As my friend phrased it, the "might as wells" have started, and they are expensive.
I jacked the truck up and removed the tires with the offending wheel cylinder.
https://twoheelers.tumblr.com/post/160924610729My father proceeded to destroy the flat head screws holding the drum on, but we were able to chisel the last one off. It turns out this tendency to force and destroy mechanical items is genetic, and passed on to the males in our family. I went against that genetic urge and patiently coaxed the brake lines into breaking free without rounding off the heads. Line wrench, lubricant, tapping back and forth, and now I do not have to learn to make flared fittings. This works out. The wheel cylinder was pretty offensive:
https://twoheelers.tumblr.com/post/160924624744Dad looks, says "your seal is leaking" then wanders off. This ended the day, but started the "might as wells". If I am going to replace the wheel cylinders, I might as well fix the seal. If I am going to fix the seal, I might as well replace the bearings, they are showing signs of wear and some are pitted. The seal leaked on the brake pads, might as well replace those. Ok, might as well do the springs since the brakes will be apart. If this side is bad, might as well do all this on both sides....... I almost fainted at the parts store. I now have more money in bearings and brakes than I do in my Jeep, but I am getting ahead of the story.
As usual, this was my first time doing what I was doing. As my dad was wandering away earlier, he said over his shoulder, "just pull the axle, it is all right there". Oook. I dug out my shop manual and went to reading. My shop manual is starting to annoy me. I think it is a reproduction, and all of the images are black and blurry. Every procedure says "use special tool J-####", and seems to think that is self explanatory. I called a buddy to ask if he had the special axle pulling tool, "thread a long bolt in the end, it should pull out" He was right, it did. More faded images in the shop manual, more special tools. This time I went to my fathers. "do you have the tool for the hub nuts?" "Use this brass punch, it is soft and will not damage the nut". He was right, it worked, although I could see where he or my uncle mashed it on with a steel punch 30 years ago the last time it was serviced. (I ordered the tool at the parts store). I pulled the hub off and the bearing fell out in the dirt. I started mentally drawing plans for my new shop, and that ended that day.
Back to the shop manual. I found an exploded assembly drawing for the 1/2 ton truck hubs, I am guessing it is similar to mine. Not sure how the bearing fell out, and the slotted washer did not, but now I am mildly paranoid that I will put them in backwards. Anyway, more special tools required. This time I hit up my Uncle/Cousin. I am trying to spread out my annoying questions so that people don't get tired of helping me. He came up the hill to asses the situation. It was dark, so we were working with flashlights on the bed of the truck. We determined that the bearing needed to be replaced (before I knew how much they cost), and he forced the seal out with a screw driver. The bearing just fell apart after that, so I really don't have a choice now.
Between pictures and parts, I felt like I had enough information to go to the parts store. The gas tank was ready at the radiator shop, so I made the hour drive to the city. The gas tank is beautiful, but now I am going to have to paint everything from the cab back to match. Might as well, I was thinking about doing it anyway. Time to strip the rest of the wood off the truck. We had a hard time at the parts store finding what I needed. The number on the bearing did not cross reference in the computer with anything. There were these cool book things though, with this paper stuff, and lots of pictures. We had about 6 faded catalogs spread out over the counter, and after an hour, we were able to track down all of the bearings, seals, and brake parts. I would like to put a plug in for
http://www.merlesauto.com/ in Tucson. Great store, and he provided psychological counseling to me when the total rang up.
Most everything had to be ordered, so I have a rear end respite for a week or so. In the mean time, I will blow out the fuel lines, mount the tank, and see if that is all working. I will disconnect the line from the carburetor, and let the fuel pump cycle some new gas through the lines before hooking it up. My jack stand in the dirt makes me a bit nervous to run the truck, but I think it is stable enough. I will put a secondary stand under it just in case, but I really want to run the motor off the new tank. I also have some minor Jeep projects to catch up on while the parts are on order. Next weekend I am going to Reno to pick up an old Suburban for a friend, so it could be a few weeks before the truck is back on the ground and ready for that first test drive. This is assuming I don't have to replace the master cylinder, lines, booster, or front brakes.
