Re: Restoring Rusty
 

by cleaning the old parts we can see markings on them, sometimes those markings are part numbers sometimes they are clues for which side of the vehicle the part goes on, Right or Left for example

in this case we see two parts below both from the Driver's side yet one is marked "R" whilst the other bears an "L"

in this case the first part which I dubbed the Dog Bone (LOL) is on the wrong side, someone swapped these two parts and put them on the wrong side

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

cleaned and gooped the three contact points per shoe where the shoes rub against the backing plate ~ when these squeak your wife will let you know about it, jk so it don't hurt to prevent that from happening

I must say I am not a fan of drum brake assemblage it seems to me as though someone took a dozen of automotive engineers, gave them a brown bag of random bits, bicycle handlebars, a fork, a wrench, a couple different sized slinkys, some large diameter pipe, etc. etc. and said you are not allowed to leave this room until you build some DRUM BRAKES out of all these bits !!!

so cleaned, lubed up, and reassembled

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

If I remember right those little springs they dont include are not real cheap but you gotta have em.Keep up the good work ,everything is looking great .

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I'm pretty sure that dog bone is interchangeable, at least based on all the research I did. After market replacement only has one sku for both (and it was hard to find somebody who actually sold it)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

WAIT!

Your shoes are not in the correct place.

The small one(s) face front, the large one(s) face rear.

This is because they are self-energizing brakes, and the smaller front shoe is merely to help apply the larger rear shoe using the rotation of the drum.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Nice catch. He needs to swap a wide front with a narrow rear shoe.

Get this kit. http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece...kit-97804.html
I found the pliers to be darn close to useless except for the spring tool on the end of one handle. The star wheel spoon was not that useful till I sharpened the end with a bench grinder... Not actually sharp but no longer 3/16" thick at the business end. They are nice to have for drum brakes.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thats because there are 2 kits needed. The shoe return kits you have and there is the self-adjuster kit.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Dang it, I think I see it now, one side has the longer friction area shoes the other side has the shorter friction area shoes

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Measure their LENGTH; they are different front-and-back.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Great progress, Greg. The guys are right about the shoes; the longer shoe goes to the rear.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Nice work as usual. In honor of you I dunks some parts in muriatic acid today.

BTW keep the blue, vintage, California tag.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Agreed. Soak it overnight in Evaporust, which will turn all the ugly orange rust stuck on there to ugly black different-oxide-of-iron that just wipes off, without dissolving anything else. Then spray with clear to keep the rust from coming back.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thank you, pics or it didn't happen, better yet link to your thread, LOL

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

by the way if you need to start you truck still and the ignition rack is broke, use pliers to pull the rod that attaches to the rack. itll still start. i had to do that to drive mine for a while

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks, didn't have to do that on this truck, but drove my '85 Blazer S10 like that for weeks after it was stolen then recovered, before I bought a replacement steering column.

Re: Restoring Rusty - Ignition Switch Assembly Anatomy
 

I'm pretty sure my 82 GM service manual states the ignition switch is hidden way down on top of the steering column as an anti-theft measure! But even if a thief cuts the rod and starts the truck, he's still got the locking column to deal with so he can turn the steering wheel. However, there's probably a brute force tool for doing that.

Re: Restoring Rusty - Ignition Switch Assembly Anatomy
 

Yup, it's called a large flat screw driver, found one on the floor of my Blazer when the cops recovered it. Funny thing is they said yeah, come on down it's driveable, and had me drive it home with the steering column in shreds.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Nice break down of the column.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

More to come I hope.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

huge thanks to SkinnyG for pointing out a big mistake I made by mounting both front facing shoes on the driver side and both rear facing shoes on the passenger side

the shoe on the left in the first pic goes closer to the front of the truck the shoe on the right goes closer to the rear of the truck

so today I think I finally got it right

Re: Restoring Rusty - Headlights
 

guys lets talk headlight for a minute, I like to understand how to test them when there is a problem and not just run out and buy a replacement, but I don't get how they work

here is how they are wired, they each have three prongs so if we look at them from the back the left most vertical prong has black wires going to it, so we assume that is negative, opposite that prong is another vertical prong on the right this one has light green wires going to it, and then there is a horizontal prong above with light brown wires going to it

when I took a test light to the wiring harness here were my test results even on the working side (cause only driver side low beam does not work)

