180-971 F1 Crane Truck

[Ravvin]

Hi all.
I now own 180-971, F1 6X6 with an Abbey hoist. Chassis number 3588, Census No. 6221-B, June 69. Not sure what the engine number is yet as it got too dark to see it.



Young Eric went and had a look at it for me, out on the farm, and most of these pics in the post are his. I got the truck home this afternoon, and by the time I finished crawling over it, it was too dark to take decent pics.

It's in much better condition than my 4X4, but has a few issues I have to sort out before getting it registered.

First, some pics.









With the recent floods down here, they had to close the port of Devonport, which is where the ship carrying my truck unloads. They almost shipped it to Bell Bay instead, but I managed to stop them. It's over an hour away for a tilt tray and would cost a fortune.
I got a call on Saturday, telling me it was here and could be collected between 10 and 12, but there are only 2 tilt tray drivers around here with trucks big enough to carry it and neither were available.

Today I lined up the tilt tray guys and got away from work a bit early to go down and sign any paper work. When I got there I was told there was a problem as the battery was dead flat and the truck was facing the wrong way to load. When we got down there, it was parked right at the edge of the wharf, facing the water. The tilt tray guy was scratching his head as to why they thought it was a problem as he just hooked up and pulled it on backwards. He did have a bit of a problem when the front wheels of his truck lifted off the ground. I'd told him it was around 6.4t.
Something I noticed is that the only oil drips on the ground where it sat were from the leaking hydraulics of the Abbey hoist, so either there are no other leaks in the driveline, or they all need topping up. I had an old HQ panel van with a diff leak like that. When it stopped dripping, I knew it was time to top it up.

Anyway, once it was tied down we headed off and he dropped it just inside the gate out in the back paddock, just like the first one.
While he was stowing his tie-down chains, I jumped in and flicked the switch, pulled the choke out and hit the button, and it started first go! No idea what the mob at the wharf were doing. I'm betting nobody had ever seen a system like this and didn't know they had to turn the switch on. The panel lettering is pretty worn, but surely common sense would tell you that the only unreadable switch, right next to the starter button, would be the ignition?



I let it run for a bit and noticed all my gauges are in metric. The speedo is in km/h, the oil pressure and air pressure gauges are in KPa and the temp gauge is in degrees C. They look original, but I'll have to look at the back and see if the wiring has been modified. The air pressure gauge was showing 200KPa and it started slowly rising as the engine ran. I have since looked at one of Young Eric's pics and the gauge was showing about that when he took it. Either the system was holding pressure or the gauge needs zeroing.
There was no light blinking or buzzer buzzing, which should be happening until it gets to around 400KPa or 60psi, so I'll have to look into that.

When I tried to move it, I found a few more minor issues. First up, the handbrake only moves abut an inch, and yet the truck stalls when I try to move, even in first. I had a look at the handbrake pivots and linkages and they are very dry, with no sign of any grease at all. I gave them all a squirt of Inox, but tomorrow I will get the grease gun out and give them a good lube up. If that isn't what's causing the excessive brake drag, I will have to pull each drum off and have a look and see if something is sticking. I really need to do this anyway, as both wear indicator pins on the brake master servos are right out and were very hard to push in. Lots more lubing needed. 

The next issue I found is that it is stuck in high range 6x6. The lever is all the way forward and won't move at all. I found that if I flipped the detent lever up, it hissed briefly then stopped, but still wouldn't let the lever move. If I pushed the lever down, it moved easily but is leaking air, so I left it up for now. I suspect the linkages at the transfer case and the bottom of the lever have dried out and need greasing.

Another issue is that I looked behind me and saw the air valve for the winch was in the Disengage position. I flipped it up to the Engaged position but it just flopped back down. There was no resistance or hiss of air at all, so I think something is disconnected.

The clutch isn't getting full disengagement, so I'll check the master and slave cylinders for leaks. If they are ok it may just need bleeding.

