Once again it has been slow going on Rusty. I still haven't talked to Brother's Trucks about the new bearings, but I have completed the passenger side brake drum and put on the new brake pads and cylinder. I have also managed to clean up the stock steering parts and have installed the new tie-rod, tie-rod ends, and shocks. This was all very straight-forward, but a little time consuming getting the tie-rod to "center" on the wheels. Would have gone a little quicker with another person, but still easy enough. All that remains on this project area is to check the bearing install, put some lube in the steering box and attach the drag link.
I also received notice that my custom gas tank has shipped. I'm very excited about this, so let me give ya'll a little history on my tank. Like many others, I really want to get that gas tank out from behind the seat. There are a couple of "custom" options for relocating the tank under the bed. They seemed really expensive, and I didn't like the idea of putting the filler neck through the bed floor (too hard to use) and I didn't want to cut up the bed-side and fenders. I started to think to myself how come they don't have the option to locate the filler neck behind the license plate like my old Mustang?
I started to do some research and found a guy that was posting on some of the truck forums that he had done this very thing. I contacted him and it turns out that he has a shop and is also in the early stages of selling the truck parts that are common to the other guys. To make a long story short, he was happy to put together a kit for me and the total cost is still about $100 cheaper than just the under-bed tank that Brother's sells. With the kit, I will get a new 20 gallon Mustang/Cougar tank, Ford fuel sender, modified filler neck, lay-down license-plate bracket, rails, hardware, and instructions. Basically, everything but the fuel lines themselves. Another thing that I really like about this tank is that it won't hang down as far as the others. The only drawback that I can see is that I will have to remove my rear cross-member, and this is only a concern because I don't have an easy way of doing it.
Also, if you decide to go this route, be prepared for it to take 6-8 weeks before he ships it. He was very upfront that it would take this long, and I didn't have a problem with it. Everyone welcome Richard Precht, owner of Rico's Rods and Relics. If you dig around his website, you can find a couple of pictures of the Mustang tank. Also, check his prices, some of the items are the lowest I have seen, but I haven't ordered anything else from him yet.
Check back soon to see my comments on the gas tank install.
September 21, 2004
I consider today a minor milestone! I have the front-end all put back together and I received the gas tank!
Tapered Bearings - I never called Brother's. I studied the problem a little more. I'm convinced I have the bearings on correctly. The driver's side wheel turns freely and the spindle nut went on easily enough and the cotter pin was put in place. I went ahead and packed the passenger side bearing and put the rest of that wheel together.
Once that was done, I put some synthetic 90w oil in the steering gear box and hooked up the new drag link. Next, I rolled the tires around from the side of the garage, gave them a good cleaning and then put them back on the truck. After so much time without her front shoes, Rusty seemed pleased to have them back on and was looking good.
Gas Tank - everything arrived today and I did a quick inspection of the package contents and everything was there as promised. My only complaint would have to be with the instructions. Richard provides photo instructions, but there is never a picture of the completed step. I don't think this is going to be a problem, and he is available by phone if needed. Unfortunately, it will be a couple of weeks before I can start working on the gas tank.
Let's move on to October 2004...
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