99 Dakoter

I've got a set of cheap LH bits but I don't think this bolt is going to back out from a drill jamming in it. They were all tighter than the had any right to be. I'm pretty sure it's never been apart though.

I'm not sure how the heck I'm going to hold the nut in place to get a bead started though. I don't think there's enough room to get a 1/2" nut welded to it so it's going to have to go on top of what's there.
 
I kept messing with the extractor until I noticed a way to kinda sorta get the next smallest size extractor on it, then took a BAH to it and drove it on. Add a 2' breaker bar and it's out.

That really was a rusted off tag under the bolt.

1676160775957.png

The brake lines came off the wheel cylinders too, since I'm replacing those. I was skeptical but I got them.
 
I had forgotten how to work on old rusty junk. Do not like :D

At one time I was fast enough to get paid to work on cars, but I fought with one side of the rear brakes for about an hour yesterday. Part of it is working on jack stands vs a lift, but still. Back at the Sears auto center, I'd be on my second brake job by then.

I still have the other side to do, and bleeding, and cleaning up the diff cover. Then there's the battle of the headpipe to fight. Gina asked me how long it was going to take, I told her several days. I underestimated.
 
I had to disconnect the parking brake cable to get enough slack in it to connect it to the shoe. Of course the adjuster nut is stuck on that so I can't loosen it up to reconnect it.

This thing has some weird kind of configuration, with support cables. Never seen anything like it but haven't worked on the e-brake on anything remotely recent so maybe it's typical. It sure seems like a bunch of monkey business to me though.

I was able to run a thread chaser all the way down to the nut, but that nut won't budge. Yet. I tried heat, and the Dewalt on it. Haven't pumped up the compressor to try that impact yet.

I wondered if I can buy a replacement and save the headache though. Dorman offers this - it doesn't look the same but I wonder if it will work.

81L178O8Z9L._AC_SL1500_.jpg

All I need is the threaded part in the middle but I don't think it will work. The connector on the truck looks like this, the part on the far right.

1676377740558.png
That's from a 2000 FSM so it's a little different but the part the cable connects to is similar to that. I don't think it will work because the cable has a barrel end on it that doesn't look like it would even fit in the Dorman part.

Maybe I need to buy a nut splitter next.

I may never have a nice collector car or truck, but I do have a bitchin' set of tools.
 
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I agree about working on rusty junk. I hope my Dakota is as clean as my brother says. Coming along nicely with your projects. Wish I had more time for mine.
 
I noticed a 99 for sale in my email with underside photos. I haven't gone back and looked again, but it looked nothing like what I remember. I don't specifically remember any welded brackets other than one that doesn't really fasten the cables; they just pass through it.

I gotta look closer, but I remember looking last night and wondering how the heck it worked, TBH.
 
The drawing I posted is straight out of the '99 Dakota catalog, so whatever it is you need should be illustrated there. I don't think yours uses #8, being a standard/short.
 
I'll look at it closer soon. Had to do the V-day thing yesterday. Going to go get a nut splitter today too. Once I get the nut off I should be able to clean up the threads and re-use what's there now with a new nut.

FWIW you gotta love the way Dodge mixed and matched between metric and imperial fastener sizes. Diff cover bolts - 5/16 coarse. E-brake adjuster - M-8x1.25.
 
b-body-bob said:
FWIW you gotta love the way Dodge mixed and matched between metric and imperial fastener sizes. Diff cover bolts - 5/16 coarse. E-brake adjuster - M-8x1.25.
Click to expand...
Well, it's not surprising considering the 8¼" has been around virtually untouched since the 1969 model year. If it ain't broke...

Change costs money. If you've ever wondered why the 5.7 Prolate Semi-Ellipsoid Fiallantis Peucedes truck V8, the GM Generation III V8 (LS/truck) and the Ford Modular engines all share bore centers with their ancient brethren, it's because changing the centers on the block-boring fixture would literally cost millions of dollars. Chrysler's machine for the LA dates back to the whale hemi engines and is still on the same bore centers 70 years on.
 
Yes... not that it does you any good for anything. Bore centers are the same but that's it.

If I remember correctly, there's one engine built in '56-'57 that could accept either poly or Hemi heads, but I can't remember if it was a 331 or 354 (there are two distinct 354s). Obviously, the poly later became the LA, then the Magnum. The modern truck/RWD car V8 shares virtually nothing with the Magnum, but the bore centers are the same due to the enormous cost of either reconfiguring an existing, or building a new machine that bores four cylinders at once.
 
It's got an e-brake now, and I remember why I didn't own a nut splitter. Actually I kind of knew but had hopes. They don't work for crap. The nut had a flange on it that kept me from getting the whole nut in it, and it was too close to other parts too. Plus, they don't work for crap.

I ended up splitting the nut in a couple of places with a dremel and pried it off with a screwdriver/pliers.

I need to shoot a coat of paint on the diff cover tonight and bleed the brakes, then I'm on to the head pipe. I expect that to be a hassle too. It's going to be hard to hold the top of the bolt while I take the nut off the bottom, then there's the likelihood it's is going to be stuck on the next pipe.
 
All that's left now is the exhaust and I can't get the head pipe off the next pipe (cat con). It looks like I might have a situation here, but I won't know if it will slip in until I get the old one out. I think it's just an optical illusion.





That next pipe is the catalytic converter.
 
I remember doing it like this way back when service stations were a thing, but instead of using a sawzall and screwdriver we used a special air hammer bit. You had to put a tight vise grip on the pipes to keep from pushing the inside pipe back but it worked a treat. IIRC it was a Snap-On and there was both an inside and outside cut. I've looked at other less expensive places but never found the inside cutting chisel.



That is a good tip about not cutting the pipe all the way through so you can use it as a handle. I had noticed him holding the pipes with it throughout the video.

I guess I've got to either go to HF and buy a tail pipe cutter, or take my fingers into risk trying to cut it with a sawzall. I'm going to cut it right at that pinch point from the clamp That's probably as far as it's jammed in there anyway. It looked like I can push the exhaust over with a wooden 4x4 or something between the pipe and frame and brace against that. It also helps with the,worry of cutting into something I shouldn't.

Looking at clamps and etc, I realized a band clamp makes it almost a a no-brainer though. I just cut the pipes to where they butt and put this on it (presuming I can't get the pipe inside). Could it be that simple?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/EXH33226?impressionRank=2
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I'm amazed they have them on the shelf here.
 
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Reporting in to say the HF tailpipe cutter won't cut through either of the pipes I needed cut. It made a nice straight cut line that of course I couldn't stay on. It might've done better if I was standing under a car instead of laying on my back/side.

Anther thing I tried was to release all the hangers and bash on the muffler (clamp) to try to drive it off - no way.

Anyway, the line of my cut wouldn't have mattered, the stupid thing is jammed in past where the clamp was.

I just remembered I still haven't checked to see if they're ass-backward and won't mate anyway.

I'm suspecting I need a fairly straight cut to use a band clamp so I'll have to figure that out. I suck with a sawzall. Especially where the trucks' barely high enough to get it in there to begin with, and my bodysaw blades are about an inch too short to do the job.

When it comes to that I'm thinking to try
https://www.menards.com/main/tools/...-4-metal-cutting-t-shank-jig-saw-blade-3-pack

I'm pretty sure bodysaws and jigsaws are all the same. It just takes 10x as long as a sawzall ...
 
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