I've put off pulling my '68 front end until Wed. That will be my last chance.

Just curious about any tips as I've never dropped a crossmember complete with steering before.

Should I leave the steering box and idler attached or remove them. Need to do this as quickly as possible but just worried I might damage something after its pulled if they are left attached to the crossmember.

Also curious about removing the steering shaft from the box, I'll check Haynes but never done that either so any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks All.

Were it me, I'd leave the idler attached to the front end, and unbolt it from the body. If you have a puller though, I'd pull the pitnam arm off the steering box and pull the box separately. Ideally, pull the box and intire column to the sterring wheel, as I think the steering column safety breakdown is a better design in the '68.

Since the '68 is a parts car, just cut them brake lines on the body side of any connections. Then you can crimp them over to keep dirt from getting in parts you might want to use down the road.

Pretty much just a case of turning bolts, and I've never had a problem with the cross-member bolts. They are big and tight, but always seem to turn.

as always, be careful under there!

--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Thanks, I may hit you up for suggestions on cutting electricity use.

Electricity is about 25-30 cents/kw out there in Hawaii. Crazy they have never gone geothermal, but I haven't looked into the reasons.

After checking out Haynes I think I'll try to disconnect the steering box and leave the idler. Only have a ball joint fork so we'll see.

If the rust cooperated is doesn't seem to be too involved getting the whole shebang out of there.

"I may hit you up for suggestions on cutting electricity use."

That's about the best initial response I've heard from anyone regarding renewable energy... feel free to email about conservation. Please don't email about building a system that'll be cheaper than your grid power :-)

On that parts car.. man, I know how it is having to get rid of a parts car fast. Decide what you want, and the quickest, easiest way to go about getting those parts off. If it's going to the crusher on Thursday, you gotta get what you can get before then. If it means trashing one thing to save another... so be it.

Sawzalls are your friend. So is Oxy/Acetylene.

In years past I've gotten calls from folks that finally gave up... saying... come get what you can, the wrecker will be here at 4:00... If I'd been able to take the whole car, of course I would have. But I didn't always have that option, so I'd get what I could.

And twixt a couple or three folks... we could get most all the bits off a 122 that could fit in a pickup truck in just a few hours. Complete drivetrain, bolt on body parts, electronics, and the windshield if it was worth keeping. Other glass we'd generally blow off. Don't waste time grabbing stuff that can be purchased off ebay for a few bucks. Get the stuff that will be hard to replace.

Good luck with it, man... 25-30 cents/KWH... damn.


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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Its pretty easy, disconect any hard lines to the brakes. I'd disconect the idler and steering arm, then just unbolt them from the body. Once everything is disconected, jack everything up. Support the body with jack stands, unbolt the 4 cross member bolts and lower it with the floor jack. Much easier if the motor is already out, but I did one with the motor in. Took a sawzall and cut the front end clean off the fire wall and dropped everything, then seperated the motor from the front end.

I'm pulling the idler and steering box as well. Wasn't sure if that was clear in the first message.

So the question is whether anyone thinks its an issue to leave them attached or remove them from the crossmember/running gear.

was crystal clear

what i did was to separate the idler & pitman arm from the front end, drop & remove the front end. then you can unbolt the idler arm and steering box from the frame of the car, easier to more the front end around without them flopping around not connected to anything. leave the bottom section of the shaft in the steering box. it's not that long really, you won't have an issue packing it.

oh if you have air tools the crossmember bolts are a breaze to remove.

In any case disconnect the steering column from the gear.
If the engine is still in it will be pretty cotton-pickin' heavy!
Find the biggest wrench you can lay hands on that will work a 3/4" (I think?)
6-point socket and plenty of B'laster applied liberally on a frequent basis.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

No, engine is out. It is with Nathan in STL.

Just to double check, were you recommending removing the column from the box? Looking at Haynes that looked somewhat involved and would require readjusting the box when I install it?

Seems like it might travel OK with the lower half of the column attached to the box and the box removed from the rest at the Pitman arm.

First time tearing this assembly apart so I'm concerned about being able to store the parts safely as they travel to Hawaii in a Matson container.

Thanks for the help.

There are several different designs on the 122 columns. Some have a clamped
splined/starred joint near the box, others have a joint with two pins and sort
of a jog maybe a foot up the shaft. What I meant is that you DON'T want the
steering wheel and all still attached, break it where it breaks naturally.
If you can unclamp and pull it apart just above the box that would be the most
compact and least likely to be damaged. If you are shipping in a container, it
will be pretty safe unless the container gets dropped. (rarely happens but it
DOES happen - we had a container of mail dropped in the water at the Port of Balboa once!).
I would NOT take anything apart inside the steering box.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

When I er...disassembled... my 1800E, I removed the front fenders and used a sawzall to trim the inner fenders down to the main spars. This was pretty easy and only required a little finesse.

I then sliced the front of the spars clean off along with the crossmember. I only had trouble with the front attachments, but there's no reason you could not cut back "behind" the rear crossmember attachments.

You will probably save yourself the trouble of removing the idler arm and steering box going this route, but you'll end up with a pretty unwieldy hunk of steel.

Based on my experience with the rear end of your 68, I think you're gonna have problems with the bolts....