When they wrote the manuals, I bet GM assumed that the mechanics doing the work on these trucks were Automotive Machinists Local xxxx. I was local 289 but we still had the service manager looking over our shoulder. This was much better than a flat rate shop where I also worked. If you could beat flat rate, you were some kind of good wrench. Those flat rate times were/are based on brand new cars and pickups that had never seen salt or mud. If you were paid on flat rate you were paid by the job and had to eat your comebacks. It's a hard way to make a living.
I don't remember ever seeing flat rate numbers for heavy trucks, where I worked mostly. I worked for a logging company in the Pacific Northwest near Canada and the boss didn't care how long it took so long as you never had to go rescue the truck out in the woods. We had a steam cleaner and it got used a lot. Over the road trucks were usually cleaner but sometimes you had to deal with the road kill stuck between the tandems.Yuck! Anyhow I don't remember ever moving an anchor pin or even arcing a shoe but I replaced lots of S-cam bushings. One trip down the mountain made sure shoes were arced. If the drums got thin and oversized there were shims you could put under the shoes to increase their diameter. We usually ran drums till they heat checked or cracked clear through. There was a pile of new drums on one side of the shop and a pile of scrap ones out back. Just remember to put antifreeze in the brake-water tank for the January haul. Somebody forgot one time and the lines froze up. So I was reminded on every job. This was before the days of Jake brakes except on the new trucks but even afterwards they used water coming out of the woods.
We weren't subject to DOT inspections except if trucks delivered to the mill so maybe we were a little sloppy. Years later as a driver I used to complain to the shop if they let a tanker out with grabbing brakes. Empty aluminum tankers are hard to stop in one lane on snowy roads if some of the trailer brakes grab. They're like an aluminum beer can on four axles and eight wheels.
