74 Scout II rebuild/restore

[mtnscoutiigrl]

Thank you. Your advice is sound and appreciated. I’m slowly but surely replacing the worn parts and so far have done with scout parts only.

The truck runs great. I am soon going to have to contend with replacing the floor plans and a few of the support bars underneath the driver’s side. Originally I thought I would be able to do it myself, but not sure if my welding skills are there. I definitely don’t want to be flintstoning it.

Thank you for your feedback!

 

[Rentalman]

Thank you. Your advice is sound and appreciated. I’m slowly but surely replacing the worn parts and so far have done with scout parts only.

The truck runs great. I am soon going to have to contend with replacing the floor plans and a few of the support bars underneath the driver’s side. Originally I thought I would be able to do it myself, but not sure if my welding skills are there. I definitely don’t want to be flintstoning it.

Thank you for your feedback!

I cut my driver side floor, floor support and complete cargo floor out. That was not difficult. You just need to make sure you leave about 1" of floor around the perimeter. Your new floor panels will lay on top of that and get spot welded to it. I think if you go back on my build I discussed removing and replacing the floors. For tools I used a air powered cut off wheel, battery powered 5" grinder, battery powered reciprocating saw and a cheap HF air hammer to bust out the spot welds. I have no welding skills so I paid a welder to spot weld the new floors back in. I hope this helps.

 

[Rentalman]

Here are some install procedures and pictures of my CPT AC kit installation. I'm not a mechanic by trade, just a hobbiest, this is what worked for me so follow at your own discression. It was not difficult, I just had to think it through. Through trial and error I had to figure out how the condensor L-mounting brackets would be positioned to mount the condensor and how to route the AC hoses. On the condensor L-moutning brackets I had to drill additional mounting holes in the two on the passenger side because the predrilled holes did not line up with my factory mounting holes. The flat plate that was included in the kit was to be used with a supplied metal clamp to secure the dryer. I wanted to use my original dryer clamp so I was able to cut about an inch off of the flat plate to make it fit, drill mounting holes and mount it under the L-brackets to the original dryer bracket. The dryer that came with the kit has a smaller diameter than the original Scout dryer. So it was loose in the OEM dryer bracket. I added two sided insulation foam around the clamp which now securley holds the dryer in place. It took me a couple of attemps to route the hoses. The reason why I chose this kit is because IHPA prefabed the hoses. I could have gone another way but that ment spending a couple hundred dollars on a tool that would possibly be for a one time use. The metal oval shaped plate that attaches to the engine bay side of the firewall that the AC hoses mount to, I had to mount it diagonally and use the original mounting holes in the firewall to mount it to. Luckily it does look good and covers the hole completely. I do not own any type of small angle drill where I would have been able to drill holes in the fire wall in the tight area so I could have mounted the plate level. After trial and error, the hoses that go to the firewall through the oval plate with the straight fittings, get secured to 90 deg fittings on the interior side of the firewall and route over the heater box then down. I originally went straight down with the hoses on the interior side through the gap of the heater box which did not have enough hose length to reach the under dash AC unit, frusturating. Mounting the under dash AC unit was pretty straight forward. It made it nice to mount it having my seats at the upholstery shop. You will need to trim the R-AC under dash mounting bracket where it attaches to the R-dash mounting bracket because it will cover the courtesy light hole (you need to just cut the corner off enough so it is not in the way of the courtesy light bulb). You also will need to drill a hole in the R-AC under dash mounting bracket in line with a predrilled hole in the R-under dash mounting bracket to secure the brackets to one another. On the brackets them selves where the mounting bolts goes thru them to each side of the AC under dash unit you may need to grind that mounting slot wider to accomate the wider dia mounting bolts. The kit instructions offered no detail for the mounting brackets as it is a universal kit. The wiring was real easy as expalined in the instructions. All that I need to do now is have the system purged and charged.

 

[Rentalman]

As usual I'm behind on sharing my progress on the build. Here goes. I went to an automotive paint supply store that can mix paint and put it in spray can, $50.00. I matched the color as close as I could to 4403 Sunburst Yellow. It's pretty much a match. I tapped of the interior and exterior from over spray. Wet sanded the epoxy primer with 320 grit sand paper, wiped up the sanding dust with a tac clotch and sprared about 3 coats. The paint included a clear coat mixed in it. I think it came out great. Any one looking at it would think it is the original paint.

