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Beautiful. Do you know what barrio that is? I have family in helechal, and barrancas. Close to the Pueblo. New addition today. New shift knob and 3 inch extension. Really makes a difference
ordered an extension for the transfer lever too
Looking good, I wish the interior of mine was that clean! I’m not sure exactly on the barrio, my friends in-laws live up there and invited us to a pig roast. That picture was the view from their backyard of a little plantain farm. From what I remember and looking back at the map it was close to el Pueblo but I don’t think it was as far south as Helechal. If i could find a way to make a living in a place like that i would move in a heartbeat but I’m a carpenter/cabinet maker and most places, especially small mountain towns, are pretty saturated with handymen... also I’d say my Spanish is proficient but it’s still not perfect.
After speaking with my uncle, he actually lives in El Porton section of Barranquitas. Yeah, labor is plentiful to find in Puerto Rico, it's the materials that's expensive. Most of my cousins are jack of all trades, master of none types, lol.
My father was pretty particular keeping the truck clean. The interior is probaly the best part. It has i's share of dents, scratches and such. The bed is in the worst shape. I have a big dent in the header panel, one bedside is bent out of alignment(my father carried a pair of horses a few times!!), a 8x10in bubbly rusty section on the left rear bed corner and dents and such inside the bed. Man, I have a set of Mitsubishi Montero wheels that would work great on your truck....
After speaking with my uncle, he actually lives in El Porton section of Barranquitas. Yeah, labor is plentiful to find in Puerto Rico, it's the materials that's expensive. Most of my cousins are jack of all trades, master of none types, lol.
My father was pretty particular keeping the truck clean. The interior is probaly the best part. It has i's share of dents, scratches and such. The bed is in the worst shape. I have a big dent in the header panel, one bedside is bent out of alignment(my father carried a pair of horses a few times!!), a 8x10in bubbly rusty section on the left rear bed corner and dents and such inside the bed. Man, I have a set of Mitsubishi Montero wheels that would work great on your truck....
Yep, most everyone from el campo knows how to do just about everything which in general seems to have died in the states with ultra-specialization of the trades. Everything has pros and cons.
Replaced the parking bell cranks today. The passenger side drum always tightens up after just a few weeks of usage and I have to back the star wheel off. Also definitely need to replace the rear bearings asap
Back when I lived in Boston, I’ve seen those replaced like every 5 years. They would rust jammed, mostly on automatic trucks. The owners of the automatic trucks would hardly use the parking brake and they would seize.
Oh I bet, I keep remembering how lucky I am to have a mostly rust free old Toyota. Browsing a lot of rigs on here the frames are looking pretty crusty. Mine definitely is in these pics too haha just a lack of a good cleaning after hitting some mud. I need to replace the passenger axle bearing pronto, would you or anyone happen to know if this is something that both sides need to be serviced at the same time, if there would be a bad pressure difference with one new bearing and one old? Obviously it makes sense to just do them both at the same time but the budget is a little tight after getting the engine back from the machine shop.
Also after reading through stovetop36’s build up I may go with what he did for a rear suspension setup. My rear bunp stops we’re removed by PO so if I went the zuk mod route it would end up being the same price as a nice set of shocks. $30-$40 bumpstop $40-70 coil spring. I know people have claimed success with the zuk mod, but I would prefer to not be cutting or welding anything. It seems like a nice set of shocks and tweaking the torsion bars and shackles might yield the same or better results...
Last weekend all the parts arrived to service the passenger side rear wheel bearing so took Monday off to drop the axle off and planned to renew my registration and be back to work Tuesday. I’ve never serviced these rear wheel bearings but I know they can be a pain yet I’ve seen teenagers on youtube weld up jigs out of spare parts and get it done in less than an hour. Unfortunately I don’t have those resources so took it to a machine shop nearby that has some good rep but turned out to not be the case with this job...
