The work on the brake system is progressing. After cleaning the drums, cylinders, and wheel brake parts with my trusty wire brush and chemical bath, I am rebuilding the cylinders. Two of the wheel cylinders are in good shape, but two have some corrosion. The shop manual says NOT to use an emery cloth to smooth out the cylinder inside, okay I won’t. It says to use a Crocus Cloth, - WTF! Okay, I am sure I need one, so off I go to the local parts store and ask the salesperson which aisle has the Crocus Cloth – I get the same look my daughter gives me when I ask her a question. “Huh”. No Crocus Cloth, so I decide that 1000 and 2000 sand paper will surely work. I am going to sand the cylinder walls smooth and see if the seals hold, if not I can replace the units.
The temptation is to replace everything as all the parts are old, dirty, and rusty, not to mention almost 60 years old. I have decided to reuse the parts if they still work and are not a hazard. I will replace them if they don’t work. It will be easy to replace the parts since I will have done the deed and will be past the learning curve.
Now for the brake drums. They had some grooves so I figure I should get them “turned”. Don’t know why I knew that, it must be something in the Man Genes. Same reason geese know how to fly south for the winter. It turns out that the local parts store turn brake drums for $12 bucks each, not bad. I bundle up my cleaned 8-lug drums. This is a bit like how women clean up their house before the maid comes. No man would take his dirty drums to be turned. I am off to the store for the turning!
Next thing I know I am talking to the salesperson and asking some questions about how you can tell when it is time to do the deed, when he comes out and asks “Why are you turning your drums, pilgrim”. Well can you say deer in the headlights, I just looked at him and thought if I said it was in my DNA and it was turn my drums or fly south he might call the police. While I was trying to come up with a reason, the lady salesperson, looked at the drums and pointed out that she could see some very small scoring, so maybe it was needed. Her ‘compassion gene’ kicked in, thank goodness.
That was when they informed me that I would need new brakes shoes, since everyone knew that once you turn the drums the old shoes would squeak like crazy if they were reused. Okay, another conspiracy, so my question was, how much are new brake shoes? Oh not much $10 each, great I say, I will take four.
I got the drums turned and bought two sets of shoes and I am back to the garage. Well the next day I take a look at the brakes shoes and they are 4 inches wide and a few inches short. My old brake shoes are 2 inches wide. Well I take the shoes back and explain that they are the wrong size. Turns out that the stores computer only went back to 1962 (I have a 1954 truck) and the salesperson figured that since this was the oldest he had they would fit. Something is wrong here.
Now I am looking for the brake shoes for a 1954 ¾ ton Chevy truck, code name “unobtainium”. However, I did find a couple of web stores that had them, but they were $50 a set. Oh well, par for the course. I ordered them and if I am lucky they will be on the same boat that my chrome wheels are one.
What do you know, a miracle happened and the new brake shoes arrived today.
Looking forward to a great weekend. I am going to sell the old shoes on eBay, anyone need 1962 brake shoes?
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