 

[Rentalman]

More to catch up. I dropped off my front bench seat, rear seat, door panels and dash pad with the upholster last September 2024. I made some changes along the way plus this shop is real busy is why it took longer than expexted. It was worth the wait. This past May I installed the front seat. The rear upper seat had a flaw in the vinyl so they kept that to fix it.

 

[Rentalman]

I was not looking forward to this project. Installing the windshield gasket and installing the windshield. I watched a few videos on the university of Youtube and that seemed to help. It is easier if you have an extra set of hands for both projects. My wife helped me with the windshield gasket toward the end. She held it in place as I was able to squish/push the last few inches of gasket in place. I did not have my windshield yet, so in fives places on the top of the windshield frame I had zip ties holding the gasket in place so it would not fall. I ordered a new windshield from IHPA. Once it came in I picked it up from the local supplier. I had a neighbor help me set the windshield in the lower windshield gasket/channel/groove. You just have to keep your calm, use a lot of soapy water, and have patients getting around the corners. The gasket did pop out of the corners a few times. You just have to keep working with it in short increments. Make sure you have some nylon prybar installers to help get the window seated. The easiest part of the job was securing the windshield with the built in lock in the gasket.

 

[Rentalman]

Interior is in! I'm just waiting on the dash pad to be wrapped. I'm leaving the original Sage metal door panels, Sage armrest and the original 4403 Sunburst Yellow Paint on the doors. I'm also leaving the cargo sides exposed with the raptor texture. I like the look of the bed detail. My focus is to keep its utility feel. I like it.

 

[Rentalman]

This week I took vacation and worked on the travel top. My prior employers body tech prepped the travel top for paint by sanding and shooting it with epoxy primer. The outside was painted 9120 Alpine White by a national paint company. Sadly they did not give any attention to the underside rails. They basically painted it on the dollie I had it bolted down to. I wire wheeled the rust out of the rails and applied Rust Bullet. I also sanded some light rust from under the headliner supports and upplied Rust Bullet. I attached the travel top weather seals with 3M Weater Strip Adhesive. I applied-attached heat and sound deadner to the underside of the travel top. Lastly I made the headliner board out of 1/8" x 4' x 8' Temperd Brown Hardboard. Later, I'm going to inlarge the 1/4" headliner attaching holes to 5/16" and attach 5/16" riv nuts to the supports. I will be sending the headliner board to my upholster to cover it with a combination of vinyl and the same plaid fabric I used on the seats and door panels.

 

[Rentalman]

I'm a little behind posting my progress. At the end of December Expert Auto Upholstery finished wrapping my dash. The dash pad is the final piece of the interior to be installed.

 

[Rentalman]

A few weeks ago I got my travel top side sliding windows installed. I had to get creative to install the windows as I had no help. It was actually easy to install by myself. I soaked a thin roap into a soapy water solution. I used a gasket caulking tip to push the rope into the window gasket channel easily as I ran the nozzle and rope around the channel completely. I tied knotts in both ends of the rope where they met. I brushed on a soapy solution around the window gasket and pushed the window in place in the travel top and held with one hand. With the other hand reaching inside the passenger door to grab one piece of the soapy rope, I would pull the rope toward me to get the window gasket to climb over the ridge. Once I had about a third or more of the gasket over the ridge it was safe enough to take my hand off the window as it was not going to fall out. Then I would get in the interior of the scout and finish pulling the soapy rope around the rest of the window channel. After getting the gasket over the ridge, portions of the gasket would not lay flat on top of the ridge. If the gasket is not completely flat going around the interior of the window the gasket is not 100% seated over the ridge. Parts of it would be partly twisted exspecially around the corners. I used some plastic trim tools from HF to manipulate the gasket to lay flat over the complete channel . I did the same on the other side. I hope these tips help someone else on a travel top window install. I could not find any good information on this install in forums that I searched. Thanks for following the build.

 

[FDChappie]

That dash looks really nice.

