Rain. sleet and maybe snow later this evening. The Mississippi river is going up, along with the rain, must be some melt from Minnesnowta! Might not get any work done on 71 until Saturday or Sunday.

Good thing you checked those brake shoes! At least it doesn't look like too much rust and the cylinder isn't leaking.

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Originally posted by Steve VW:
Good thing you checked those brake shoes! At least it doesn't look like too much rust and the cylinder isn't leaking.

If you look real close at the cylinder, you will see it has a split end cap and there is a drop of fluid. got rebuild kits but might need new cyclinders

Yeah, you might want to just replace the cylinder. I don't think they are very expensive and by the the time you clean and hone the old ones it might be quicker just to change them out. You'd have new bleeder valves too.

Looks like you could be ready for the Minnesnowta GTG. Hope to see you there!

Have Barth, will travel

quote:

Looks like you could be ready for the Minnesnowta GTG. Hope to see you there!

Do believe ole 71 will be ready!! My spouse will not travel and it is difficult to find someone to stay with Barbara. So in all likelihood will not make it this year.

Obviously she is your first priority. Hopefully you can find someone to stay a few days if she is willing. Good luck with both the coach and the family.

Well Steve you were right about getting new wheel cylinders. So far only have removed the passenger side, but what an awful mess. The rubber brake fluid tube is partially plugged, one end of the cylinder was full of rust and corrosion and the piston had not moved in a long time. The sealing wall is corroded, deep pits, and the seals are flat.

These brakes are a lot harder to work on than regular drum brakes. Springs are stronger making it difficult to disassemble and reassemble.

At my speed it is going to take a day on each wheel, a bit afraid of the back. Have to pull the axels, as if that is not bad enough, putting them back in is even a bigger pain, only good luck gets the splines to align and slip back into differential.

The Mississippi River went up about 3-foot last night, Dana is sending rain and snow melt to us in Iowa again. Nowhere near flood stage though.

Waiting on parts, taking a break!!

Got my parts, after 3 attempts still have not been able to correctly reassemble the passenger side brake shoes. Pooped, try again tomorrow. Took the driver's side apart, it is in much better shape. Replacing the wheel cylinder was no picnic either 2 small bolts but impossible to get at.

There must have been several folks work on this unit, much of the work is first class, but some is down right awful, found the missing Lugnut stuck in the grease cup, the broken shoe pad looks to be an intentional act, the new shoes have one pad shorter and thinner than the other, the pads I took off were the same thickness, bet that pad was a long one, broken off to resemble the shorter one. The existing shoes, show very little wear, pretty sure they were recently replaced. If the guy had checked the wheel cylinders, the front brakes would be fine.

I don't recall seeing different shoes in the front but could be. With only one cylinder, one shoe is leading and the other is trailing. Leading shoes have more effect since the drum forces them into contact. Some rear brakes had different shoes for parking brake use. Hmm... Be sure you have shoes for the correct wheel.

As you have seen, quality of workmanship varies greatly from one mechanic to another. Inspect things carefully, you never know when something has been buggered up.

There is a brake spring tool you may find helpful. A round rod with a claw on one end. Hook the claw over the keeper stud, hook the spring over the rod, then move the rod perpendicular to the stud. The spring should slide down the rod onto the stud.

Be sure to replace the flex lines to the front brakes and the one from frame to rear axle. They are notorious for failure at advanced age. Sometimes they get kinked, or rupture and leak (obvious) sometimes they collapse internally and cause the brakes to drag (not so obvious).

Inspect the steel lines carefully, especially where they nest in the frame. External corrosion can cause failure and leaks. Brake fluid is hygroscopic (absorbs water). If the system has not been bled regularly, the fluid may have water contamination. This can cause it to boil when brakes get hot and can lead to internal corrosion in the steel brake lines. The dirt in the lines can cause problems with the master cylinder or the wheel cylinders.

I replaced all the Chevrolet lines, calipers and hoses in my 86. It had a Neway tag axle with drum brakes, separate master cylinder and lines. I inspected all those but did not replace them. You can never be too careful with brakes.
Good luck stopping!

Thanks for the info, will go to Harbor Freight and see if they have that tool.

The drivers side has the same shoes as I have, the smaller, thinner shoe is towards the front of the coach. Guess i had better do the back brakes too.

Got new flexible front lines, the steel lines really look in great shape.

Picture shows drivers side front hard to see the pad thickness difference but can see the pad on the left (front) is shorter

Bit colder today and may snow tomorrow!!!

I got my brake tool [multi-tool] at O Rielly's, It was only about 12 bucks. When I did the rear drums on my Ranger I watched a couple different Youtube vids and took pics before I started. I'd still be working on it now [2 years later] if I hadn't. Thanks for all the updates. I never would have been able to take on a project like yours'

Hey Danny, found the tool at Farm & Fleet, $10! Have worked on drum brakes before, but these are bigger and Badder than any of the cars from the 60's. Plus I am like 60 years older now!!

My hope is ole 71 becomes to me what your 79 is to you.

Been too cold to get back to work outside, tomorrow supposed to get up in the 50's again. Sunday is going to be the same, hope to get the front brakes working at least.

On these nice days my teenage sidekick finds better stuff to do, have to do it all myself. He might show up when we put in the new spark plug wires, he hates the dirty brakes...

After sitting around in the cold afternoon and doing pizza and beer for dinner, concluded ole 71 really needs white side-wall tires. Hope they make a LT 235 85 16 10 ply. Perhaps a fake add on 16-inch white wall. Gotta buy new tires anyway!!!

Anyone know where??

The weather people are not very accurate as usual. Now they say Monday will be a sunny and 50's day!! Back to the couch!!

Guess the spark plug wire change might be a good idea for today, maybe tomorrow, feeling lazy.

So found white wall inserts 2 inch wide or 3 inch wide. Bamboli company $60 or $82 on Ebay free shipping!!

It is 11AM and 43F might get some work done on 71 this afternoon!