Other issues are the seats. The driver's side has a good upholstered base but no back and the passenger side has noseat or back, and isn't bolted down. All things I can fix myself.

As you can see in the pics below, someone has lost control of the hoist and dinged the door and roof. The hatch won't seal and has been pushed down a bit. One of the guys at work will help me with that. He did a great job on the 3 Kombis my boss and his mates did up.



The deck has some broken and rotted boards, so I will replace them all with some good hardwood. What sort of preservative should I use on it? Because the timber is in weird sizes compared to what is sold now, I will machine it up myself from rough sawn, and I can paint/coat all sides before it's bolted down. I was thinking something like a deck oil, as I've seen it used on outdoor decks that get rained/snowed on and it holds up well, but would like to know what others have used and how well it worked.

The muffler looks like it has been patched up a few times and is leaking, so I'll replace that. I still have one here but I better get a spare off Bushman while he has a few. While it's out, I'll take the tip in and get another one made up as my 4X4 needs one. It's going to be handy having this truck here when I put the other one back together as I can see where everything goes. 

The indicators don't work at the moment. I saw a new flasher unit under the dash and LED tail lights, so it probably needs a resister in the indicator circuit to make the flasher work. There are other wires hanging loose at the back and some under the front, so I have to follow them back and see what they are off.

I was hoping this truck had a crank handle as it would be easier to copy it than working from drawings, but I was out of luck. I don't even have clips behind the passenger seat to hold one, so maybe it lived elsewhere? It has a wheel nut spanner, so I won't need to find one of those, but I'll have to get a jack. It has one of the centre posts for the drop sides in the toolbox, so I can use that as a pattern to make another. Then I just needs the sides, tailgate, seats and hoops. 

Anyway, that will do for now. I'll have a better look tomorrow and maybe get some new pics.

Greg.

[Mick_Marsh]

Well done on your astute purchase.

[Chazza]

What an absolute corker! I am green with envy!

Have a great time restoring it,

Cheers Charlie

[Bluebell One-eight]

A good one!!! The frozen range lever may ( with luck ) just be transmission windup, caused by the truck being driven in 4WD on hard surfaced road. It looks like you have plenty of room so when the brakes are freed up drive the truck on a figure eight course while pulling back on the lever ( trigger activated ), try pressing the loud pedal and releasing it, to change loading on the drive line. It should come out fairly quickly, if not try bumping the lever with the palm of the hand with the engine cover off. If you can get an assistant it might help too. If that fails check if the detent plunger is working, it could be seized. Good luck with it you've got a much better buy than the Mk3, we'll all enjoy the progress with this one.

[Ravvin]

Thanks all.

I managed to get it out of 6X6 high this morning. I rocked it backwards and forwards with first & reverse, while pulling back on the range lever.
All the linkages are dry and binding, from the PTO lever right through to the handbrake rods.

I thought the brakes issue might be the handbrake sticking so decided to free things up a bit. I pumped grease into the pivots on the back axles, but still couldn't move the handbrake lever. I pulled the clevis pin out at the handbrake pivot on the rear axle, and was only just able to pull the handle up. I will get underneath and clean the other pivot points on the bottom of the handbrake lever and the one on the back of the transfer case cross-member.
I'm now thinking someone may have wound the brake adjusters out too far, and caused the rear drums to bind due to lack of clearance. With the handbrake linkage disconnected, I could only move the rods to the back wheels about 1cm. Tomorrow I will jack up each rear wheel and see if it turns freely. I'm thinking I will have to jack up one wheel on each diff so I can turn one. We'll see I guess. Supercheap has a special on 3tonne vehicle stands, so I might grab 2 sets. Then I just need to find something solid enough to support the jack and stands. The paddock is pretty saturated right now, and very soft.

While I was working on the rear brake pivot, I noticed that the rear winch rollers were all bent up.



