Chevrolet C8 1940 Cab 11 restoration, The Netherlands

[Alex van de Wetering]

The weather has been terrible here over the past two weeks, so I spent most time in the garage cleaning up smaller parts. One of these is the exhaust support, definately not something I need today or tomorrow, but I removed it to get more access to the two rails behind the cab, which are also used to attach part of the brake system. Anyway, I had a go at straightening the support and it just feels good to bolt a freshly painted part to the chassis.
I also removed the rear springs and tried to investgate which parts can be reused and which have to be replaced. I think I need at least two new U-bolts, new centre bolts and bolts for the spring clips. I only have the remain of one "spacer" as used between the spring cips....is this just a piece of pipe?

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Last week I disassembled one of the rear springs. The C8 springs are narrower than the springs of it's bigger CMP sisters, but the brackets are the same. So. there is a spacer between the spring and bracket, on the inside. You can just spot it on the pic of the spring and shackle on the bench.

The clip-bolts were hell to remove and all of the spacers have gone, so I will have to replace those as well as one of the spacers mentioned above, and some of the bushings and pins.
I spent more time than I hoped for cleaning up the leaves with the wire brush disk on the angle grinder, and gave it a coat of primer on the sun.

[Alex van de Wetering]

I also cleaned up the worst of the two rear shocks, after removing the link holding the remains of the rubbers and retainers used to secure it to the axle.

I came across a small imperfection on the casting of the Dayton shock, only to find out later that it was what remained of a hex bolt! (last pic, just net to the hole) You can see on the pics that the big screw plug has also seen better days. I have been soaking both with penetrating fluid and hope to have a go at removing them in a few days.

[Alex van de Wetering]

In preparation of removing the front suspension I have started by loosening bolts of the front springs and disconnecting the drag link. I didn't have a large screw driver, so I use a piece of steel strip and a wrench to get the plug out.
I noticed the spring clips on the right Front spring all have a hole in them just under the bolt. It seemed somebody extended the clips by welding a piece onto them and than I realised the right spring has one more leaf compared to the one on the left. The parts manual shows both springs to be the same, so I have yet to investigate why my truck has one extra leaf....maybe one leaf is broken or the driver was just a heavy bloke???



Alex

[Mike K]

Alex

The C8 rear springs are from a civilian 1939 or 1940 Chevrolet 1 Ton truck . I have a wreck of a 1939 1 ton truck here and the rear springs on it are identical to the C8 Mike

[Alex van de Wetering]

Today is my last day of holiday. Sadly I wasn't able to free up as much time for the C8 as I hoped for. But, I did start cleaning up the rear axle and we did build a Carport which will be the shelter for the C8 project for the time to come.

The rear axle showed some original paint; one of the colours came really close to the SCC2 sample I mixed up using Mike Starmers recipe (or is it just red oxide primer????). Another is a slightly blue-ish green....which I also have inside the cab and on some of the patches on the outside. I still wonder what that is.....SCC15 faded? Or remains of camo?
After cleaning up the center of the axle, I sprayed on a coat of black primer to protect it until I find the time to do the ends of the axle, and drive shaft.

@ Mike. Thanks for the comments on the springs. Could you maybe take a detail shot of the clips, bolts and spacers? Mine or to far gone to determine what they should look like. And also a pic of the brake rods for the handbrake on your truck? I only have the ends and the parts manual is somewhat confusing on the rods and cables.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

The weather changed lately and the part of the rear axle that was exposed to the rain started showing light rust quite quickly, right through the primer I was pretty disappointed in the quality of the primer I am using, so I decided to test another brand. I had to clean up the rest of the axle anyway, so I only needed to find the time to do so.

The "blocks" used to secure the axle to the springs proved to be very difficult to remove. The two halves are only secured with two slotted screws but I was only able to save one....one broke and I had to sacrifice two other to get everything undone. I am hoping I can still save the thread in the block itself, so I will be having another go at removing the stumps.

You might notice that I left the remains of the brake cable in position. Obviously these need replacing, but I plan to do this when the axle is fitted to the freshly painted chassis. I decided that now was a good time to clean up and paint as much of the axle as possible in the back of the yard...so I keep the chassis and carport area as clean as possible. I will rebuild the brakes and fit new cables in the front of the yard.

I also removed the front axle in the meantime, which was not too hard after I had already loosened all fasteners a few weeks ago.


Alex