Slowly Making Improvements to my '69 Patrol

[Esteban]

Steve, where did you get the U-bolts that attach the springs to the axle? They look brand new.

[RiverPatrol]

Having extra Patrols around to steal parts off of is always nice.

The seats and trim panels look really nice. Good work!

[alber garage]

Steve, where did you get the U-bolts that attach the springs to the axle? They look brand new.

I attempted to reuse old ones but I guess they were in pretty bad shape because I was able to strip out the threads without even applying a lot of torque. I decided to have some made at a local suspension shop that does all kinds of suspension components, including leaf springs. They told me that the size was pretty unconventional but they were able to make them, no problem. They did cost me about $11 apiece including the nuts and washers. They do appear to be very well made though.

[moore_rb]

Looking good!

[alber garage]

I sprayed the insides of my doors with bed liner stuff in a can and installed my door panels with new stainless steel fasteners.

[alber garage]

Finally replaced the bent drag link with the one from my parts rig.



I didn't realize how severe the bend was until I laid them out side-by-side (forgot to snap a pic). I hadn't realized that the ability to turn the wheels fully right was being severely compromised - it's working much better now.

[RiverPatrol]

Wow! Considering that that rod is almost 1" in diameter, that was a pretty hard hit to bend it like that.

[moore_rb]

Dude, that thing is TWEAKED... I also have a bent one in my scrap pile, but wow... it's nowhere near that bad...