I just wish I was a quarter as good as the Bloke from Australia with his Grand Willys project, (Google Grand Willys Project) and prepare to be amazed. He proves that you don't has to have a shop full of metal working tools, if you have plenty of talent.
Today I rearranged the hall of Heeps so that I could work on the parking brake on our 2A. Salvage parts will save the day again, but did find out that we were still missing a couple of pieces, plus the shoes on the salvaged unit were oil soaked. While I wait for the parts to show up later this week, I'll clean up the backer plate and work to loosen up the adjusters. Keep tuned for updates.
GM you know what really works well on oil soaked pads/disc is "Fullers Earth" my Dad and Grandfather used to use it on their pull pans behind the dozers, the power units that operated the cables always got covered in grease and working in the hot summer days it would drip grease down in the power units onto the clutches/brakes that raised and lowered the bowel on the pan.
I am thinking we got it at the drugstore, not real sure if they still make it or sell it but i am telling you it would suck the oil out of anything.
When truck shoes would get saturated with gear lube from a failed hub seal, we would burn off the lube with a torch. That was when the shoes were made with asbestos. These shoes are pretty well worn down, so I ordered up a new set. They were cheaper then buying shoe stock and riveting them to the old junk. The parts will be here at the ranch tomorrow. I'll look and see if I can find some Fullers Earth just to have on hand.
If I had an acre under roof, the workshop would look the same. Oh well, the air is on today, so it's a good day to play in gear lube.
My viscous shop dog Shadow enjoying the cool air.... Honestly, she is more anti social then my German Shepherd.
The pictures are of the old parking backer plate coming off, then the salvaged unit along with another cable that hasn't been spliced with a cable clamp. Duh!, sorry the first couple of pictures are upside down.
The salvaged backer plate cleaned up nice, and a quick fog of Rustoleum made it look alright. The outside still had the Military olive paint, so I decided to leave it alone. The drum had a half inch of crud built up due to no shoes to keep it shaved down. The nylon brush did a good job of cleaning up the rust to give the new shoes something to grip to.
In the upside down photos, I spy a "Cherry Bomb" and a non factory driveshaft. I do like the diameter on that Prop shaft tube. MUCH better than the original!
When I call it a Heep, I mean it. This thing is a conglomeration of odds and ends. Most of the underbody consists of a patchwork of scrap iron and sheet metal. Most all of the hat channels are all gone, but oddly enough the white oak stiffeners are still in place.
There are pieces of cutting edge and angle iron supporting the body from dropping around the frame. If it wasn't for the fact that this Heep runs so well, and has the best road manners, I would have blown this apart before the wagon.
The drives haft looks to have come out of a wagon, so it has a little more meat to it. The Cherry Bomb has been well burned out, so it actually sounds descent, with the Willys whine when going down the road. The Heep burned massive amounts of oil for a lot of years, so when the piston was replaced, (1) the bomb was thoroughly burned and cleaned out.
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