Thread: 53 Is back from the Body Shop

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I talked to our local carquest this morning, turns out the rack that I have is an odd-ball rack with a 2-in steering shaft. He cannot find another in any of their warehouses. He said to repair this one would be a remove and send up and repair,.This tells me that this rack has probably been repaired several times and is probably garbage by now. He can get me the more common one That's has a shorter shaft, but he is not sure how much shorter it is. Worst case scenario I'll just have to put a longer section of DD steering shaft to reach and then I will also be using more common rack. I know I said I wasn't going to bother with warranty again, but I will give them one more shot because it's free and I'm Dutch lol.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

This tells me that this rack has probably been repaired several times and is probably garbage by now.

Yeah, the reality is that these parts that were so common no so long ago (or so it seems to me) are now getting on to 30+ years old. Most have probably been through the rebuild process at least once or twice and they most likely weren't intended to be rebuilt even once.

Looks like hot rodders are going to have to start to consider buying expensive new racks from places like Flaming River or find something off of a newer vehicle that can be made to work. This is kind of starting to happen with 9" Ford rearends. They used to be all over the salvage yards, but considering they haven't been made by Ford since the mid-80's, they are really starting to dry up. I'm seeing nearly all of the custom driveline places offer new 9" housings in several stock styles.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I know I said I wasn't going to bother with warranty again, but I will give them one more shot because it's free and I'm Dutch lol.

Lol, aren't we all! Though, sometimes the cheap is expensive..

Just a normal pickup doing normal pickup things

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Just a normal pickup doing normal pickup things

Have a safe trip, and have fun exploring the Bad Lands!

The Black Hills trip won't be for about another month. We're taking it about 2 hours west of here Saturday to the Missouri River where there's a ATV trail park. We figured this would be a good trial run for Rita pulling a trailer, and for the Ranger at the trails.. If something needs attention, I just soon have it happen now.

Have a good trip and make sure to swing over to the old Sioux Falls steel plant while you can.

We made it to Talsma Trail park and back last Saturday, we had a fun time there. We pulled up there about 11 am and two guys came walking up to us pretty fast and said we've never had a pickup like this here before Turns out it was the owner and his friend, and his friends boy is doing a 54 right now. We talked about the pickups for awhile then hit the trails. I didn't get too many pics but I'm sure glad I put a winch on the Ranger as you can in the pic, we had that thing buried in muck The Missouri River looks like its getting pretty low as well. A couple things I found out is there is not enough tongue weight on Rita, it squatted a bit but it needs more, I always thought it felt a little swirly but not terrible. I found out the tongue weight when I hit 70 mph down a hill and the trailer started jumping back and forth. I don't know if any of you have had that but you really don't know how it will end. I quickly slowed down and then hit the gas to pull it out of it and it finally calmed down. I didn't go over 60 after that and nearly had to clean my shorts.I wonder if the wind drag started doing a kite effect on the Ranger roof and started lifting the trailer a bit. Another is the back brakes didn't work as they should. I got that fixed tonight as I found out the Ford master cyl front and rear ports are opposite than GM. I swapped the lines around on the proportioning valve and holy smokes, I got brakes now! If I'm going to the Hills, brakes need to work like their supposed to. I need to address the trailer situation and we should be Black Hills ready.

Fishtailing indicates not enough weight on the drawbar alright.
It's frightening isn't it?

Many times the front suspension is lifted from IMPROPER weight balance and fish tailing is induced from loss of stability in the front steering-----------

Agreed.
But that's when there is too much weight on the tow bar and it's the towing vehicle that starts to fishtail...and that's even more frightening!
What Seth had was the towed vehicle (his trailer,) fishtailing.

I once had two tyres blow on the same side on a fully laden (gvw about 12 tons,) milk tanker.
I looked in my l/h mirror to see my trailer coming around sideways to meet me..."Keep that right foot hard down boy!"
She straightened up thankfully and I was able to stop without totalling anything.

But that was bloody terrifying for what seemed like two minutes; but was more likely less than ten seconds.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Just a normal pickup doing normal pickup things

Love seeing an old pickup doing what it was designed to do.

Getting the tongue weight right is critical. I needed to trailer my Jeep to a shop about 70 miles away, loaded it behind my old beater '90 F150 and had the tongue too light, almost zero. I turned around after about 5 miles - the thing was squirrely! Moved the Jeep up about 6", which dropped the bumper about 2" and it pulled like it wasn't there!

In my limited experience Johnboy's analysis rings true, and he's driven about a million miles towing heavy loads over those twisty NZ roadways. Too little tongue weight and your trailer wags, too much and the truck gets pushed and you have almost no control because the front is trying to float, like Jerry said. Like many things, the right balance is the key to happiness.

Have you tried backing your Polaris onto the trailer to see if it balances better?

I have not tried that, the motor is located in the center of the Polaris so I don't know if that would change a lot. It's not my trailer, I'm glad I got to borrow it so I know what to look for one that is longer. My brother-in-law has a longer tandem axle trailer that he converted from boat trailer, I will use that one going to the Hills. He is using my pickup to go this weekend and I get to borrow his trailer when I go. Trailers are at a premium right now around me, when things cool off a bit I'll snoop around looking for one.