Round 2 - My "New" 1975 620 30 Years Later

hobospyder · April 19, 2016

i haven't watched the videos yet myself. i just know they're there

hobospyder · April 19, 2016

i'm looking at my 77 fsm right now. all it says for service data and spec on the king pin is

clearance limit between the king pin and bushing: .15mm (.0059in)

bushing inner diameter (fitted): 20.010 to 20.035mm (.7878 to .7888 in)

clearance between knuckle spindle support and support: <.01mm (.0004in)

sorry not much help. maybe mike will pop in and see this

2wheel-lee · April 28, 2016

Thanks hobospyder. I think after I paint the knuckles and get them back on the truck, I'll re-evaluate if I want to rebuild the kingpins.

Still waiting on the Beebani coil over brackets, and I probably won't get them until next week, then I can paint the front suspension parts with Por15 and put it back together. The hubs and axles are still at the machine shop getting redrilled.

In the meantime, I'll keep working on my hovercraft conversion. Kind of funny, a minute after thinking that, the Huey Lewis song from Back to the Future, The Power of Love, came on. The timing of that was very peculiar.

Dick222 · May 2, 2016

This truck is so beautiful!

Dick222 · May 2, 2016

I'm never gonna be as beautiful as yours. But I'm just trying to get back to the original color as well.

2wheel-lee · May 2, 2016

I'm never gonna be as beautiful as yours. But I'm just trying to get back to the original color as well.

But I'll never have the cab space you have! It looks like you're off to a good start!

DatsuNissanLove · May 2, 2016

I need some 4x4 leafs!!!

2wheel-lee · May 2, 2016

I finally received the Beebani coilover mounts. I was actually in the middle of doing an ATF change and band adjustment in my Dodge truck when the USPS carrier dropped the package at the door. I had just put the pan in place on the Dodge, but I had been eagerly waiting for these mounts. After quickly opening the box, I was a little surprised that the upper mounts no longer included the guide plug in the hole as I'd seen on previous versions. I sent him a message inquiring why it was no longer there, and he replied that he felt it was no longer needed.

With my Dodge still waiting for ATF, I went and starting cutting off the shock mount to see how the coilover mounts fit. I guess it's a good thing the plug is no longer there. I also did a quick mockup of the suspension to get an idea which QA1 shocks I needed, and I concluded that I needed the shortest ones to get the truck as low as I want it. Shocks ordered.

Oh, and I was going to have a friend with his mobile welding rig come by the house to weld them up, but I decided that it was about time I owned a MIG welder and picked up a new skill, so I ordered a Millermatic 211.

DatsuNissanLove · May 2, 2016

I finally received the Beebani coilover mounts. I was actually in the middle of doing an ATF change and band adjustment in my Dodge truck when the USPS carrier dropped the package at the door. I had just put the pan in place on the Dodge, but I had been eagerly waiting for these mounts. After quickly opening the box, I was a little surprised that the upper mounts no longer included the guide plug in the hole as I'd seen on previous versions. I sent him a message inquiring why it was no longer there, and he replied that he felt it was no longer needed.

With my Dodge still waiting for ATF, I went and starting cutting off the shock mount to see how the coilover mounts fit. I guess it's a good thing the plug is no longer there. I also did a quick mockup of the suspension to get an idea which QA1 shocks I needed, and I concluded that I needed the shortest ones to get the truck as low as I want it. Shocks ordered.

Oh, and I was going to have a friend with his mobile welding rig come by the house to weld them up, but I decided that it was about time I owned a MIG welder and picked up a new skill, so I ordered a Millermatic 211.

should've bought a lincoln..haha.. that rig would've stacked some metal on that thing though..u should learn how stick weld

2wheel-lee · May 2, 2016

should've bought a lincoln..haha.. that rig would've stacked some metal on that thing though..u should learn how stick weld

I thought of doing it with stick, but I've always wanted a mig for convenience. Kind of funny, I was learning to tig a few years ago, and was struggling a bit. Then I realized that I was blind at that working distance. I got ready glasses, but never got back to that.

I do have a fair bit experience stacking metal - silicone bronze - in particular building custom bicycle frames as a hobby. But no electronics are involved - just an oxy-acetylene setup. Though with these, it's more customary to shape the joint with a file and sandpaper. It's very tedious, which is why it's helpful to lay good joints. One of the challenges is that you could be joining 0.020" high strength steel tubes to 0.058 tubes. Here are a few examples of some of the bike stuff I built. By the way, those miters are all done by hand with a file.