1933 chevy tudor sedan aka Project Copper Tone!

AZRodDave said:

Congrats! Liking the guitar collection too!

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Thanks Dave. Yeah, I have a few. Red electric is a fender American strat, white is a custom strat(no brand), black is a broken ovation(first acoustic electric that needs the top reattached), in the cases is an Ibanez electric, Yamaha dreadnought acoustic, and ovation acoustic electric.

Well guys, I've got good news and I have bad news so the good news first. I got another award for Coppertone or as the plate reads, CPRTON. Which most people read as CRAPTON. Which makes me laugh. Anyhow, now for the bad news. As I was driving from where we parked the rigs to the show, one of my spring hangers broke, bent the tie rod, and made it squirrelly as all get out. Along with very hard to turn right and low and behold, every turn I had to make, a right hand turn. Anyhow, we made it to the show slowely and safely and even though I hate to admit it, I'm very glad I trailered the car instead of driving like I wanted to. I couldn't imagine what may have happened if it had broke while we were driving through Glacier National Park. So looks like I've got a small project for this week, make the links a bit beefier.

Here's the award I got. I really do thank everyone on here for helping me out as much as you have because without you guys, I prolly would have gotten fed up and sold it off to the next guy.


And here you can see where the piece broke apart and the spring landed on top of the tie rod.


I think you can tell just how bent the rod is now. No big deal, I'll just take it to work, put it on the lathe, and cut the bungs off.


I think I even figured out a plan to do away with the spacers between te heims and the steering arms. I'll put 4, 45 degree bends in the new rod to drop the rod lower than the spring. From what my measurements are, I have more than enough room to do it and maintain my turning radius.

Way to collect gold with the copper car.

Congrates of the award [cl
It's always better to find the weak point early on. [

So pulled the 33 out of the trailer where it slept for the night, fixed my spring hanger, and welded the hanger to the bracket just as some added insurance. Took her for a test spin up to the hardware store to get an air fitting for the 31 and on my way back down the hill she started to shake like no other. So back to the garage to figure it out. My passenger side was nice and tight but the drivers side had a little bit of play in the hub so went ahead and tightened that up, took her for another test drive and rode fine until I hit a big bump and same thing. So back to the garage again. Jacked up the front end and shook the wheels again and the drivers side still had some wobble so I went ahead and greased up the king pins and took her on another run. This time she did perfect. I'm guessing that because there's a lot more tension on that side from the steering arm, and the fact that my spring landed on the tie rod, it's caused some damage to the king pins so I'll have to replace those some time this fall. For now though, I'll keep pumping them full of grease. I also want to get some grease able heims for the steering. They squeak a little to much for my liking and it's such a pitch that it's like nails on a chalk board for me.

Congrats on the "Best Rat" trophy[cl.

Didn't like the thought of the welded together pipe as spring hangers so I found a chunk of 1-1/4" steel in the scrap bin at work. Cut it down, drilled it to accept te nylon shackle sleeves, and tapped the flat side out to accept a 5/8 NF bolt. Didn't think it had enough meat on it for the threads so I got some 5/8 NF bolts and welded them to the block. This time I used the 480V welder at work cause I don't want things snapping, there is a lot of weight hanging on those 2 points. The shackles turned out to be a little on the long side now so I jacked the frame up, allowed the axle to hang, and marked where the bolts needed to go now. I'll end up cutting the ends off eventually but there's a storm coming in and the shop is still being taken up by the 31 Chevy. I also plan on removing a few of the leafs in the spring because it's even more rigid now. After I remove the leafs I'll see if I have clearance to move the tie rod back up where it's supposed to go. I also determined why the front end gets the death wobbles. Turns out that in one spot on the spindle the threads are almost all gone so it looks like I need to find a new spindle and king pins for that side. I'm now looking back and thinking it may have been better in te long run to buy a brand new axle and spindles. I guess live and learn.

That looks mighty strong, I really like how mother natures slowly put the rust patina on new metal, she's pretty busy with just yours and mine.

I think she'll work this time without breaking. Today, I started out lookin for a new spindle. One of my buds told be bout this old rancher who owns what used to be the Chinook, MT dump. Can't get to anything by truck so I had to walk the place. Couldn't find what I was after but I found some cool stuff. Nothing came home with me...today. Took a few pictures of it. On my way back home I stopped by the ranch supply to see if I could get something to work until I find a spindle. From my research, I have discovered that 33master eagle and 35-39 master series share the same front axles, also 1/2-1-1/2 ton trucks. So at least I have more than one year to look for. Anyhow, for the time being I found a 3/4" hardened steel bushing to use as a spacer, drilled a new hole for the cotter pin, and too k her for a test drive. Still shook pretty hard so I rolled her back to the garage to see what was up. Wheel was still tight, didn't look like the spindles were shaking any, but it appeared that my "spacers" for the tie rod would give a little. So, I pulled the spacers out and put the ends right against the steering ends, and took her on another drive. Didn't shake one bit. So now I need to put some more miles on her to make sure she holds right until I can get a replacement spindle. I really want to drive it down to great falls for a show next month cause I hate putting her in the trailer to take on longer distances. I really hate how we only have three months of good weather to try to iron out any issues.

So, first off, pictures from my parts hunt.

Do you see it?


This is one of the cars piled up in the last picture.


There's a truck there somewhere.


