The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Parking Brake / Front Brake Drums / Wood Bed / Draining Battery / Wiper motor

When I bought my 50 Chevy 1/2 ton it had no parking brake equipment. I now installed all of it but I cannot get the parking brake pedal to stay engaged at the floor... it slowly rises back to disengaged level. What do I need to do to have it work?

Anyone know where I can get 2 front drums cheap?Mine are shot!!Are 50 drums different than 51's?

I bought red oak and marine spar varnish to coat it. I am almost finished cutting the wood to size, how do I coat it, with a brush? And do I sand between coats? What type of sandpaper if so? How many coats do I put on?

Any other recommendations??

My battery drains if I don't not run the truck at least every 48 hours what can I check first? A new battery and alternator is installed.

Anyone know of a powered wiper motor from a car that can be adapted without too much frustration that works rather than paying $200 for a made one?

pat, if you ask those questions separately you may get more answers. For your drums, put a wanted ad in the swap meet and you will find some. They are differant than the '51- up bendix brakes, but you can swap 51-up brakes on there if you change the backing plates (and/or the whole spindle from the kingpin out).

Your parking brake pedal needs fixing. The mechanism that locks it works kind of like the one on a bar clamp and won't work right if it's rusty or oily. Take it out and clean it up.

The battery drain can be a lot of things. Disconnect one thing at a time until it stops draining. Suspect your alternator if it isn't hooked up right and none of your lights are staying on.

I've heard of people using VW motors but I still use vacuum in mine and it works fine if you get a double acting fuel pump or swap a belt driven vacuum pump on from a turbo volvo. I like the variable speed.

for the wood thin a small amount of the spar varnish, this will allow the varnish to sink deeper into the wood, let dry, light sand 220, recoat, and sanding in between coats and damp wipe before recoating Not wet or the grain of the wood will rise. final sand with 400 and recoat and it will last for years.

Hi citypat,
I bought my brake drums new(6 lug) at Autozone for 20 dollars each!! I saved about 40 dollars on each drum from other competitors, but the down side is that each store only keeps one brake drum in stock.

Chevyboy62