 

[Antiquetractor]

Hello Rentalman,
your project looks impressive, and you are making great progress. However you may take a closer look at your spring hanger setup, to avoid running (driving) into issues. Looked at the last photo in post 47 and the first photo in post 67. Your rear axle spring shackles (at the rear end of the spring) look leaning forward. These should lean to the rear (lower end behind the upper end of the shackles.). It may also seem your rear axle isn't center in the wheelhouse, i.e. moved a little towards the front. These results aren't uncommon for a conversion to progressive springs. Both issues could be solved by moving the rear axle's front spring hangers to the rear. Before doing something on your ride, you may form your own view and do some research on these issues on your own, or collect views from other followers of our project.
Greetings from Germany.
Antiquetractor

 

[Rentalman]

Hello Rentalman,
your project looks impressive, and you are making great progress. However you may take a closer look at your spring hanger setup, to avoid running (driving) into issues. Looked at the last photo in post 47 and the first photo in post 67. Your rear axle spring shackles (at the rear end of the spring) look leaning forward. These should lean to the rear (lower end behind the upper end of the shackles.). It may also seem your rear axle isn't center in the wheelhouse, i.e. moved a little towards the front. These results aren't uncommon for a conversion to progressive springs. Both issues could be solved by moving the rear axle's front spring hangers to the rear. Before doing something on your ride, you may form your own view and do some research on these issues on your own, or collect views from other followers of our project.
Greetings from Germany.
Antiquetractor

Thanks for the advice Antiquetractor. The new CPT Spring and shackle Hangers were welded in the same spot as original hangers. I do notice the rear tires seem forward a bit. I believe that was caused by installing a 33" tall tire vs the original 29". I think the rear springs when flexing would move up, down and towards the rear shackles to kick out towards the rear. This is something that I will need to research. Thanks for following the build.

 

[Rentalman]

Hi all. I'm a little behind in posting my progress on the build. I've been driving the Scout since February breaking everything in slowly. The engine, TF 727 auto, Dana 20 T-case and Dana 44's have all been rebuilt. I don't want to put to much strain on anything and have been following the manufactures break in procedures for all related parts. I've put a little over 100 miles on it. Soon I need to change the diff and t-case oils. I never had the opportunity to get a cut & turn done on my front Dana 44 as I was on a time line to get the Scout rolling and off my former employers property before they sold the business. With that being, I took it out for its first test drive. At 30 mph and above I had to keep both hands on the steering wheel as it wanted to wonder. It was not a comfortable drive. That was the only main issue I have had. I've had to tighten a few hose clamps for minor coolant drips and an eng oil leak at the two phillips screws on the oil pan. Other than that the engine is strong, no over heating, tranni shifts great, hydro boost brakes work great, no rear end noise or driveline vibration. I could not find any shop local to do the cut & turn for me. I called IHPA and spoke with Darren. Knowing that I live in So Cal he worked with me. I got the axle to him on a Monday afternoon, I stayed at a local hotel and picked it up the axle next moring around 10 AM and was able to make my 10 hr drive home so I could go to work the next day. IHPA is awesome! They have been so helpful durring this build with taking my many phone calls, emails and squeezing me in for the cut & turn. IHPA did a 4 deg positive cut & turn and installed new outer C's. For the reistsallation they suggested I also add 4 deg shims with the thick portion toward the T-case for better drive line angle. I also had to pick up new longer spring center pins. The original center pins in the springs were not long enought to accomidate the 4 deg shims. After I reassembled everything and took it for a drive the wondering was gone but now I had a camber issue. The front tires were squeeling when I when turning, they were out of toe. What I found out is I needed to readjust my tie rod and drag link to accomadate the cut & turn change. I dialed it in by sticking push pins in the middle of the front and rear of the front tires with a nut suspended from a string like a pendulum taking measurements with tape measure at front and rear of tire by adjusting the drag link and tie rod. Before the adjustment the rear of the front tire was at 63" center to center and the front of the tire was 60.5" center to center. They were way off. After the adjustments the closest I could get them within the factory spec of 1/16 +/- was at rear of tire measuring 61 7/8" center to center and front of tire measuring 61 1/8" center to center. Close enough. Eventually I will have it dialed in by a shop. I took it out for a drive, what a difference. One hand on the steering wheel now, no wondering, no tires squeeling in turns, what a major improvement. I just recieved my steering stabilizer from IHPA and hope to install that next weekend. I'm sure that will also help with the steering feed back form the road.

 

[Winchested]

Looks good!

Camber and toe are not related. You still have over 1/2" of inward toe which is still way too much.

