As a side note - I had a 1967 Mustang. In 1975 I took the rear springs off, took them to the spring shop, had them rearc'ed and they built them up with Teflon separators. Sucker rode GREAT with teflon in them.

If I redo the rear springs on my Dakota, I'll be Teflon between them just to keep the smooth ride Tef gives.

RwP

 

The whole rear end rode amazing. I haven't driven my dak since I drove it home when I bought it. After I finished up all the work on the back half of the truck I took it for a ride just to check it out. It was so smooth and quiet. It felt firm but not stiff and I could actually tell a difference in how everything worked. There wasn't any grinding or squeaking, you can tell everything moves freely and nothing binds up. I spent a little extra money and alot of extra time and the difference it made was impressive

 

Ya I may still do them when I get time. I'm hoping to get the truck on the road by the spring time so unfortunately some stuff may have to be skipped. If that means next winter I pull them apart again to rebuild so be it. I realize I'm going through alot of work now and it'd be nice to have everything perfect but my time to work on the truck is limited and this is already a massive undertaking.

My main goal right now was to get the frame and all susceptible steel parts protected again with a new coat of paint so that the truck is even still around in 10 years. I'm redoing all the tough to get to parts while I have it apart so I don't have to dig into it right away. The spring pack though is pretty easy to get out again next winter and clean up, unfortunately it will probably wait till then but I definately appreciate and have taken note of your suggestions.

Talking about paints, my preference has been to sandblast down to bare steel so all the rust is gone, then paint with endura. That stuff is durable, and with the rust gone underneath it is peace of mind it shouldn't come back for a while. Less critical parts, I have been hitting with Eastwood rust encapsulator, and painting over the rust. Definately not as good but again, it's a sacrifice for the sake of time on components it isn't likely to be a big deal on.

I haven't tried por-15, I would like to at some point. I have a tough time believing it will outperform a fully sandblasted part painted with endura though. I do have a feeling it will perform better than the Eastwood stuff though, I'm not terribly crazy about it, but it is a bit more consumer level stuff than endura so it is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison.

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Try some por-15. The stuff is amazing. Theyve tested it against everything and it always outperforms. Speaking from experience though I wouldn't use anything else, if done right it's damn near bulletproof. I've jacked up my truck with a floor jack right on the freshly painted frame and it didn't even scratch it. I used Eastwood on some stuff and it scratched to easy so I sanded it off and used por-15. It goes on easy, you can use a brush, spray gun, or a roller. I used a mini roller on my frame and it filled in all the uneven spots in the surface. If you use a spray gun make sure you get the por-15 solvent because you're not gonna be able to use your usual solvents to clean it up with, they just wont work. The stuff sticks to everything and doesn't come off. And you can use it on any surface even sandblasted ones. It goes right over rust and binds to it but you obviously want to knock all the loose stuff off first. I'll be using it as a primer sealer on the bottom of my cab and bed before I spray with bedliner. That way even if moisture gets under the bedliner it won't rot the metal out

 

Ya it sounds great, but my experience with endura has me pretty convinced on it. It is used extensively on the oil field out west, and when I worked at a local trailer manufacturer everything was painted with it, and those trailers put as many miles on in a year as I will in 10, in much worse conditions and the paint held up extremely well.

Also I was able to get the frame blasted and painted for about $350 from that same manufacturer, and that beats the hell out of screwing around with it myself.

 

Been slowly assembling parts. Lower control arms are on. Can't for the life of me find one of my steering knuckles though. It must be around somewhere ill have to keep looking.

Finally got around to taking apart my rear diff carrier. Surprisingly the cones have not bottomed out yet. It must have been replaced at some point, I find it hard to believe after over 400,000km that it is still in good shape. Will have to clean it up and throw it back in.

Just got my roll of copper/Nickle brake line so will start forming brake lines soon. Turns out I broke the lens on my phone camera so no new pictures of the truck for now.

 

NiCopp is da ****. Everything is looking good. The steering knuckle is in a very safe place I'm sure. So safe you'll never find it.

 

FWIW I dont believe the orig. sure grip is designed to be rebuilt....... In my 87 FSM they speak of diagnosing noises, ie, change fluid, make sure everything is tight, etc. Then if that does not fix the noise, replace the carrier.... I will try to get a copy of the page up on this post tomorrow.

 

Ya it isn't meant to be rebuilt, bit there is a way people have been unofficially rebuilding them. When the cones bottom out in the bores, you just shave 0.030 off the end of the cone and then put a 0.030 spacer between the cone and side gear. It isn't in the manual but it seems as though quite a few people have done it with success.
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Havent updated in a while. Had a bit of a pause while the weather turned nice and we could finish up combining. Starting to get front suspension together, but still can't find my other steering knuckle. Oh well I guess that's the benefit of having a parts truck.

Engines down to a short block now. Talked to a local machine shop, they'll clean up the block and measure it up for me for a pretty reasonable price. Not worth my time for what they want so once torn down I'll be sending it out.