Had a good day here in SW Mo. Temp was 40 or so this morning so I got to work on the truck. Took on the interior first, tank is full of 6 years of garbage so it came out. Will take it to the hot tank tommorow. Took the seat out and all unnessary wiring. The only color wire the guy had was red. What a mess. After the wiring stuuf was taken care of my headlights work. I don't have to wonder why. Took the rear bumper off and the wrong taillights. Santa brought me the correct ones.Well sorta, I have two for the right side since my tag will not be on the left I didn't want the tag light. Srubbed of alot of grim and green moss or whatever it was. Only did the pass. side for some pics. I hope they show up. Worked until I had no more daylight, trucks outside. For some reason I know have brake pedal. Before it just went to the floor. I'm going to check it all out, but it gave me a good feeling. That's it for now everyone. Thanks for looking and any suggestions will be taken!!!
Red truck Looks like the metal is in good condition and everything is there. I like the color. More than likley the brakes need bleeding. I live in Ozark and one of these days I'll try to come over to Monett to meet you. Gene
Thanks Gene. Maybe I'll see you in Nixa next season. There is a group of us that try to get up there for the cruise ins at the crusin usa shows. Your truck looks good also. I work at O'reillys in Monett. Later Tom
Nice Truck ! DON'T BLEED the brakes until you'ver first adjusted them , remembering there's two adjusters per wheel on <1951 trucks . Then , use a stick to hold the brake pedal down overnight , in the morning release it and wait 5 minutes before touching it , you'll usually find a high , hard brake pedal after this simple effort . Bleeding when unecessay often screws things up and co$t$ you money...
Another happy AD owner in MO! Looks like a great truck, Tom! Are you going to blow it apart, or just drive it? It looks like I'll have to plan a swing-through trip of the Ozarks come summer!
here is the link for the shop manual for your truck http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1948_51truck/ there is a section in there showing how to adjust the "huck" brakes. best of luck.
Factory Shop Manuals Are cheaply available from the sponsor of this forum and every other old truck parts vendor too..... $29.95 . Don't forget to also buy the same year shop manual for your engine.....
There are several vendors who sell them! Our host sells the shop manual. Chevs of the 40's sells it. Go to your local swap meets and buy an original. I've got 2 copies of it. A blood, sweat, tears, greasy original and a very good repop copy of it. The only reason I bought a repop was because of the smudges created from my grandfather and dad!
Thanks guys. I'll be needing this for sure.I love working on stuff and making it as good as new. I have read thru the brake adjusting. Wow seems overwheelming!! I'm sure after I get into it it will be a little clearer. Loosening the pin seems odd to me.
Huck Brakes (notice how ' Huck ' ryhmes with ' suck ') Anyway ~ DO NOT touch the anchor pin ! just adjust the shoes as necessary using the twin adjusters found on each wheel....
Thanks Nate, I thought that seemed odd. I've done alot of drum brakes but had never herd of that. Weather is supposed to be fair tommorow so I'll be wrenching for sure. I'm not sure if I mentioned this but the truck had no fluid in master when I picked it up. Now after adding fluid and setting for 3-4 weeks I have pedal?? No sign of a leak, but I have not pulled drums yet. Any idea how this could occur??
Old Brake Fun Yep , how long did it sit ? it's fairly common for older design master cylinders to have Uber slow leaks . just keep an eye on it for now . Take your time and gently lift the edge of the rubber cups everywhere and if you see even the slightest sign of wetness od old leakage , begin saving up for new cylinders etc. , NOW . Huck brake Master and wheel cylinders are O.K. but they were sized to only be honed out for new cups once or twice and proper honing technique seems to have gone the way of the Dodo plus they've prolly been honed out a few times allready in the last 50 years , Wagner still makes all the parts and they're cheaper than the cylinders on your SO's Datsun so be smart if you can afford it and replace 'em all . Those pesky shoe mounting pins were an idea ripped off from LOCKHEED and Chrysler products used them on millions of cars & trucks , they serve to center the shoes for best contact but are not supposed to be touched nor adjusted unless you've taken everything all the way apart and then they're tricky to properly align , it's Do-Able with some PVC pipe and bit bit of DIY inginuity . For now , (any any time you're resurecting an old junker) just top off the master cylinder and then do " The Stick Trick " : wedge the brake pedal down with a cut off broom stick for 24 hours , this leaves the by-pass port open so atmospheric pressure can draw out those last tiny few air bubbles thay are so hard to remove by bleeding and at the same time , you're not pushing the old , delicate rubber cups way down the bore where corrosion and crud are waiting to create leaks....... try this on any old vehicle and be amazed at how the brakes become rock hard like they were when new... Espcially on Moto disc brakes where you use a rubber band on the brake lever overnight... Lastly , DO NOT relinquish your old brake shoes until the new ones are installed and working to your satisfaction ! . cores are getting very hard to find . Quite often you trade 'em in then get home to discover the WRONG ONES inside the box and your cores have <magically> dissapeared
Warning... Since brakes are kind of important, let me share this story. My 3/4 G finally started rolling along. (Much like a bucking bronco) Didn't matter, it was still F-U-N!!! I had replaced the shoes, rebuilt the master, replaced the flex lines, and the cross over line from the mc to the passenger side. I then bled the brakes and was good to go. It stopped fine. Later, when I decided to blow it apart and redo it, I was taking off the old brake line that ran around in front of the radiator and over to the driver's side front wheel. After I got it off, I was looking for a place to set it aside when I noticed something. A small stream of brake fluid was spurting from the line! God had been watching out over me. I've tried not to think about the "what-ifs", but I do. I would have to say that a brake job on these old beasts isn't complete until the lines are also replaced. Just thought I'd share...
The Stick Trick Just wedge it down as far as you can , doesn't need much pressure on it although I like to hold it as far down as i can... When you remove the stick after 24 hours (no , this won't work over your lunch hour) let the pedal release nice and easy and don't fool with it for about 5 minutes before stepping on it again . This won't work with those pesky ABS systems on newer rigs BTW .