The cable between the eyelet and winch drum is so tight it twangs when you tap it. I tried to see if the winch air cylinder was in the engaged or disengaged position, but I can't get a clear view of it. I can turn the winch driveshaft fairly easily, so it must be disengaged. With the truck turned off, I was able to move the PTO lever into gear and out without any problems, but I need to be able to get the winch to engage before I can run it in reverse to overcome the brake. At least I hope its only the brake.
I noticed the other day that there was something wrong with the winch activation valve in the cab as the lever just flopped around. I unbolted it and stripped it down and found that the screw that goes through the handle and into the actuator shaft had sheared off. This lets the handle move but has no effect on the shaft. The inside of the valve was full of orange sludge. I think it was a mix of water, oil and rust.
I've cleaned it out and will have to have a go at drilling out the broken screw.



When I emptied out the cab to see what needed fixing, I found this thing in the first pic. I thought it would make a good base plate to sit the jack on, and then realised the 3 pins on it fitted into the bottom of the Abbey hoist's support feet, to spread the load on soft ground. Now I need to find another one for the other side. The other pic is what remains of the passenger's seat. Should be enough left to work out what it's supposed to look like.



I had a bit of a look at the hoist, trying to work out how it operates. It looks pretty good, structurally, but the control valve assembly needs a good clean up and rebuild.



I'm not sure what the thing in the second pic is, as the plate is very faded. It has a dial gauge on top of it so it might be a strain gauge or similar so you can tell the weight of the load. I pulled all the levers, to see if any were stuck but they all moved freely. It was probably a mistake though as when I got down later I found oil leaking out of the breather on the driver's side. I'll have to have a look on the net and see if I can find an operating manual and workshop manual for it. There is a long plate screwed to the cab roof that shows what each lever does, but its almost totally faded away.



This one is still in pretty good shape.

There are no tac plates in the holders, but it looks like there may be something under the most recent layers of paint. The pic below is the passenger side tac plate holder. It looks a bit like an 8, but could be part of something else. The other side has much thicker paint and I can't make anything out. I'll try removing some layers and see what appears.



The next pic is the passenger side front hub. It appears to be leaking slightly. Does anyone know if there is a simple fix for this or is it likely to need a full hub strip down and overhaul? The driver's side also has a bit of oil showing, but only a shadow compared to this.



I dropped the spare wheel to give myself room to get underneath. The tire on it is stuffed, but the rim seems ok. The three tires that came with it are all really good, so I will switch one over. Turns out I have 5 galvanised rims and 2 regular. The galvanised ones seem to hold up much better than the other ones.

More to come tomorrow, if it isn't raining.

Greg.

[Ravvin]

Well, it didn't rain, so I got a bit more done.
I picked up a couple of sets of 3 tonne vehicle stands this morning, then jacked up all 4 rear wheels.
I was trying to work out which wheels were causing the brake drag issues. The 2 intermediate wheels spun freely. With all 4 off the ground I found that spinning one side caused to wheel on the opposite side turn backwards. Next I tried the rears. When I spun the driver's side, it was turning the opposite side wheel, but on the intermediate axle, and it was a lot more effort. When I tried spinning the passenger's side rear, it would go about half a turn then bind, drag and finally lock tight.
I got the wheel off, without it falling on me, and took the 2 dust covers off the back of the hub. The brake shoes look almost new, with plenty of pad material left.



I backed off the adjuster 3 turns and suddenly was able to spin the drum with no dragging. I don't know if they were over adjusted or whether the change in location from Victoria to Tasmania caused something to change. The workshop manual says to turn the adjuster in until the brakes just drag, then back it out 2 clicks, which should be clearly audible. Well, I backed it out 3 full turns to free it up and never heard or felt any clicks.
I decided that since I had the wheel off, I should probably pull the drum off and have a look to see if anything had leaked inside, swelling the brake shoe material. The manual just says "Remove the brake drum". I gave it a good flogging around the rear rim with a soft faced hammer, but it never budged. It would have been good if they had a few threaded holes in the face of the drum to screw bolts into to force the drum off, but they didn't. I'm going to have to borrow a really big 3 arm puller.



