3406B front structure cover resealing project.

[LowBoy]

Dove into this job elbows deep Friday 6-10-22...and Saturday morning around 9:30 EST I got a piece of debris in my right eye and ended up messing up the entire day in the local ER...then Sunday a trip 1.5 hrs north to the better hospital (Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical center in Hanover, NH,) to have an opthalmologist take a better look at things. Apparently they swiped the piece out of the eye on Saturday night at the local ER, but it was irritated and still felt like something was lodged in there. What a wasted weekend. But...back at it again Monday feeling fine.

Anyways, resealing the front cover on this 3406B engine. It was dribbling enough oil to make a daily mess, and eventually the long arm of the law was going to have a problem with excessive oil leakage...so here I am. I don't want to displeasure the authorities...that wouldn't be nice.

Quite a little job to say the least. But while I'm in here I'm flushing the radiator, changing belts and hoses, and new hood hinge bushings, whatever else I see that needs freshening up. The 'ol gal works hard, and so you need to return the favor with a little TLC now and again, if you're serious about the game.

 

[Truck Shop]

Are you going to change any of the bushings in the gear train? Sorry about the eye.

 

[LowBoy]

Are you going to change any of the bushings in the gear train? Sorry about the eye.

Yes sir. I found both the cam and idler gear bushings are almost to the point of failure. I'm GLAD I'm doing this when I am after discovering them. Man oh man, especially the idler gear one. I'm on my way to get them this morning. Those aren't something you'd normally go in and look at periodically, lol...I'm pretty thankful for the timing of this job now.

Eye is fine since yesterday, thanks. That was a major pain in the ***. Set me back 2 days.

I spent the entire day yesterday in the pickup chasing for some small, simple parts. I wanted to change the belts and hoses. Seems simple, right? Parts house had ONE of the two belts I needed. The counter guy asked, "do you want a matched set?" I felt like saying, "no, I'll just put a piece of rope next to the new one, thanks." But I refrained from the sarcasm. The second one would be there at 2 p.m. he said. So, onto the hoses. I like the blue NAPA silicone ones,(part # 1556 for the 3.5") and I needed a stick of 3" and a stick of 3.5". I went to 4, yes...4 different supply houses that specialize in hose and couplers and fittings and none of them had everything I needed. Ended up at a NAPA store that had a 2 ft. stick (they normally come in 3 ft. sticks only,) and I was happy to get that believe me.

The stuff is $72.00/ft...and I only need an 8" chunk for the bottom of the radiator, so I hated to have to buy $216.00 worth of hose for 8"...but I would have if I had to. Got lucky and that particular guy at NAPA was absolutely over-the-top helpful and would even have cut me off the 8" piece if I wanted it. I also bought new torque clamps, not cheesy hose clamps. I don't use hose clamps, they ruin hose by biting into them and eventually fail right at the clamp.

So today after a lousy weekend and a Monday of chasing parts all day long, I'm headed to get those bushings and moving forward in assembly finally. Got a lot of the stuff cleaned up, washed and prepped already.

 

[chidog]

An important thing to replace is the crank damper / harmonic balancer. They do seem to wear out and can cause problems up front and even broken crankshafts. If it is an older high time engine that has the original I would do it.