Re: Restoring Rusty
 

You've really turned the corner, that pic made me go back and check it against page one. Looks great.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thank you so much I didn't even think of going that far back, LOL that's a good idea, a little comparison never hurt nobody

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and here's another look at then and now

Note: the crinkle in the front bumper is from using a yellow tow strap to pull the truck home one night when it wouldn't start, nothing a 2x4 and a floor jack won't bend back out

My registration may be coming up here soon, so who here thinks I should punt on the rusty old blue license plates and get shinny brand new white ones?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ok so the goal for this month is to actually fix some things before doing any more cosmetic stuff ie painting or fun stuff ie lowering the truck, so here is our short to do list:

1. fix rear brakes (see sister thread Tires Squel When I Brake - Why?)

2. replace or fix left headlight

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 (yeah baby AM mono!)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Looking good!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thank you

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

All seem like do-able goals for a month! Truck is coming right along and looking good.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Like night and day, Gregski. Keep up the awesome work. :c2:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so got the ball rolling with all new rear brake components, drums, shoes, and hardware from PepBoys, went there to have my old drums turned and it turned out there was not enough meat on them so had to get new ones

the ProStop hardware kit did not include all of the replacement springs, not end of the world, but a bit disappointing (three springs are not included for each side)

Re: Restoring Rusty - Rear Brakes
 

as always we clean the old parts before re using them, and there is a good reason for that, keep scrolling (LOL)

one side still dirty, the other already cleaned

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.