Black & Green = light on

Black & Brown = no light

So do they work such that when Black and Green is on then that's low beams and when Black and Brown is on then that's high beams for example? Or is high beams when all three are on?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

after trying to do all the headlight math I decided to do what I always do, stare and compare, or swap/replace and compare, so I plugged the working headlight from the passenger side to the driver side harness and tested it, and both low beam and high beam worked, so I took off for the parts house

now being The Greg and already dealing with a Wagner beam on one side and an Atlas brand on the other, neither of which I could find today, I decided to splurge $10 bucks a piece on two brand new [literally shinny] SYLVANIA beauties

but the Truck Gods would not smile upon us today!

you see these new beamers have shorter nipples, or no nipples at all if you ask me, see last pic (old on left, new on right), so I was unable to plug the stock harness on to them, and cutting it to make it work I was not willing to do, so tomorrow I return these headlights and I bet I will have to pay double for ones that actually work

as my college roommate used to say... "It Aint Easy!"

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Headlight wiring is split

The reason for 2 wires off each one is that it goes to the opposing light. 1 green in and 1 green out to the opposite light. Same with the brown and and black.

Oh and good luck finding bulbs that work with the connector on these trucks. Many people end up cutting the plastic piece to fit properly or completely switch over to a H4 setup.

I have the same issue with my connector and it keeps falling off :\

Looks like PHILIPS Part # H6024 will work.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

1,000 thanks, I picked one up at Pep Boys today $13 bucks, they only had one, darn, my OCD is going to be tested

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

in related news The Greg noticed the retaining ring was broken on the passenger side, so I see a junkyard trip in my near future

gotta love old cars, fix one thing another one breaks

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

1. fix rear brakes - DONE

2. replace or fix left headlight - DONE

3. fix left rear turn signal

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering

6. fix hazard signals

7. get the AM radio working

8. fix reverse lights

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Good stuff Greg. I've got a headlight retainer ring with the same problem. I was going to buy two new ones from LMC. Anybody used them before? I really want to change the headlight buckets too, due to rust and the fasteners being pretty much peckered.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Well you have a short list LOL. Wish mine was that short.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Any tips on fixin' #8 above?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

What is wrong with them? Not coming on?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

First let me state the obvious because it has bitten many a pro too (me included) check the bulbs! Now for yours the first check I would do is pull the connector off the switch at the trans and jump the wires. With the key on the lights should light up at that point. If not take a volt meter and see if you get power at that connector. if not the problem is towards the dash or fuse panel. If there is power there but bulbs are not lighting look to the rear. Check sockets, grounds, also look for bad wiring along the frame.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

yes

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Glad I pulled some headlights a few years back....lol.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Captain's Log Day 274

Drove the truck to work today, birds were chirpin and the sun was shining, truck started good, ran good, drove good, stopped good, and turned OK, (see #5 above)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

assuming you have tested both sockets with a voltmeter i would try probing the wires directly behind the sockets as i have seen many that have failed internally at the solder point.

the next place i would look is the splice for the trailer lights.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thank you Titomars, le me step through these one by one

checked, first of all they are new, and second I took them out and touched them with two wired directly to the battery and they went on

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

negative, did that and the lights did not turn on, even started the truck to make sure it was running etc. still no reverse lights

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Forgive me for being dumb, but how do I do that? Do I just hook up the black pointy lead from the volt meter to the dark green wire and the red pointy lead from my volt meter to the light green wire? ... and hope for 12 volts or there abouts?

Or do I touch the ground somewhere with the black lead from the volt meter and then use the red lead to first touch the dark green wire inside the connector and then try the light green wire inside the connector?

I honestly don't know, and my daddy was an electrician by trade you think he would have taught me somethin' LOL, jk

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Greg, use a jumper cable to tie the black meter lead to a good ground. Now, probe those spots with the red meter lead. You'll either get 12V or 0. The power for the backup lights comes from the ignition switch when in the run position. So you should get 12v on one of those two wires at the transmission connector. If you have 12, work towards the backup lights. If you have 0, work backwards towards the ignition switch.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Hopefully you'll get it fixed soon. I despise electrical gremlins. Just like any new tech whizz bang when it doesn't work.