The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Intro to me, then my first "dumb question"

Pulled the front drums, inspected, parts
ordered. But the rear...I am embarassed to
say I have never worked on a 3/4 ton.
I am very well versed in every area of 60's
chev's, six's and eights. Never opened a
tranny but know how to change clutches
and tranny's. The little things I know many, like different sizes of pilot bushings for different
tranny's, setting dwell. Know timing, setting valves,
lifters bla, bla, bla. Been building 2 strokes
for ever in sleds and motor bikes. I built me a few
real nice Kawasaki H1 triples, 400, 500 and 750's, sold a few, kept a few.A Pre-Press
man by trade in the printing business.
Learned to wrench early in life as dad was
a sledder, dirt biker plus a shade tree mechanic
too as he never had a shop. I learned lots from
him. I Did the complete grade 9 -12 Appreticehip
program at the public H.S. Grade 11 and 12 were
full year courses taught by a great mechanic in one
of best equipped schools in our area. Classes
from 2 surrounding small cities were bussed to
classes in our small town. We even had an alignment rack and a Dyno. I graduated thinking
I was going to be a mechanic, but dad came home
one eve and said his print shop was looking for
an apprentice...I am 48 now and glad I took the
print job. I have only paid a mechanic once in my
life other than tires, exhaust and alignments, so far.
Anyway that's long enuff, I got some good skills, but
I need to refine what I have, and learn by asking.
My Bro - in - Law Don Henderson died last last
year. He was a fantastic mechanic and had a huge
wrecking yard and every kind of Ford (oops, bad word) made. But I can no longer pick his brain or
have him pop over and point me in the right direction so I'll ask you "Bolter's"

I have done lots of brake jobs.... but never
worked on the rear of a 3/4 ton. It is a 1965
Chevrolet 20, 8 bolt wheels. Front
was easy as usual but where do I start to R and R
rear brakes and rebuild wheel cylinders. I have
the hone and the kits.

Now my dumb question...how do I pull the rear drums?

Question2, is there a site I can get a "Free" PDF file
of a service manual. I have the printshop at my disposal.

Hah,I'm not well versed in most of what you seem to be. So no sweat there. LOL. Be patient for responses. You'll likely get them later in the day. And Welcome!

Thanks DrewP. I'll hang in. Funny I was just
defending our KAwasaki triple Forum up here
in Canada. Someone got Pi$$y because a question
had not been answered in 2 days. Perhaps no
one knew the answer, I know I didn't. Plus we're very quiet in the
winter. Buddy got his answer and we advised him
to remain calm, Rome wasn't built in a day. It
took me 2 years to find coil mounts for my 72 H1
and I paid dearly in an eBay bidding war that I won.
When I get the mounts, one was broke . These were unique only to
one model after Kawi gave up with the early 1969
CDi system and went back to points in 72, then two
more different CDI's over the next 3 seasons. Points
rule, and a 72 Kawi has 3 sets which must be gapped then each set timed to it's specific cylinder.
Patience is a Virtue, isn't it. I'll get my answer here
soon I know Chevy people are the best!!

welcome to the site. I do not know the answer, but i will wait patiently for the answer with you. I have to do the rear brakes on my 65 c20 in the next couple months.

cool, you got one too. I just got mine.
NAPA claims they have the stuff we need
to redo the brakes. They say they can even
get a MC too, probably rebuilt. I got lots to
learn about the trnny and diff but it'll come.

I've found that NAPA has or can get a LOT of parts for old trucks, especially stuff that gets done a lot like brakes, engine bits. They seldom have body parts or things like that, but mechanical bits they are good with.

I'll try to help you with the rear brakes. A shop manual would be helpful also. On some of the you take the wheels off & the drum is held on by 3 flat head screws, (& rust) Most Of them you will have to pull the hub & drum together. Remove the 8 bolts & pull out the axle. There is a large nut in there with a metal lock plate. Some are a round nut with recesses around it. One of the recesses will have a metal tab bent into it. Bend the tab back & with a hammer & punch screw the nut off. Pull the lock ring & there is another nut behind it. Screw it off & you can pull the hub/drum off. There is a thrust washer in there dont lose it. If it has hex nuts you need a special wrench to take it off after you hammer the lock tab back. If you need more info, post it. This website seldom takes very long for someone to respond.

I have a 66 3/4 ton gmc,when i pulled the drums off all i had to do was take off one wheel put a little wd40 on screws. go take off other wheel,put on a little wd40 on these skrews. Go back to first hub take a big skrewdrive & tap on it while removeing skrew. they came off without to much trouble. You may have to tap around the edge of drum to get it lose . notice i said tap and not beet. mikie

i was able to get a axle socket at parts store 4 or 5 years ago. just in case you want to tighten it to specs.

excellent Advise, thanks to all. I watched a U-Tube video on R and R
the rear brake drum. It was mis-titled the Jack-[censored]es. Video starts
and the drum is already off. "Rear Wheel Cylinder Removal on a 3/4
Ton" would have been more appropriate. I'll order a manual from NAPA.
I have to call an old work chum that came to mind after talking to
my bro last night. Brian has a 71 Chev 4x4 and he does all his own
transmission/diff work. I kinda like to have someone show me the
ropes like him, that can save me all kinds of time, money and grief !
Plus he's a real good guy, short skinny "Hick" that used to swing
from them big printing presses like a monkey, but Hyper. Man I remember
his short fuse, must be the red haired Irish in em. He couldn't tolerate
"stupid people" very long at all, but ignorance is different. You guy's like
jokes. Albert Einstein was once asked what his opinion on the
difference between stupidity and genius. His reply, " Genius
has limitations" I'll order me a book, get Brian to pop over and
thanks for all the advise. I can see almost what is going on inside there
now, thanks for listening....sorry for the long winded reply, I can
type near fast as I can talk.


I'll try and find one of them too, thanks!!

Ah the joy's of used cars. I maintain a fleet of
2002 and older cars, mine, my wifes, my daughter
and my son back to 1995 Honda Accd. Between
1 timing belt on 1 car, then r and r stab bar, weld
it together again. both Stab links, 2 idlers, rotors
pads and Calipers. plus lube oil and filter on wifes
AWD Astro, strut in my car and a full week of work,
I still haven't started rear drums, no hurry but...

Maybe in a week I can start the rear brakes. I got
the info and the parts. Still need to buy a new
compressor, mine is old and gave up, and my OXY
Regulator blew out the preess/Relf plug......I think
these torches are older than my 65 C20.....