Jack it up take the wheels off clamp some straight edges to the rotors (with the lug nuts holding rotors tight.) Much easier than trying to get measurements off tires.

I run 1/8" of toe in at rotors (using 24" straight edges accross rotors) And that's perfect for 40" tires. 33's and under 1/16" to 1/8" is plenty.

 

[Robert Kenney]

Very nice work!

 

[Rentalman]

Looks good!

Camber and toe are not related. You still have over 1/2" of inward toe which is still way too much.

Jack it up take the wheels off clamp some straight edges to the rotors (with the lug nuts holding rotors tight.) Much easier than trying to get measurements off tires.

I run 1/8" of toe in at rotors (using 24" straight edges accross rotors) And that's perfect for 40" tires. 33's and under 1/16" to 1/8" is plenty.

Winchested thanks for the advice. I will have to give that a try.

 

[Rentalman]

Winchested, I did what you suggested. Instead of clamping some straight edges to the rotor I bought a TMR toe measuring tool. Took the tires off, intalled tool and measured front and rear of tire to check toe. My pendulum method how I originally adjuted the toe was dead on. My rear measurment is 1/16" wider than the front tire measurement. I did not need to make any further adjustments. My steering wheel has about 2" of play before the wheels turn. I'm not sure if that is normal. Earlier I did make a 1/4 turn adjustment on the steering gear which helped some. The steering gear was rebuilt, maybe I need to replace it. The mileage on the Scout before I rebuilt/restored the Scout was 95k. Another concern I have is the feed back I feel thru the steering column. I have Borgens joints from steering shaft to steering gear. On smooth roads its fine, but if the road is rough it seems like I feel everthing thru the steering column. Earlier I did tear the steering column down, greased the bearings and reassembled. When I grab the steering column near the firewall it has a little play back & forth. Maybe I need to replace the steering column as well. I am open to all thoughts and suggestions.

 

[Winchested]

Winchested, I did what you suggested. Instead of clamping some straight edges to the rotor I bought a TMR toe measuring tool. Took the tires off, intalled tool and measured front and rear of tire to check toe. My pendulum method how I originally adjuted the toe was dead on. My rear measurment is 1/16" wider than the front tire measurement. I did not need to make any further adjustments. My steering wheel has about 2" of play before the wheels turn. I'm not sure if that is normal. Earlier I did make a 1/4 turn adjustment on the steering gear which helped some. The steering gear was rebuilt, maybe I need to replace it. The mileage on the Scout before I rebuilt/restored the Scout was 95k. Another concern I have is the feed back I feel thru the steering column. I have Borgens joints from steering shaft to steering gear. On smooth roads its fine, but if the road is rough it seems like I feel everthing thru the steering column. Earlier I did tear the steering column down, greased the bearings and reassembled. When I grab the steering column near the firewall it has a little play back & forth. Maybe I need to replace the steering column as well. I am open to all thoughts and suggestions.

Put the lower joint in as the Borgeson Vibration damper universal.

Play at the steering wheel is normal. You can tighten up the input worm gear on the steering box but if you over due it you create wear and wear it out faster. its a fine line measured in inch lbs. The sector shaft adjustment is to be done in conjunction with the input shaft adjustment, just doing the sector shaft is a bandaid that leads to more wear.

There is literature from Saginaw that says play 1" or so left or right on the steering wheel is normal.

 

[Rentalman]

Winchested thank you for the reply. I adjusted the steering gear 1/8 of a turn more. That is about 3/8 adjustment after the rebuild/reseal. The steering play seemed to be a little better. The more I think about it and read forums on Scout II steering, I think it may be normal and what I am experiencing is bump steer. On smooth roads it steers fine. Once I get on rough bumpy roads that when I have both hands on the steering wheel. The scout has a 4" Skyjacker lift with 5" shackles. Do I need to add a drop pitman arm to get the gemoetry back on the drag link? Thanks for advise.

 

[Winchested]

Looks like you're running a stock style sway bar and have a steering stabelizer.

Is your caster in spec? positive not negative. Bad caster can lead to that feeling too.

Don't know of many people using drop pitman arms on 4" SJ lift springs. Becaause noone makes a drop pitman arm thats long enough to match scout II knuckles without going to high steer.

 

[Rentalman]

Looks like you're running a stock style sway bar and have a steering stabelizer.