While poking around under there, I noticed there has been some leakage around the driver's side rear axle flange. I can't tell if this is recent or from an old leak, so I'll give it a clean and see if it comes back.



I managed to free up the 2 clevis pins in the rear handbrake pivot and got them out. When I undid the 2 bolts holding the pivot assembly to the diff housing, I found that the holes went all the way through. The oil tried to leak out, bit it was flowing like treacle and was creamy white. Looks like I have to drain, clean and refill the diffs. Oh well, it was on my list anyway.
I stripped down the pivot assembly and gave it a degrease to clean the grease off that I pumped in there yesterday. Next I taped up the threads and bearing surfaces and gave it a good sandblast. It came out really clean, but I need to get some more fine wet & dry to clean up some pitting on the bearing surfaces. The brass inserts look good, just need a bit of a polish to remove some tarnishing.



While removing the pivot assembly, I noticed the axle breather cap was all gunged up and stuck, so couldn't be allowing any air to pass. Seeing that, I checked the ones on the other 2 axles and the 2 power dividers. All are stuck and blocked. This may be why I'm seeing oil leaks on the hubs. I'll pull them all off and give them a clean out.

While poking around looking for other issues, I found that the radiator cap had rusted through on the top where the rivet goes through. I picked up another one today, same pressure. It will be interesting to see if the water pump seal fails now due to the increased pressure. At least if it does, I know the part numbers for the kit and how to rebuild it.

I was able to drill into the broken screw in the winch air valve and got it out with an ezi-out. The thread in the shaft is undamaged but it might be tricky finding a replacement screw. The RPS says its a countersunk head 3/16" BSN screw, 5/8" long. I've never heard of a BSN thread. I checked with a pitch gauge and it seems to be 24 threads per inch. If I can't get one the same, I can always enlarge the hole a bit and tap it to a more common thread. This valve is described as a rotary type. My MK3 has the plunger type valve, which is also the only one shown in the F1 RPS, so I'm guessing the rotary type was replaced at some time. Interestingly, both the rotary and plunger types have the same PBR part number. I'll have to check my MK3 to see if the pipes are in the same place, that way if I can't get the rotary type valve working without leaking, I can switch it with the plunger one until I can find another.

At some point, and fairly recently, someone has removed many of the Mod plates. The brass pins are still there on the front of the transfer case and rear axle. There is still a plate on the Abbey hoist and I think there was one on the tappet cover.
I mentioned previously that it was holding air pressure really well. Turns out that the air pressure gauge faceplate was putting pressure on the needle, not allowing it to zero. When I fix the wiring under the dash I'll pull it out and free it up.

Greg.

[Mick_Marsh]

From what I gather, the gal rims were used on the 6x6.
I have some gal rims that I'll swap for some non gal ones if you're interested.

[Ravvin]

Thanks for the offer, Mick, I'll keep it in mind.
Today at work I made up a puller for the brake drums. I had a go at using it, but I have to make a brace for the rod that winds out to put the pressure on as it is wandering across the front of the hub.

I had pulled the 4x6 / 6x6 interlock trigger off as it was leaking air badly. I pulled it apart and cleaned it and put a new o'ring in and that fixed the leak.

I couldn't understand how it was that there was no air coming out of the pipe that feeds the winch valve, as the hose to the 4x6 / 6x6 interlock trigger feeds off the bottom of the brass fitting that comes through the floor of the cab. This afternoon I put on some old clothes, as its filthy with grease and oil in there, and tried to reach through far enough to feel where the pipe came off the brass fitting. While feeling around under there, I found the pipe that runs to  the 4x6 / 6x6 interlock trigger. When I followed it along with one finger, while twisting around backwards, standing on one leg and leaning to the left to get my arm past the Abbey hoist pipes and fittings, I found the end of the pipe. Which shouldn't be there. Back in the cab, I followed the pipe down from the  4x6 / 6x6 interlock trigger and found that someone had run it forward and teed it off the compressor governor. That explains why it still worked.

