Leroy the EK Ute

[Craig Allardyce]

Big warning Joe! If you're going to run inner axles seals you must pre pack the open bearing with 2 ounces of LGI grease or alternately run a sealed bearing with or without the seal.

[thebrotherj]

Big warning Joe! If you're going to run inner axles seals you must pre pack the open bearing with 2 ounces of LGI grease or alternately run a sealed bearing with or without the seal.

Bloody hell! You’re absolutely right. I completely forgot to do this

Thanks for spotting this Craig (I think Rob even made mention of this earlier), I guess I’m just so used to the sealed bearings I’ve always run on my later model cars that I went into autopilot on reassembly... all good, I’ll sort it out tomorrow. I’m a pro at locating those axles now anyways
Cheers. Joe.


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[Craig Allardyce]

FYI

H-186-G.jpg (180.87 KiB) Viewed 581 times

[thebrotherj]

FYI

H-186-G.jpg

Am I right in understanding that LG1 is white lithium grease? What is the modern equivalent? I have HTB and moly disulphide only in my stash, so I’m off to the parts store this arvo.

Again, thank you for this information...


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[thebrotherj]

A picture is worth a thousand words they say. I can sum these pictures up in one: DODGY





That carnage came apart with a screwdriver, there’s not a bunch left of the original box section... so I’m in the throes of making up a new one. There’s a few complex shapes to establish, but I’m feeling confident having successfully welded in a new section at the front subframe mount pocket. That’s now quite a strong thing.
My repair here won’t look factory... but it will be all metal, all welded & strong.

First though, a simple repair in the rail where a wasps nest inside it (seriously!) had held water and rusted two little holes... this will get my welding eye back in ready for the more complex stuff. Oh and the steel that I yanked out under the fibreglass was super thick, about 2mm - perfect for this repair:









I won’t post pics of every repair... there’s gonna be a few, but this is the standard I’m hoping to maintain. Wish me luck.


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[59wagon]

Haha. Those nice little surprises. I’ve recently found similar stuff with mine in the front sub-frame. Oh well, as you said, we’ll need to hone our welding skills
Good luck and have fun.
Cheers,
John


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[thebrotherj]

Haha. Those nice little surprises. I’ve recently found similar stuff with mine in the front sub-frame. Oh well, as you said, we’ll need to hone our welding skills
Good luck and have fun.
Cheers,
John

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It seems to be par for the course with hand-me-down cars like these!

To be fair, I knew it was there (you couldn’t miss it!!) but I’ve just been putting it off.
And thanks, I’ll try to keep smiling through the grinder induced deafness and general dirtiness of this mess... good luck with your own battles too.


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[Errol62]

Interesting about the transfer mentioned in the service bulletin Craig. Never seen one.

My van needed some repair around this area prior to inner sill replacement Joe. Used 18# 1.2mm sheet to fold up top hat section. Plenty of juice on the mig (E) and wire (5). Welding underneath will be harder than I had it on the rotisserie.


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[Errol62]

Looks like the rear sill ties need patching too. I had to re make two thirds of my passenger side one. 0.9 mm sheet and D 4 on the Lincoln mig.


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[thebrotherj]

Looks like the rear sill ties need patching too. I had to re make two thirds of my passenger side one. 0.9 mm sheet and D 4 on the Lincoln mig.


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Yeah mate, I’ll replacing the angled box section from spring eye mount to inner sill, the inner sill, the smaller tie (the rusty bit visible in the background of the photos above) and then a patch at the bottom of the inner wheel arch. I actually plan to hole-saw that so I can put in a grommet for easy fish oil access in the future.

I already welded in a new section of inner sill up near the front tie, but I might actually re-do it while I’m in this perfectionist mood.

I’m considering biting the bullet and buying one of the full length inner sill sections that Sasha Stark makes (found him on Facebook) then trimming it to suit. No idea if sedans and utes are different in this regard...

Oh and noted: I’m pretty sure the sheet of metal I bought for this is 1.2, if not 1.5mm.

Cheers, Joe


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[Errol62]

His inner sills look good. Sedan,wagon, commercial all the same except that the commercials all came with a full length central or third sill panel, often disintegrated with rust these days. It seems the FE FC utes had a tendency to break their backs just rear of the cab.


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[thebrotherj]

I’ve been doing a bit of pattern making... and metal shaping tonight. Here’s the new tie for the LHR spring box-to-inner sill I managed to cut out and fold up using 1.6mm hot rolled steel, which is the closest thing to suitable steel I can get my hands on easily at the moment. It worked out pretty damn neatly in the end:









I’ve made a new inner sill section out of reclaimed 2mm sheet, and I also chucked together a little corner section for the lower wheel arch out of the thin steel I salvaged from a Mitsubishi fender. Unfortunately it didn’t welded well at all, so I’m gonna remake that out of new metal. But here’s a few progress shot of the whole affair sitting together, some trimming and tweaking needed yet. But this came together very quickly indeed:







Looks fine for now, I’m sure it will get ugly when I start welding some of those fiddly bits in. Thinking I will use a combination of plug welds where it’s tricky and seam welds where I can access better. Maybe a task for the weekend if I can throw myself at it.


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[59wagon]

A few twists and turns in that piece, Joe. Good work.

Cheers,

John


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[Errol62]

Very tidy
On my van I used the Frankenstein jigsaw puzzle patchwork method for this section. I’m surprised gmh didn’t make these from heavier gauge as they serve to box the sill to rail interface so torsional rigidity is transferred forward from the rear suspension.

I am sure you will ensure any overlap in the sheet is zinc rich primed as well as inside the box section.
Cheers
Clay


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[thebrotherj]

Very tidy
On my van I used the Frankenstein jigsaw puzzle patchwork method for this section. I’m surprised gmh didn’t make these from heavier gauge as they serve to box the sill to rail interface so torsional rigidity is transferred forward from the rear suspension.

I am sure you will ensure any overlap in the sheet is zinc rich primed as well as inside the box section.
Cheers
Clay


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I’m familiar with that method, don’t worry! Thought it may get time to up my game, and I have been rewarded in this instance... we’ll see how I go with the chassis rail extension

Indeed, I am trying to minimise overlap sections and future rust traps as I go, I will remove more of the original tie before committing the new one into place. Oh and yes, I have Zinc chromate in mind for all the nasty bits and innards. Is that what you use?


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