Is your caster in spec? positive not negative. Bad caster can lead to that feeling too.

Don't know of many people using drop pitman arms on 4" SJ lift springs. Becaause noone makes a drop pitman arm thats long enough to match scout II knuckles without going to high steer.

Looks like you're running a stock style sway bar and have a steering stabelizer.

Is your caster in spec? positive not negative. Bad caster can lead to that feeling too.

Don't know of many people using drop pitman arms on 4" SJ lift springs. Becaause noone makes a drop pitman arm thats long enough to match scout II knuckles without going to high steer.

Winchested, thank you for the reply. I have a CPT tie rod and drag link. IHPA did a cut and turn on the front axle. I bought TMR's tool to measure toe. The rear of the front tire measures 1/16th" greater than the front. I believe I have the correct toe set up.

 

[Winchested]

I think you're just feeling what old rigs feel like. Sounds like it's set up the best possible way.

 

[Zaedster]

I read the past few threads on this, couple red flags. Why are you adjusting the pre-load nut on the sector shaft? You only do that when the box is initially rebuilt to set drag specifications of the orbital valve resistance. There should be zero bump steer in your Scout, and none of my Scout's have ever had bump-steer unless they had too much, or too little caster angle. Switching to reverse shackle will help a lot for a on-road vehicle to start with. You can have a maximum of 5 degrees of positive caster on a Scout 2 with the steering arm geometry, before it starts to negate itself. You can try a slight drop in the pitman arm, to make the draglink more level, which will help any bump steer.

Considering you messed with the steering box, you should have that rebuilt or gone through by a professional to confirm the box is correctly in specification. Also, when people install a Borgeson kit, and cut off the knub on the sector shaft too close to the splines, it will cause the steering resistance to the orbital valve to be out-of-spec and make it harder or easier to steer depending on the box. The little knub twists like a sway bar when you turn the wheel and that is what opens up the orbital valve within the box to allow fluid flow. So if you cut that off, and messed with the preload of the box, it will never work right. I drive 90mph in my Scout all the time with one finger on the wheel with 4.8 degrees of caster and 1.2 degrees of camber with a reverse shackle.

 

[Rentalman]

I read the past few threads on this, couple red flags. Why are you adjusting the pre-load nut on the sector shaft? You only do that when the box is initially rebuilt to set drag specifications of the orbital valve resistance. There should be zero bump steer in your Scout, and none of my Scout's have ever had bump-steer unless they had too much, or too little caster angle. Switching to reverse shackle will help a lot for a on-road vehicle to start with. You can have a maximum of 5 degrees of positive caster on a Scout 2 with the steering arm geometry, before it starts to negate itself. You can try a slight drop in the pitman arm, to make the draglink more level, which will help any bump steer.

Considering you messed with the steering box, you should have that rebuilt or gone through by a professional to confirm the box is correctly in specification. Also, when people install a Borgeson kit, and cut off the knub on the sector shaft too close to the splines, it will cause the steering resistance to the orbital valve to be out-of-spec and make it harder or easier to steer depending on the box. The little knub twists like a sway bar when you turn the wheel and that is what opens up the orbital valve within the box to allow fluid flow. So if you cut that off, and messed with the preload of the box, it will never work right. I drive 90mph in my Scout all the time with one finger on the wheel with 4.8 degrees of caster and 1.2 degrees of camber with a reverse shackle.

Hi Zaedster, thanks for the reply. I did have the steering gear rebuilt. Was it the best shop in the LA area, I'm not sure. They did mark the setting with a white marker and I can adjust it back. To me the steering wheel had to much play and seems to be better now. When I installed the Borgeson Joints I did have an issue making it fit with that nub sticking out. I can't remember if I discussed this on the phone with IHPA or thru the forum. I was advised to cut that knub off to make the joints fit. There's a picture attached of my cut on the nub. On smooth roads it drives great one hand on the wheel. It's only the bumpy roads that make me uncomfortable.

So far, over time I've only driven the Scout up to 50 miles per hour. Most of the 250 miles of it have been up to 35 mph. I would like to install a tach on it so I don't push it to hard. I'm not sure what the RPMs on the engine are with my set up. I'm running 33x10.5x15 tires with 4.10 gears, TF 727 thru a Dana 20.

It could be very well that I need a new steering gear.