The feed to the winch control taps into the main feed pipe from the air reservoir, which continues on the the brakes, so I knew there was air there. I got under the truck, once more contorting myself into weird positions due to the hydraulic pump, hoses, handbrake and transfer case linkages and the main and front wheel drive shafts. I was able to get a spanner onto the flare nut, but could only get half a flat worth of turn on it. Then I had to flip the spanner to get the other half a flat. Slow, greasy, painful and laborious. Eventually, I got it loose enough to undo by poking it with one fingertip. After cutting a few cable ties, I got it out. While under there with the main driveshaft pressed into the side of my face, I noticed that the nuts on 2 of the bolts in it were only just hanging there by a couple of threads and the other 2 were half undone. Another job to add to the list.

Anyway, I brought the air line in to get a good picture and found the blockage is where the pipe is kinked just below the brass fitting. I can't blow air through it at all. Luckily, I had one made up to replace the hose on my MK3, so I'll have a go at fitting it tomorrow. I'll reconnect the air line to the  4x6 / 6x6 interlock trigger as well and remove the tee on the back of the compressor governor.



Greg.

[Ravvin]

It feels like a wasted weekend.  I spent most of yesterday struggling with the new hose I had made for the MK3. They couldn't get end fittings with a 90° bends in the right size and flare angle so they used straight types. The problem it that while the straight type would be fine in the MK3, on this one, the frame brackets for the Abbey hoist are in the way. After hours of struggling and swearing, I gave up on that idea and instead worked on the tee in the compressor governor.
This was fairly easy to replace as all I had to do was remove the fibreglass surround that the engine cover mounts to. To do this, I had to unhook the throttle and choke cables. Because of the way the air cleaner is mounted over the top of the carbies, and that I kept dropping my tools and having to climb out and crawl around under the truck to find them, this took about an hour. After the surround was off, it took less than a minute to unscrew the tee and put the original elbow and pipe back on. I was lucky enough to be able to reuse the hose ends on the 4x6 / 6x6 interlock trigger and on the short piece of hose that was still attached to the brass fitting that went through the cab floor to the winch control. I was able to use the length of air hose that had been run down to the compressor governor too, as it was way longer than necessary.

Today I hunted around and found the hose off my MK3. The ends were seized solid, so I soaked them in penetrant and worked the flare nuts gently back and forth until the freed up. I couldn't get the brass fitting that goes through the cab floor to the winch control to line up with the hole at first, but then realised the fuel tank switch and hoses was blocking it. Once I undid them from inside the cab, it went in and lined up easily, but connecting the other end to the tee under the truck was a nightmare and took close to 2 hours. If it was a MK3 or 4 it would be a simple matter, but this truck has the pump for the hoist in the way, as well as the large hose feeding into it and the 2 other hoses coming out of it. Also, the handbrake rod and high/low range rod run through there. I ended up disconnecting the high/low range rod and wiring it up out of the way as well as unbolting the front wheel driveshaft to give me room to work. It was still painful and cramped, but I eventually got it on and tightened up.

When I unbolted the front driveshaft, a big dribble of stinky gear oil ran out. I'm hoping it had just built up in there over the years, with small amounts leaking past the felt and leather seals on the flange.

