a newly cut one. Pic three is the bushings pressed into the spring eyes and then pried into the hangers and spring pins installed, making the front suspension almost completely finished.
 

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Joe, that was an accidental metaphor, but ya, it could apply to quite a few things in life.
Anyway, I didn't do much on the truck today, more tractory things. I traded a bunch of John Deere tractor parts for a JD three bottom plow.
I did do some finishing up on the suspension. There was a little necessary camouflaging in one spot, removing the original brake line between the two front wheels, and adjusting the toe-in. Now I have very nice camber, good toe-in and poor caster.
 
Rather than rely on a reasonable looking 86 year old brake line between the front wheels I bought a new line and installed it. It feels better already. Then after scouting around for some wedge shims to change the front axle caster angle, I started to take the U-bolts off the springs. This axle is round so the axle cap is welded on. I found that the driver-side wasn't welded anymore, and the centre bolt was broken. The picture is showing the new centre bolt in and tightened and the U-bolts back in place but not tightened, so I can turn the axle when I get the other side to this point, and hopefully put my wedge shims back on the shelf. The caster angle was 0* even when I winched the frame down 2" to simulate a heavier front end. I want at least 4* positive. The embarrassing thing about today was I took a couple of 'partly done' pictures without the film card in the camera.
 

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Well, I got the passenger side apart 'pic one' and cleaned up. Then I put it back together and put a big 36" pipe-wrench on the axle and twisted it a wee bit. Actually, I didn't need that big of a wrench as it turned out, the axle twisted easily. It's now set at about 5* positive caster 'pic two' and the 'U' bolts are tightened up. I tack welded the saddles to the axle and painted it ultra flat dark brown to look like I never touched it.
 

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I had ordered some rubber bushing spacers for the knee action shock absorbers, and forgot about them. The other day I remembered and had a town 'parts day' so I picked them up. Here they are installed and the hydraulic oil in the shocks topped up.
 

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