When I went to pick it up, he was still finishing getting it back together. Waited around for a minute and he tells be he broke the retainer while installing it and would have to take care of it the following day. In the process of cutting the old retainer he destroyed the parking brake bell housing boot I just replaced. Fast forward to today I get a call at 8:30 said he’s all done “parece nítido”. Went home to install it and noticed the hub was crooked and the bearing wasn’t set properly. Hopefully he can take care of it all tomorrow but I imagine he will have to re do all of it, who knows what kind of bashing the bearing will be subject to... It was obvious after I took the axle home to install that something wasn’t right Looking a little hawk eyed
The retainer I got from rock auto that the machine shop guy broke while installing. He was able to find a replacement at a local store that had Japan stamped on it. Box says Japan, retainer says Brazil.
Ya know the more I look at those pictures and watching more videos on replacing these bearings, it almost looks like the axle shaft could be bent... am I just paranoid?
The retainer I got from rock auto that the machine shop guy broke while installing. He was able to find a replacement at a local store that had Japan stamped on it. Box says Japan, retainer says Brazil.
Super common practice in PR. Quality name boxes with inferior parts in them. It was a struggle for my pops when he needed something quicker than I could source it for him. He was at the mercy of the local parts store. Some you could trust, some not so much.
Kind of BS they didn't have the bearing in the correct box. But Marlin chooses to send Nachi bearings with their rebuild kits, so I'm not sure how "inferior" they are to Beck Arnley
Got an email back from Rock Auto... it makes sense but I guess a little annoying... “Sometimes manufacturers buy parts from other manufacturers and re-sell them as their own. In doing so, they declare the quality of the part worthy of their name and stand behind the product with their warranty. We understand that it can be frustrating to find a different brand inside the box, but please understand that we do not have control over manufacturer supply chains.”
Anyways, got a call from machine shop guy he says it’s all straightened out so I’ll go pick it up when he returns from lunch. I had a really cool conversation with the owner a few days ago (his son now does all the work as he is 80) he’s from Cuba and told me about being in a concentration camp for two years because he didn’t want to conform to communist rule and wanted to continue working for himself. He missed the cutoff to take a boat to Miami but was eventually able to leave and made it to Spain where his son was born. Later he moved to New Jersey, couldn’t stand the cold, then decided to try out Puerto Rico and realized how similar it is to Cuba and stayed here ever since. They have all these super old Cincinnati machines. Anyways, I was really pissed that his son messed up the bell crank boot and didn’t install the bearing properly causing me to miss work since Monday, yet I know they’re not bad people and he probably just has a lot going on in his life (operating a small business in PR can be very difficult). Just an odd thin line to be walking on, being angry about not doing the job right yet still trying to be sympathetic to extenuating circumstances in other people’s lives. Hopefully it is all good and I’ll be back on the road today so I can continue saving money to complete the engine build.
Bearing got fixed and seems all good now, however I still have clunking sound while braking. Been searching around a lot so just need to be more specific now in the diagnosis. Wasn’t even in a rush, just not paying attention led to an end of fix trip to pep boyz
Last edited by puertofrito; 10-03-2019 at 06:15 PM.
Ya know the more I look at those pictures and watching more videos on replacing these bearings, it almost looks like the axle shaft could be bent... am I just paranoid?
Just take it out a bit and reinsert. Or wiggle a lot. After the third try it will slip all the way in. Not sure what it is, but I have it on every 4th axle when I try to insert it.
Going good, I took the crankshaft to another machine shop in San Lorenzo that someone at work recommended because the shop that did the previous work said they couldn’t remove the broken extractor. I told him to take his time with it so maybe next Friday I’ll give him a call. I don’t know if you keep up with any news in PR, there was recently a crazy shooting in a public housing complex in Carolina, maybe 5min driving from where I live. The daytime homicides are ridiculous man. And I still rarely see cops out patrolling
09-14-2019, 02:51 AM
