A couple days ago I dragged home an Eaton HO72 with a 14BFF brake conversion upgrade from the local pick your part. I had to drag it home cause with those huge drums it was real heavy and I couldn't carry it all by myself. The brake conversion was done right there in the junk yard and I snagged the complete axle as seen below for just under a whopping $131.56.
The brakes were pulled from a 1982 Step Van with the JB8 brake option and are 13" x 3.5" verses the Eaton's original 13" x 2.5" setup. This larger rear brake system also has larger wheel cylinder bores for additional stopping power.
The rear end has 4.56 open gears and the 14 bolt drums are beyond tolerance but I know they fit and I was planning on purchasing new drums for the final install on my truck anyway.
The quest for the 14BFF brake swap started while fixing a leaky axle hub seal in early January and discovering the unobtainable original Eaton drums on the truck were out of round and beyond tolerance.
I went to what I call "The Mens Mall" to window shop and browse for parts to complete an HEI upgrade and this Eaton jumped out at me from under a 1970 C30. It jumped out so hard it darn near knocked me over. Needless to say, now I want to put the rest of the JB8 option on my 71 C30 with the larger front rotors, bigger piston calipers and the hydra boost system to boot. This big brake upgrade was never a thought in my original plans for the truck but it just seems like one thing leads to another.
But this axle and the brake upgrade is a desirable another and this little deal just wouldn't stop screaming "Daddy, take me home, now!!! I don't want to get crushed and made into a Kia Sorento or a poor fitting imported reproduction part!!!".
I forked over the required adoption papers without hesitation. In all the excitement I forgot all about ignition parts. But tomorrow is another day.
Oh and what I did today was get the lights all vehicle code approved after completing the fabrication of an ICC bumper.
This is what I ended up with today:
The above photo was a continuation from this late January configuration:
That all began like this with a temporary light bar to retain at least a minimal bit of the required rear lighting:
The temporary light bar photo was taken on December 17th 2013 and I picked up the stake bed on January 12th. It's been a little bit of progress at a time but I figure slow progress is better than no progress. Of course life's big and small projects oftentimes get in the way but I keep getting back to the big girl and giving her the attentions I feel she deserves.
Now if that big hole in the cab would just go away I can start looking harder for the stainless rear window trim and proper rubber seal.