Where to Start

1

1972-OldBlue

New member
I recently inherited my Grandparents 1972 1210 Custom truck and not sure where or what I should repair or replace or just leave alone. I'm not intending to do a full restoration just reliable and safe to cruise around town.
As it sits now its 1972 1210 Custom 2wd with 75xxx
Everything works and it starts right up, brakes are pretty shot, the AC still blows cold and the power steering works.

How can I find out what this truck is equipped with? Engine, drive and power train and axles, aux equipment?

The brakes work but only on the rear axle and once the pedal is on the floor. I was going bleed all the brakes and clean the drums and re-grease the slides, anything else I should look at before I replace the master cylinder and power booster?

The engine area appears to have some leaks, its hard to tell between the mouse poop and dirt. I mostly see signs under the valve cover, around the oil pan and possibly the rear main seal.
Should I just buy a complete gasket and seal kit and start over?

Any input helps, this is my first project me and my kids have dug into like this.
 
I assume its a v8, you can look under the header on passenger side up toward the front near the alternator for a protrusion. On that facing the wheel will be the displacement stamped and also what I assume is a serial #. You will probably need a brass bristle brush to read it. Also another place to start is a LST or line setting ticket. Sometimes they are still attached to the truck somewhere ie inside the glove box, or even under the hood. My truck is a 65 so your locations will varry but I'm a few steps ahead of you if this is likewise your fist IH. If you cant find the line setting ticket you can possibly have it recovered from the microfiche archives. I did this, cost about $20. Well worth it. I'm not sure if IH America does this but before I joined the forum I had it done by xxxxxx. Then once you have that its a matter of decoding the codes for axles engines tranny tcase if aplicable. Should tell you if it left the factory with ac, I've heard dealers sometimes put that on. Both sights have info on what the codes mean. Hope this helps and good luck! :yesnod:
 
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If you're lucky, the Line Set Ticket will still be taped to the back of the glove box. To access said Line Set Ticket, open your glove box and find the 2 metal friction straps on the side and push them in. At this point the glove box will fall down and on the back of the box you would see a piece of paper with a bunch of codes etc. That should give you a start.

And yes, we do offer the Line Set Tickets on our store: https://www.ihpartsamerica.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LST
 
Welcome to the forum. Getting your brakes working well would be a good first step. You can't drive a rig that won't stop safely. Do you have a good assortment of basic tools? Are you at least a little mechanically inclined? Have you ever done brake work before? Assuming you can answer most of those in the affirmative, the first thing I'd do if I were you is get the front end safely supported on jack stands and remove both front wheels. Get the drums off and have a look at things inside. Look for signs of the wheel cylinders leaking brake fluid. If they're leaking, they'll need to be replaced. Look at the friction surfaces on the shoes. Have they been wearing fairly evenly? Is there still plenty of material left, or are they about down to the rivets? Do they appear to be saturated by brake fluid or gear oil? Replace as needed. If the tension and adjustment hardware looks rusty. crusty and strung out, it should be replaced too. Spring kits are the cheapest part of a brake job. Take reference pictures of how springs etc are routed before you dismantle anything.
Clean and inspect the inside drum surface. Any grooves worn in or cracks showing? Minor surface imperfections can be machined out by a brake shop ONLY IF...the drum circumference still has enough meat on it to be within maximum diameter limits after machining. If any drums are too far gone to be safely placed back into service, they will need to be replaced. Once everything is ship shape with that wheel, adjust the shoes out so the drum just slips over them without squeezing them in and move on to the next wheel until you have them all looking clean, dry and pretty inside the drums. I'm herding you in this direction because no one knows what condition your brakes are in at each wheel. This needs to be established first before moving on to the master cylinder.
Its a pretty good bet that the fluid in the system is older than Moses. If any of the wheel cylinders were found leaking and had to be replaced, you won't want to subject the new cylinders to nasty, dirty old brake fluid. If dirty, the entire system should be flushed until the brake fluid coming out at every wheel cylinder is clean and sediment free. Then see if that doesn't give you a good, firm brake pedal that holds under foot pressure. If it won't hold pedal pressure, then you know that the master is faulty and in need of replacing. It sounds like a lot, and it is. That's why repair shops charge hundreds in labor per axle for brake jobs. But, if you and your kids are looking to learn some auto mechanics and bond in the process, you've got yourself a pretty good study subject for that journey.
 
Thanks for the direction and information. I have replaced a few rotors, pads and calipers before, so I guess I some what handy and have the need tools, drums and just a little different.
We will be digging into the front axle this weekend!

What are your thoughts on keeping the original split wheels?
I need to put some tires on it once everything else is done, but I talked to a lot of local tire shops and it seems no one wants to touch them.

I wasn't able to find the original line set ticket, pretty sure my Grandpa removed it, it's hidden somewhere in his garage. However I did find a label on the core support that barley shows a hole punched under the 392 description. But I will be ordering a line set ticket, so I can confirm everything else.
 
You experience in changing.disc brake unfortunately will not help you as the disc brakes did not appear until 1974.

Drum brakes are not that hard to service just take your time and if you have a phone with a camera take plenty of pictures. Plan on replacing all the brake hardware (springs clips an possibly adjusters)
 
...and get one of these it will save much aggravation with the springs


71PHeCXb1ML._SL1500_.jpg
 
I purchased some 16” 8 lug wheels for my 1972 1210. The wheels weren’t too expensive and opened up all kinds of opportunity for tire selection. There are few 16.5” tires these days. I’m assuming that’s what your split rims are.
 
Try the scales at your local dump. My 72, 1210, 4x4, 4 door, 392, auto, 6.5’ bed, with heavy duty springs and axles is 6100 lbs.
 
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