Rufus: Takin a brake.

(10/17/2006) It's time for a brake. When I'd test driven Rufus I found the brakes to be...less than satisfactory. Like REAL bad. So after deciding that the electricals were about as done as they were gonna get, the jackstands came out and the wheels came off so I could get started on the job.

The left rear brakes were covered in gear lube. I guess an axle seal or two is in order. And the parking brake band is missing. More stuff to order. But that's not the bad part.

I wondered why the left front drum came off so easily (I had to wrassle with the left front and finally loosen the adjuster up to get it off.) I was sorta surprised to find that there was nobody home at all! But then considering how it stopped, I'm not all that surprised.

(10/20/06) I did some checking and found that I could get a different front and rear axle from a friend, so I started removing the old one. Here the front shackle bolts have been removed..

The shackles slid out pretty easily.

And before I knew it, the whole axle was on the ground. Not bad. The drag link ends are dusted solid, tho. I'm gonna have some fun getting them apart.

(11/03/06) I'd been chipping away at the rear axle removal, but there wasn't much to show untile I got to the front u-joint cover. It's totally encrusted with crud.

It didn't look much better after I sprayed it with PB Blaster, but that sure helped get the bolts removed.

(11/05/06) I had to make a spreader to keep the rear spring from collapsing when I removed the rear shackles. Just a couple of 2x4s but it seems to have worked. I removed the rear shackles (the right one was broken anyway), supported the front of the torque tube on a transmission jack and pulled the whole thing out with a floor jack.

And here's the result. The whole truck's up on jack stands, waiting for the replacement axles.

Doesn't look any more complete from the rear, does it?

(11/07/06) Here are the "new" axles.

(11/10/06) I sprayed the crud-encrusted portions of the front axle with carb cleaner and let 'em percolate for a while.

Then I started scraping the stuff off. There really isn't all that much of a mess to deal with. And the kingpins seem to be in pretty good shape. I'll know more once I get it installed and the wheels mounted on it.

(11/16/06) The brake parts look pretty good. There's even some life left in the linings.

Doesn't look too bad after a little cleaning.

It's a little hard to see, but the old drag link was sorta bent at the front (left in pic) section.

So I used the link from the "new" axle and put a teflon bushing kit in at both ends.

Here's the whole thing, cleaned up and painted.

With the help of a floor jack in front and a transmission jack at the rear portion of the wishbone I got it lined up so I could put the new shackles up front and "rubber ball" on the rear wishbone mounting point, then bolted things into place.

Here you can see the new shackles and the brake rod that's ready to be attached with a clevis pin.

Back together. I packed the bearings with grease, bolted and pinned everything together and then put the cotter pins in every location that required one.

Next page: Rear end swap.

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