Pretty in primer. A ‘69 521.

[Slow Loris]

Any thoughts on where to source a shift lever for my Monkey Butt shifter?…PO put a short one in and it’s not ideal in my mind. I don’t see them as very widely available, but maybe they are more simple than I’m thinking? Looks like there’s a slot down near the base so I can’t just thread and bend a rod myself without that right? 

 

[pidge]

The shifter arm itself?  I’ve seen them on eBay. 
-Pidge

[Slow Loris]

Oh, yeah for an arm and a leg. $150 I think on eBay. Beggars can’t be choosers I guess. On principle I can’t do it. Can’t find anything older than ‘78 in the junkyards and those would only run me $5 if they fit.

[Crashtd420]

9 hours ago, Slow Loris said:

Oh, yeah for an arm and a leg. $150 I think on eBay. Beggars can’t be choosers I guess. On principle I can’t do it. Can’t find anything older than ‘78 in the junkyards and those would only run me $5 if they fit.

I think I have what you need on my shelf in the garage.... it's just the rod with the bushing... I'll check later...

I'll just take the arm no leg....

No seriously cover the shipping and its yours.... I'll message you later....

 

Oh dont mess with the pivot pin... its held in by a tiny roll pin and you can break the aluminum ear if not careful.... the bottom pin is removable,  should be a c clip.... that can be shimmed to take out some slop also.... 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Crashtd420

[Slow Loris]

@Crashtd420 really that would be awesome! Much appreciated. Sure sure an arm, shipping, whatever!

 

Okay good to know I haven’t fiddled with anything yet. I’ll be careful with it. Yes seems like I will inevitably be pursuing the slop sooner or later…there sure is an awful lot of character in these trucks..
 

 

[Crashtd420]

So this is what I have....

 

I got it with some other stuff just like you see it... not sure how stuck the shifter knob end is, looks like someone just pulled the knob off...

Should come off with a little heat....

 

I can separate both ends just to make sure they come off and its something you can use.... 

I'll probably do that either way for my own piece of mind...

 

If you want it it's yours, send me a private message with your info and I'll see what it takes to ship it.. 

 

[datzenmike]

On 9/24/2022 at 6:39 PM, Slow Loris said:

Alright—truck sat the whole week lonely and untouched. But now I’ve sorted my water pump situation and given the engine a good long warm up. Performed the compression test again and got pretty dramatically different numbers:

 

1- 120

2- 115

3- 120

4- 125

 

 

 

I would rather see 150 across the board, below 130 says a re-build is in the future. As long as not burning oil and having them that even is good!  

 

 

This is rough setting. Stick a screwdriver in the #1 plug hole and turn engine by the front crankshaft bolt. Stop when screwdriver stops moving up. No look where ignition timing pointer is pointing on the font pulley. Notch will be close or maybe right on. 

 

Failing that, floor it in 3rd and if no pinging add ignition advance a few degrees at a time till it just pings under load, then back off slightly till it stops. If it pinging back off the timing a few degrees at a time till it stops.

[Slow Loris]

Gotcha I will try the screwdriver method I know I gotta dial that timing in better for sure. As for the eventual rebuild, well…my focus shifted to brakes so that I might move beyond “running” and into “driving.” 
 

Once I do that I’m sure I’ll see, hear, and smell plenty of reason to dial this in much much much better, or, you know, do the rebuild. 

[Crashtd420]

These are the pictures I mentioned in the message...

What I plan to send you...

 

And if you want it...

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Crashtd420

[Slow Loris]

Actually drove for the first time today! Far from victory but yeah that was fun! No clue how to find 3rd gear! Fun.

 

Despite the never ending brake job…I still hardly had brakes. Current adjustment is the wheels take some effort to spin by hand when jacked up so I figured that was the spot. Not free spinning and more than just a couple of rubs. In the driveway, it pumps up hard after two pumps. Driving, it’s all soft pedal, minimal braking power.

