60Patrol

My neighbor just popped by with some "inspiration" to get me moving on reassembling Aerogirl! I am now the proud owner of a third gen HotWheel Patrol to go along with my second gen Patrol! To celebrate, I took them both out to do a little parts-4-wheelin'!





Happy Days!

j

It was my first Saturday Powder Coat adventure!

I mounted the powder coat control along with an air pressure regulator and air dryer to a board to get started


Then gave it a whirl!


And in just under a half hour later, out pops a good looking, finished, ready to install mounting plate!


Since the first was successful, I did a whole bunch of parts at once! See -- that whole oven debacle worked out in the end!


And, 30 minutes later... Voila!


Next stop... Axles, meet springs. Springs, meet axles!

Have a great Sunday!
j

Tow steps forward, one small step back... Seems to be the usual!

I spent some time pressing the axle shackles apart to get them cleaned up and powder coated -- Yea, now that I can powder coat, EVERYTHING must get powder coated! Anyway, here are the plates -- I didn't take a picture of the bolt-pins though. I removed the zerks and used a pick to try and clean out that 50-year old grease. Boy it is sticky, gooey, gross stuff and will take some work to remove!


The zerks are also gooey -- I would like to replace them, but I have no idea what thread they are! It's about 10mm-ish in diameter but the thread pitch doesn't seem to be SAE. The pitch measures 0.9mm. Any ideas on the pitch?

If I can't find replacements, I may just clean them up and reuse them!


Since I have an oven in the garage, I decided to try heating the bolt-pins and zerks to soften the old grease. It must have worked -- at least some -- there are puddles of goop in the bottom of the jar. Tomorrow, I am going to soak them in acetone or some other solvant for several hours and see if it softens that goop even more!


Next, way back when I had the springs worked on, the shop gave me new u-bolts -- This is the step-back part if you hadn't guessed. But they provided 9/16" u-bolts... the Patrol takes 1/2". You can see that it nearly fits the spring mounting/backing plate, but just won't quite slide through. I could drill them a bit larger, but...


The Patrol uses three different connectors to mount the springs to the axles. The front passenger side uses one U-bolt -- the one you can see above -- that wraps the 3.5" diameter stub out from the differential housing. Then it also uses the two studs coming out of the bottom of the housing. Okay - that accounts for two of the three connection types.

The problem is that the six other U-bolts wrap the axle extensions that are only 3" diameter, not the 3.5" diameter of the U-bolts the shop provided! DANG! Time to do a some shopping


I just ordered six 3"x1/2" u-bolts and one 3.5x1/2" u-bolt from Summit... at least I am getting closer, right?

Does anyone know what that zerk thread is?

Always an adventure!
j

I recall that the zerks are an odd size but I don't think I ever found out what size. I've always had to reuse the old ones.

RiverPatrol wrote:I recall that the zerks are an odd size but I don't think I ever found out what size. I've always had to reuse the old ones.

Yep -- Odd size. The guy at O'Reillys tried and tried, but no luck finding replacements... I guess it will be a clean and re-use kind of situation!

j

The new U-Bolts arrived! They look like they will fit. They'll need to be trimmed to length after installing, but we can start assembling!

Here's one of the six 3" wide U-Bolts and the one 3.5" U-Bolt over their respective mounting plates.


The plan was to bolt the disks and wheels to the axles, to elevate them, then bolt the springs in place. But -- and yes, there is ALWAYS a but -- I hadn't tried the disks on after installing the wheel studs. Dang... the brakes are drilled for smaller studs than the Patrols'. No biggie -- off to the mill to drill and chamfer the stud holes in the rotors! I LOVE having a mill handy! I highly recommend everyone pick on up!


I also decided to relieve the rotor's ID a tiny bit as it drags on the outer diameter of the hub and wasn't seating all the way flush due to the inner corner radius in the rotor. Not too much, about 0.005" worth of relief. I also LOVE having a lathe handy! I highly recommend everyone pick on up!


Always an adventure!
j

First... another new toy! And boy, it totally makes the sandblaster rock! I've wanted one of these forever, and suddenly there's this lightly used 60 gallon air compressor at an unbelievable price! It's even just a couple years old... a 2020 model! Now I just have to figure out where to put it in my over-crowded garage!


So today is a BIG BIG DAY! I installed the rotors and tires (no calipers... I'll install those when it's time to run brake lines). Boy, holding the springs up while trying to tighten the U-bolts is a real bear! I mean it took a really really long time to install them! Look ma... pigeon toed!


Then I had an epiphany... There's no oil in them thar diffs... So, flip it over!

It took all of 15-seconds to flip it and then just a few minutes per side to install the springs! I think it may have taken longer to wipe my hands, grab the phone, and take this picture that to install the springs!


So the completed axles moved out of the shop area and onto the lift... right next to the frame!


Perhaps I was envisioning a long wheel base version when I placed the axles on the lift!


I have been waiting for this day! Big progress!

J

Same compressor that I used to have. It will rock many things!

RiverPatrol wrote:I recall that the zerks are an odd size but I don't think I ever found out what size. I've always had to reuse the old ones.

yup, either re-use, or buy slightly larger diameter new ones with a known thread pitch, and re-tap the shackle pins (pain)...

typically, as long as the spring inside the zerk still holds pressure against the ball, you can soak them in degreaser until they are hollow again, then snap them onto a grease gun and confirm that grease flows through them

If they pass grease through, then they are good to use.

I decided to powder coat the shackle pins once pressed back into the plates since it's a press fit and already has one layer of powder coat on it. While I was pressing them back into the plates, my thick aluminum tube suddenly compressed like a pop rivet! Check out the swelling right at the socket -- there was a slight diameter reduction starting there... apparently made it a failure point!


Anyway, all four shackle sets are ready to go! All the grease passages and zerk have been cleaned out -- I'm following the patented moore_rb zerk restoration procedures. I just painted the zerks then wiped the ball-end with acetone just before it dried. The ball will push in and comes right back to position. I'll do the pass-grease test once threaded into the shackles.


I only have two of the four hanger-end bolts... two required a saw for removal! I'm thinking of just going with a good ol' Grade 8 of the same size instead of trying to track down two more of these! I mean the old difference is really the unusual end and the removal-assist threads.


All fun and games!

j