Unstuck!

The temperature outside never got above 20˚ today, but I still bundled up in three layers of warm workclothes to get as much done outside as possible before the snow really hits us. The forecast is for the storm to begin overnight, go all day tomorrow, and shift over to ice before stopping. Next week’s temperatures will be equally cold, so it won’t be going anywhere for a while.

First, I made a quick run to the store for some hardware and Hobo Freight for a medium-sized narrow prybar that I could put on the 800’s flywheel. The main task was to try to get the springs back on the Travelall. I started with the driver’s side, jacking it up and pulling the wheel off. I horsed the spring pack into place and got it oriented in roughly the right place, then finger-tightened the rear shackle in place. This was not easy, as my ribs and butt are still sore from snowboarding on Tuesday—using my body as fulcrum on the ratchet was pretty painful. I should have taken some ibuprofen before going outside. I have an old shop heater I keep running in the garage while I’m working, and I found I had to come in and warm the tips of my fingers up every half an hour or so.

The front bushing was about 2″ away from the front fang, so I had to be creative with a combination of wood wedges, a bottle jack, floor jack, ratchet strap, and Hi-Lift to compress the pack enough to stretch it out and get the holes aligned. I put new Grade 8 bolts in the front mount and tightened everything up, including the U-bolts and shock absorber. By this point in the day the sun was behind the clouds, the temperature was dropping, and I knew I didn’t have enough time to try to install the other side.

The truck sits a lot higher on the front wheel now, which is great to see—overall the stance looks much better and the truck doesn’t look like it’s being squashed on its haunches. I figure I’ll have to get it aligned after I do all the bushings in the steering gear, but this should make a huge difference in handling. I let the fuel pump run and with two pumps of the pedal, it fired right up. I ran it up for about ten minutes while I was cleaning up my tools and then buttoned everything up.

With the remaining light, I shifted over to the 800. All attempts to move it from the crank bolt this week have been a failure, even after I put a ratchet strap on the wrench and left it under tension. Crawling underneath, I put the new prybar on the driver’s side and tried working it toward the center. I was surprised to feel a small amount of movement, so I kept at it until I’d moved it about 6″. I went to the other side and moved it back to where I’d started, and then repeated the process. When I got to the tough section that originally stopped me, I worked it a little more and suddenly felt it give way with a whoosh of compression. Excited, I got up and put a ratchet on the crank bolt and found that it moved pretty freely.

This is a HUGE relief, as now I can start pre-oiling the cylinders, rig up a fuel system from the boat tank, re-install the radiator, and start testing the ignition system for spark. So far I’m only into this thing for the carb rebuild kit and the prybar, so $20 for some new points won’t hurt too bad. I’ve got a set of wires left over from Peer Pressure’s last tuneup, as well as spark plugs with maybe 10K miles on them, so we might be able to get this thing running for pocket change. We’ll see.