 

With the adjusters “over-adjusted” so that the wheels don’t spin by hand at all in the air, pedal feel was very hard, no sponge.
 

They are brand new shoes and drums. In that case do they need to go for a drive in the hard, over-adjusted state?

 

I tried bench bleeding the master, but honestly I could hardly push the linkage in that far so I’m not sure I even did anything. There IS a tiny seep where the linkage enters the rubber boot in the firewall—like a drop drips every 10 pumps.

 

other question—when bleeding the clutch, the pedal suctions itself down to the floor with the bleed screw open and won’t return unless you pry it up. What’s that about?

 

 

[bilzbobaggins]

13 minutes ago, Slow Loris said:

Actually drove for the first time today! Far from victory but yeah that was fun! No clue how to find 3rd gear! Fun.

 

Despite the never ending brake job…I still hardly had brakes. Current adjustment is the wheels take some effort to spin by hand when jacked up so I figured that was the spot. Not free spinning and more than just a couple of rubs. In the driveway, it pumps up hard after two pumps. Driving, it’s all soft pedal, minimal braking power.

 

With the adjusters “over-adjusted” so that the wheels don’t spin by hand at all in the air, pedal feel was very hard, no sponge.
 

They are brand new shoes and drums. In that case do they need to go for a drive in the hard, over-adjusted state?

 

I tried bench bleeding the master, but honestly I could hardly push the linkage in that far so I’m not sure I even did anything. There IS a tiny seep where the linkage enters the rubber boot in the firewall—like a drop drips every 10 pumps.

 

other question—when bleeding the clutch, the pedal suctions itself down to the floor with the bleed screw open and won’t return unless you pry it up. What’s that about?

 

 

Return spring still on clutch ?

[Slow Loris]

Return spring is on, it only does it when bleeding (when bleed screw is open) it’s really weird—

 

depress clutch, open bleed screw while depressed, and then the clutch pedal sucks itself down a little more to floor, close bleed screw, pedal does not return.

 

with the screw closed, I can depress the clutch pedal over and over and it does return.

[datzenmike]

 

27 minutes ago, Slow Loris said:

 

 

....depress clutch, open bleed screw while depressed, and then the clutch pedal sucks itself down a little more to floor,

 

 

 

So far this is normal.

 

28 minutes ago, Slow Loris said:

..... close bleed screw, pedal does not return.

 

with the screw closed, I can depress the clutch pedal over and over and it does return.

 

 How do you get the pedal back up??? Lift the pedal by hand? Do you have to pull it up???

 

There is a spring in the master that is compressed with the pedal down. There is a return spring on the pedal that is extended when the pedal is down. Both these should return the pedal regardless if the bleeder is open or not. 

[Slow Loris]

Yes I am pulling it up by hand to reset the stroke.

 

it’s not like what I experienced bleeding the brakes where with the bleed screw open then your foot and pedal sink to the floor. It’s like…the clutch pedal runs away from your foot and drops to the floor without your foot on it.

 

I’ll try to get a visual on the spring when this happens—maybe there is something going on with the linkage or spring or I dunno something that will make itself known if I have eyes on it rather than a foot on it. 

[Slow Loris]

But yeah, close the screw, lift pedal by hand, then I can pump all I want and the pedal does return no problems. Drove and shifted fine. 

[Slow Loris]

Whooooeee it’s been so cold in that there garage hence no update.

 

Been fiddling with a few things:

 

Found a very slight leak from brake m/c dripping into the cab so decided to convert to a dual res master cylinder. I went with a drum/drum setup I’m sure one day I may regret but it worked well. Big thanks to @mklotz70 for the pushrod! Ended up bending all new steel lines for the front half, left the rear alone. Had to use two new blocks because the original was f’ed up when I removed one of the flare nuts. All went off without a hitch. I used a m/c from Centric that rock auto says fit I think a ‘73 620 drum/drum truck.

