John Manning's Journals
Nov. 19th
Steering knuckles had some damage to the dust cap seating surface. Took them home and was able to grind away the damaged area well enough to allow the caps to seat properly. Reinstalled them and they look and feel very good.
The front backing plates were cleaned up and painted. Look pretty good. But the small tab arm that keeps one of the star adjusters from vibrating loose was rusted through and broken. So I made another one from an old feeler gauge the correct thickness. Getting the bends in just the right places was tricky but I think it’ll work well.
With the backing plates in good repair, I started in on the front brakes. Got the slave cylinders and the shoes/springs in place. Brought the drums home so I can get the seals and bearings installed tomorrow. Should go together easily and be ready to hook up to the new brake lines when we get those and the new master cylinder in. Hoping Wayne can show us how to correctly bend the new lines🤔🙏.
David Pedrosa pulled the transaxle out from under the bus this morning. Made it look easy. Mike brought over what we hope is a good one from his stash. Doesn’t everyone have a spare transaxle in the parts shed? Thanks Mike. Mike also found a trailer axle and we spent a little time this afternoon getting it in place. I’ll finish that up tomorrow hopefully.
Nov. 20th
Was just going to replace and grease the front bearings today. But the drums were quite rusty and I really didn’t like the way they looked so I decided to take off the rust with my air grinder and put some rust converter on them so I can paint them tomorrow. Just couldn’t help myself. I’m sure there’s a 12 step program for guys like me out there somewhere….
Nov 21st
Forgot to do this step yesterday. Decided to remove the backing plate and first put sealant between the backing plate and the knuckle around the spindle opening to protect the seal/bearing from moisture. Was a lot more work than it should have been. Tomorrow I’ll run a bead of sealant around where the knuckle meets the backing plate. Kinda belt and suspenders I guess.
While the backing plate was removed, I concentrated on cleaning and smoothing the surface of the spindle that the rear seal rides against. Didn’t really think about it earlier but after dealing with the painted over dirt on the knuckle at the link pin seats, decided to check this area too. The screw driver points to the surface I was worried about. Sure enough, had to scrape under the paint to clean it all off and then hit the sealing surface with some 1200 grit sandpaper to smooth it out a little. Not perfect but at least it’s better than it was.
New bearings go in the driver side drums tomorrow. Installed the races today so that should go quickly.
Nov. 22nd
Passenger side went together just fine. But...
Drivers side will not slide into place. Either the bearing is slightly out of tolerance or the shaft grew in diameter and needs to go on a diet! Never ever encountered this before….!!
James Jones chimed in:
I have. Take some 600 grit to the spindle then work up to 1200. Might have some crustiez that are hindering the bearing from sliding on.
John Manning: 10 minutes with some 600 grit and the bar slips right on! Jim was absolutely correct! Thanks Jim.
Even though the bearing went all the way on the spindle the first time I tried it, there was just close enough tolerances that sometimes it would bind instead of slipping in place. Took another 40 minutes of sanding before it would reliably slip in place every time. But it’s finally in. The yellow tape is so I’ll remember to get Mike or David to check the bearing adjustment. Second opinion kinda. Hope this is finally done.
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