Davin calls in favors to rebuild the Chevy 3600’s front suspension - Hagerty Media
The Chevrolet 3600 has been making steady progress, but in this week’s Redline Update Davin makes a concerted effort to bring the whole thing to a stop. That’s right, the man is finishing up the braking system so that this truck will be ready for driving as soon as the northern Michigan weather allows.
Before Davin could dive into the brake system though, he spent time finishing up the front suspension. The kingpins were more than a little worse for wear, and the last Redline Update showed Davin pulling everything apart; but this time it’s all about assembly. Similar to the suspension bushings that Davin pressed into the leaf springs, the new bushing for the kingpins needed a final touchup after being pushed into place. For that, he phoned a friend.
“I got to looking at the spindles, and the size of hone I needed was awful close to the fixture [that the] Thirlby machine shop uses on the little end of connecting rods,” Davin says. “So I gave Mikey a call and took a field trip over to see what we could do.”
It was a quick trip through the machine shop, then right back to the Redline Rebuild garage for assembly. With the bushings properly fitted, it was just a task of putting all the parts back in their proper places.
“This style [of] front end is one of the easier styles to rebuild,” Davin says. “Not a lot of parts, and the whole design is intuitive. It’s a durable design that, once I get it put together right, should hold up to anything we decide to use this truck for in the future.”
After the front axle was bolted together it was time to focus on stopping for the day. Well, not cleaning tools and cracking open a cold one, but rather assembling the brake lines and prepping the whole hydraulic system for bleeding. Which leads to Davin’s final tip from this episode, and it’s a good one.
He always wraps the bleeder screws with regular Teflon tape. This easy and simple seal helps keep the threads sealed when bleeding the system, especially if using a vacuum bleeder. It’s important to ensure that while trying to get air out of the port of the bleeder, you are not introducing air through the threads. It also keeps the threads from galling or otherwise becoming corroded and locking the bleeder screw in place for all time.
We’re one step closer to putting the drivetrain back in and taking the truck for a spin. There is still a lot to get done between now and then, however. If you want to track the progress of the Chevy 3600 and get more of Davin’s great garage tips, be sure to subscribe to Hagerty’s YouTube channel and you’ll receive notification with each great video that goes live.