 

Also stripped one of my banjo bolts on the front brake but found that a ‘94(?) D21 hose fits perfectly you just don’t need the fitting anymore and matches up with the nut as is. Neat tip in case anyone else has a screwed up 521 banjo. Also widely available.

 

put in a new clutch master too as that was REALLY leaking into the cab, and did the slave too as cobwebs and skeletons were falling out of the old one.

 

Found some seats that work well. Volvo S40 2007(?) they re a little thick in the back but very comfy and what I really like is the spacing was perfect for the mounts I already had from PO (who also had buckets in—they were just trashed).

 

Had a fun gremlin where only high beams were on no low beams and found that my steering column was not acting as a good ground for some reason. The spline was a really good ground, but the contact between collar of switch and column wasn’t doing it, so fixed that and now have four working lights as they should but god knows where they aiming. 
 

More floor grinding to be done working on taillight wiring now…so much good advice here I don’t even have to post questions! Thanks all!

 

New masters

test fit of Volvo bucket and shiny floor plus a much better shifter courtesy of @Crashtd420

[Charlie69]

http://vintageconnections.com/ has all the wire connectors for your truck.  Good people to do business with just received my latest order last week.  Will be building a 71 521 rear combination light harness and installing it this Saturday on Mauro's 521 a truck I sold him about 3 years ago.  I bought it as a parts truck and sold it to him for $800.

[Slow Loris]

Sweet I’m gonna need it. I seemed to have lost my wires from reverse switch but all others accounted for and operating pending proper harness. These wires are hanging by a thread as is. If I sneeze back there I won’t have any lights at all.
 

Is there a good replacement for the twist-lock plastic housing the taillight bulb sockets fit into? The part that locks into the housing assembly?

 

Mine are wanting to wobble out—missing a tooth it seems. That and all the rubber boots have crumbled into dust every time I spun one to check the bulbs.

[Slow Loris]

How was the front side marker lamp wiring physically routed and tied into the rest of the wiring (like with that of the the front marker as the wiring diagram seems to indicate)? 
 

My truck didn’t come with any markers—I’ve got them now but was expecting to see some dangling or cut wires or connectors where they would have spliced in. I see nothing. It doesn’t really even look like there is a channel in the backing plate to snake them from the front marker is to shoot out to the fender. There’s nothing hanging out behind the headlights either. 
 

I mean I know I could splice them in to any place I can reach but where the heck did they even go?

[Slow Loris]

What does it mean when the green turn indicator arrows in the gauge cluster only blink with the hazard switch and not the turn signal switch?

 

The actual turn signals at all corners work correctly with appropriate turn signal switch position and all come on with hazard switch. Both flasher units are new.

 

When using the right turn switch, the red ignition light blinks. 

[datzenmike]

Has it always been like this or have you had the gauge cluster out???

 

 

The 10 pin connector in the back of the gauge cluster is keyed so it only goes on one way. Possibly it was forced on out of position?

 

 

[Crashtd420]

Proper grounds to the circuit board can be an issue....

When my turn signal stopped flashing it was only on the cluster too, exterior lights were fine... I had to solder an extra ground wire from the case to the circuit board.. 

 

[thisismatt]

Grounds, switch itself, fuses. In no particular order or level of gremlin possession

[Slow Loris]

I have not taken the cluster out but I did reach my paw back there and put new lights in it. This is a new phenomenon (worked since replacing dash lights) so not sure what I did to it since. I messed with various switches recently (cleaned combination switch, cleaned hazard switch, light switch), new flashers. I did swap in new fuses and did a lot of taillight wiring and now here we are.

 

@Crashtd420 did your green arrows work with the hazards only? I’m most confused by how they blink with hazards but not the turn switches.  I can live with a blinking IGN light as a right turn indicator—that’s perfectly quirky for a 54 year old truck.

[thisismatt]

Pretty sure I recently had blinkers not working, but hazards working, and it was a poor connection in the fuse box.  I've also had the switch stop working properly and need cleaning.  I'm pretty good at wiring and still find some of the stuff they did confusing.