Gary Lewis Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Hi. The holes are oversized in both inner and outer part.There is a lot of wobble. New holes in 6,5mm and 7,5mm is possible. And new bolts. An other option is tapping the inner hole for an 8mm unbraco screw and the outer hole for its head 11,5mm. That might be more solid than 2 loose bolts. In lack of a lathe a drill and a file can do for minor adjustments.Its a little scary to start drilling in the parts. The problem will be drilling straight in. Greased up the bearings. The rear one slipped out of its cavity so it might be a little loose fitting. The little screw driver keeps the tilt lock in open position. The big helper spring is really stiff. Too strong in my opinion.. Its a little challenging to put this stuff together when you have 2 strong springs working against you Now I have to start drilling. And see what comes out of it. Greetings Stein. That looks like a reasonable plan. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 That looks like a reasonable plan. Good luck! Interesting! Looking forward to seeing how this all finishes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefire Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 Interesting! Looking forward to seeing how this all finishes. Hi. Today ( monday ) Eddie got approved for the road. I ended up making bigger holes and new bolts for the tilting mechanism. First I drilled the holes in the stationary part up to 6,5mm. Then I tapped them for a 8mm screw. That went pretty well. In order to get the tilting part off the column I had to take all the wires out of the plug to be able to pull the cable out of the column. Remove the red locking part first, then use a little screw driver to open the small locks on each wire. But take some pictures first so you know were they belong. When it comes to drilling out the holes in the tilting part I will recomend a stationary drill. I tried first with a 8mm drill and a handheld drill. But I was not satisfied with my lack of control on the drilling. A sharp drill cuts very fast and is difficult to hold back and straight. Since I dont have a stationary drill or reamer I used a cutter made for making counter sunk holes. This cutter is cutting only as fast as you want it to and gives you time to check your angles. Use cutting oil. I used the 10,4mm size. The aluminium is pretty soft so I got 2 nice clean holes. Then I had to turn down the heads on the unbraco screws. From 13mm to about 10,4mm. I did it with my drilling machine and a file. Take it slow and carefully. You need a caliper to check that you are getting a uniform diameter fore and aft. And it is slow. When you are getting close its testing/ cutting / testing on and on for a snug fit. Last thing you want to do is making them to small. The finished bolts . And here assembled. All loosenes gone. Assembled it all and went for a ride. Only slight movement now is from the tiny bearings on the stearing shaft. Here from the gas station. Highest price is unleaded 95 Gasoline. Ok. Thats it for now. Greetings Stein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Hi. Today ( monday ) Eddie got approved for the road. I ended up making bigger holes and new bolts for the tilting mechanism. First I drilled the holes in the stationary part up to 6,5mm. Then I tapped them for a 8mm screw. That went pretty well. In order to get the tilting part off the column I had to take all the wires out of the plug to be able to pull the cable out of the column. Remove the red locking part first, then use a little screw driver to open the small locks on each wire. But take some pictures first so you know were they belong. When it comes to drilling out the holes in the tilting part I will recomend a stationary drill. I tried first with a 8mm drill and a handheld drill. But I was not satisfied with my lack of control on the drilling. A sharp drill cuts very fast and is difficult to hold back and straight. Since I dont have a stationary drill or reamer I used a cutter made for making counter sunk holes. This cutter is cutting only as fast as you want it to and gives you time to check your angles. Use cutting oil. I used the 10,4mm size. The aluminium is pretty soft so I got 2 nice clean holes. Then I had to turn down the heads on the unbraco screws. From 13mm to about 10,4mm. I did it with my drilling machine and a file. Take it slow and carefully. You need a caliper to check that you are getting a uniform diameter fore and aft. And it is slow. When you are getting close its testing/ cutting / testing on and on for a snug fit. Last thing you want to do is making them to small. The finished bolts . And here assembled. All loosenes gone. Assembled it all and went for a ride. Only slight movement now is from the tiny bearings on the stearing shaft. Here from the gas station. Highest price is unleaded 95 Gasoline. Ok. Thats it for now. Greetings Stein Wow! I KNEW you'd do a good job, but that's exceptional. Well done! And congrat's on the approval for road use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Wow! I KNEW you'd do a good job, but that's exceptional. Well done! And congrat's on the approval for road use. Great job! Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Great job! Looks good! Impressive work, not sure I have the required skill level to do such work. I have a “spare” tilt column so maybe I can practice.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefire Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 Impressive work, not sure I have the required skill level to do such work. I have a “spare” tilt column so maybe I can practice.. Hi again. Thanks for your feedback. We have got very nice weather here now. Hot and sunny. But there is always something to fix on Eddie. The tailgate was a little bit out of alignment. Resulted in the right fastener for the tailgate support cable being overloaded. The sides of the tailgate is thin sheet metal and easily bent. Reinforced with small steel plate. Then loosened the hinges to get the load even on both support cables. Its some adjusting, fastening and testing to get the hinges at the right place. Some spacers were cracked.Replaced them with new ones. Also moved the tailgate sideways to get it better centered. Glued a piece of water hose on the locking bolts. The old rubber was of course gone . So now the tailgate is centered and snug fitting when closed. Holiday is getting closer. So Eddie has to be prepared:nabble_smiley_beam: At last here is 2 pictures of the front wheels camber. This is the distance at the bottom of the tires to a level. Dont you think this is to much ? After what I have read it should be neutral or only slightly leaning out at the top. Ok. Greetings Stein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Hi again. Thanks for your feedback. We have got very nice weather here now. Hot and sunny. But there is always something to fix on Eddie. The tailgate was a little bit out of alignment. Resulted in the right fastener for the tailgate support cable being overloaded. The sides of the tailgate is thin sheet metal and easily bent. Reinforced with small steel plate. Then loosened the hinges to get the load even on both support cables. Its some adjusting, fastening and testing to get the hinges at the right place. Some spacers were cracked.Replaced them with new ones. Also moved the tailgate sideways to get it better centered. Glued a piece of water hose on the locking bolts. The old rubber was of course gone . So now the tailgate is centered and snug fitting when closed. Holiday is getting closer. So Eddie has to be prepared:nabble_smiley_beam: At last here is 2 pictures of the front wheels camber. This is the distance at the bottom of the tires to a level. Dont you think this is to much ? After what I have read it should be neutral or only slightly leaning out at the top. Ok. Greetings Stein Beautiful pic! Good job on the tailgate cables. Your repair looks strong. But I'm surprised that the washers, or spacers as you called them, would break that way. Glad you got them replaced. On the locking bolt, does the washer come off? Some of them did, and on those a piece of 1/2" PEX water tubing is a good fit for the bolt and holds up well to the locking mechanism. And if your washer won't come off you can get one from a later truck and those do come off. On the camber, did you measure after backing it up? If so try it after driving forwards a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefire Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Beautiful pic! Good job on the tailgate cables. Your repair looks strong. But I'm surprised that the washers, or spacers as you called them, would break that way. Glad you got them replaced. On the locking bolt, does the washer come off? Some of them did, and on those a piece of 1/2" PEX water tubing is a good fit for the bolt and holds up well to the locking mechanism. And if your washer won't come off you can get one from a later truck and those do come off. On the camber, did you measure after backing it up? If so try it after driving forwards a bit. Hi. Washers 👍. Something sounded wrong.. Could not get the washers off the bolt. Split the hose. The camber was measured after Eddie was parked. So the wheels are in normal position. Stein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefire Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Hi. Washers 👍. Something sounded wrong.. Could not get the washers off the bolt. Split the hose. The camber was measured after Eddie was parked. So the wheels are in normal position. Stein Hi. Thought about your comment of moving the car back and forward before judging camber. I had also eased up the toe-in a little before I looked at the camber angle. The toe-in is 4mm. There is even wear of the tires. So I moved Eddie back and forward again. Checked with a level. Left front wheel was level. Right front wheel actually leaned a tiny bit in at the top. So thats very different from my first test. So I will go with it as is. When the day comes for the ball joints I can also put in new caster / camber bushings. So I will have to find something else to do. Greetings Stein. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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