Chevy truck anyone?


How about a mid to late 60s tailgate?


And finally, something my garage definitely needs. I'm guessing that it's from the old Chinook, MT ford dealership. It's all busted apart but both sides are there.


And here's the spacer for the spindle. I really hope it holds out. At least until I can find the correct fix.

That was a fun hike, thanks for sharing [S

So, I think my spindle dilemma has been solved. A bud of mine, from Chinook no less, has a buddy who owns a farm in Chinook, and on that farm is a 39 Chevy 1 ton or 1-1/2 ton truck. Struck a deal and I'm picking the whole thing up for 100 bucks. I don't have any pictures yet, but when my bud gets back from work at the end of the week we're gonna go pick her up. If she's nice enough, I may start a build off of her. I'm thinking with all these rods I'm gonna need a rod hauler that isn't my shiny new dodge. Be on the look out for another build thread.

Oh, and here's a good read for you guys also running Chevy axles since no one makes new ones and finding the right ones can be a PITA if you don't know the cross references.

http://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2011/03/Chevrolet-Front-Axle-Spindles/3696401.html

Pulled a few leafs from my spring pack today. Not nearly as bouncy. Should have gotten fuel first though, DOH! At least I was only 50 feet from the gas station and across the street from the Orearry's. got a one gallon can, got some junk fiel(10% ethanol crap) then drive it the 1/8 mile to get the ethanol free stuff. Looks like my hangers are hitting the tie rod just slightly enough so I'll cut the ends of the hangers off and see if that helps. If not, I think 1/4" spacers should be okay.

Ya got a really cool ride there. I noticed ya mentioned playing trains, and Overland Park. Yea I worked for the RR also for 39 years..

ratadixshun44 said:

Ya got a really cool ride there. I noticed ya mentioned playing trains, and Overland Park. Yea I worked for the RR also for 39 years..

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Thanks. Yeah, I'm a "machinist" term used very loosely because we really don't machine anything anymore, for BNSF. I really wish that during my apprenticeship I had a journeyman who was willing to teach me how to run our lathe and mill but no one was willing. It's like they were all worried that some kid was going to take their job and always made excuses that management wouldn't let them teach the apprentices those skills. And now they have all the tooling under lock and key with only 2 or three of the older journeymen with access to it. Aside from that, I love my career choice.

Yea, I worked for BNSF also. I check on your thread daily..... Good work...

Okay, so I finally went and took a closer look at the truck that I said I was picking up for cheap. I'm a little disappointed that it's the short wheel base,133" instead of 158-1/2", but it's not missing much. Grill is pretty banged up, headlights are missing, good is gone, and drivers side door panel and window moldings are gone. Otherwise, she's in great shape. It was hard to get down and measure the axle but I was able to and it's a 2 inch axle so the spindle should work. If not, I've found another complete axle hub to hun down in billings but that's a helluva drive. Anyway, if I build this truck I'm thinking Perkins or cummins 4 cylinder diesel, 4l80 tranny, and modern axles. I'd go with a 6.2 or 6.5 gm diesel but i dont know how well that'd fit between the fenders. It'd be cool if I could find a Frito Lay, Penske, UPS, or Fed Ex truck with all that to drop the cab on but who knows. Also, if I keep this frame for it, extend it out 3 feet or so to get a longer wheelbase and have a roll back on. Make it the car hauler instead of the Dodge 1-1/2ton I have back in CA just because this one, even missing what it's missing has more of the hard to find parts. We'll see when it comes time to build it. Here's a few pictures.









So I'll probably end up picking it up sometime next week or the week after. It's gonna be hard to get at and it's a bit mushy over at the farm and my trucks a bit heavy to go on soft ground.

Really cool truck, look forward to following the project.

Sweet truck... not that it matters but the short wheel base was a far far lower production truck... My trucks vin showed it to be a short.. but when i got it it was on a long wheel base frame..

The long wheel base worked well for me, there wasnt much I actually scrapped after the massive Z in the frame was added..

the frito lay trucks are supposedly the best donors for the fit on the 30s-40s chevy -gmcs from what I have read...

Good luck!

So I haven't picked up the truck yet so I still have a f'd up spindle but my temporary fix seams to be holding. Yesterday I decided to take it out for my monthly beer run and I noticed I was getting a bit of vibration from the rear end. Thinking it might have been from not driving it lately I figured maybe there were some flat spots on the bias plies. But even after running her for a while the vibes didn't go away so I took her home and parked her for tee night. This afternoon after it cooled down I played a bit of musical muscle out front and got the car around back to my shop, jacked her up, spun the rear wheels, wiggled em, etc, etc, but all was good there. Wheels are still tight, pinion hadn't loosened up or anything, and the rear most u-joint was nice and tight. So I moved towards the front of the car, calunk, calunk. Front u-joint is damn near toast. I'm guessing that I didn't put enough grease in it when I installed it. Also, the slip shaft seams to be a bit worn. I'm guessing that's why most guys go with slip yokes instead. That's what I get for using stuff no one else does. So it looks like I'll have to find another shaft with good splines, have it cut down, and then install new u-joints...again. I don't think the slip shaft is a big issue but the u-joint definitely is so when I get a chance,I.E. time, I'll pull the drive shaft and replace the u-joint. Really wish I had made it to where the shaft sat below the frame sometimes.