Next I ran the truck to build up some air pressure, and then I tried engaging the winch. The valve in the cab hissed, then stopped, so that seemed promising. I tried engaging the PTO lever, but it wasn't moving, so I put the transfer case in neutral and the gearbox in reverse and slowly let the clutch out while pulling back on the PTO lever. It clonked into place and the engine loaded up a bit, so I only gave it about 15 seconds with the clutch out, as I figured that would turn the winch drum enough to free the cable. Then I shut it down and went to have a look.
Absolutely nothing had happened.
Right. Now to be methodical to find where the fault was.
I marked the winch drum, so I could tell if it moved. Then I marked the winch driveshaft, then I marked the main gearbox to transfer case shaft.
I jumped in the truck and ran it in reverse with the winch and PTO  engaged for about 30 seconds. When I got underneath, I could see that the main driveshaft had spun, and so had the winch driveshaft. The winch drum hadn't moved.
Ok, maybe the chain drive had broken. I disengaged the PTO but left the winch clutch engaged and was able to turn the winch driveshaft with a tire lever through the yoke. I could see the winch brake drum turn as I turned the shaft, so the chain drive was ok and the worm drive hadn't broken. The only things left that I could think of were that either the winch clutch wasn't engaged, that the winch engagement yoke was busted or the worm driven gear or splines are stripped. With the aid of a stick and hand mirror, I was able to see that the air cylinder on the clutch engagement arm was fully pulled in. This means that the winch clutch should be engaged.
So, as far as I can tell, either the yoke is broken, the spline on the winch shaft is stripped, or the worm gear is stuffed. All of these issues mean I have to drop the winch to get inside to fix this. From what I can see, the easiest way to drop the winch would be to first drop the transfer case to make room, then remove a couple of deck planks to allow me to drop a sling through so I can wrap it around the winch drum and lower it to the ground with the Abbey hoist. Sounds simple and I will be replacing all of the timber in the deck anyway.



I think I will have to get underneath the back and cut the winch cable just behind the rollers with a grinder, as the thimble end it stuck tight between the 2 rear pulleys and the rollers, with the steel plates putting a lot of pressure on it. The cable is under so much tension that it actually twangs when I tap it with a tire lever. I have attempted to lever it out with a crowbar, but the bar actually started bending. If I cut the cable, I will only lose a foot or so and with the tension off, I should be able to rotate the thimble enough to free it.
At the rate I have been getting things done lately, should only take me 3 months if nothing else goes wrong. And if I can get the hoist working without major rebuilt work first.

Ok, so does anyone see anything I have missed? Also, does anyone have any original literature on using the Abbey hoist? There is a plate on the roof that shows what each of the control levers does, but it has faded so badly it is mostly just a shiny silver sheet now. Luckily, the plate that explains how to stow the hoist is still readable.

And does anyone know the trick with removing the brake drums? From what I read, you should just be able to remove the wheel, back the brake adjuster off and the drum should just slide off the wheel studs, maybe needing a tap or 2 with a soft faced hammer. Mine won't. Even with my puller cranked up and me belting hell out of the back edge all round. I looked through the workshop manual for the MK3 and all it says is "Remove road wheel. Remove brake drum". Doesn't say how or what to do when it refuses to come off.

Help, Greg.

[dkg001]

Sounds like one of my days restoring trucks, I find out that I stuff around 80% of the time, but when things go well the other 20% it is amazing what you get done. I have a copy of the RPS Truck Cargo Medium W/Abbey Crane 6x6 Aust F1, it might be helpful, I can't think of what the problem might be with the hub, i do remember the last rear hub I took off was difficult.

[Ravvin]

Yep, that describes it perfectly. And 20% is pushing it, some weeks.

And the joys of working alone. You are working under the truck, only to find the tool you need is either in the truck, down at the house or in your car.
Then, when you get out to do something in the cab that has to be done before you can continue, the tool you need is under the truck.
Or the small part you need to replace to be able to continue is only sold by one place in town and they are not open on weekends.
And the parts you ordered last week that would only take a day or so to get in don't arrive by the weekend, instead turning up on Monday.
Then they sit on the table at home all week, taunting you, as you don't get home early enough to be able to fit them as it gets dark so early this time of year.

Yep, the joys or restorations.

Greg.

[Chazza]

G'day Greg,
If the winch rope has been dragged into the pulley and jammed - wouldn't that mean that the limiter has come on and therefore the winch will not turn, until the tension on the rope is released? I remember being told by an ex-RACT Sergeant, that if the limiter came on, the truck had to be physically moved to release it. Your plan to cut the rope should achieve the same result, but be very careful a rope under tension can be a very dangerous thing!

Regarding the brake drum; try beating it vigorously with a heavy hammer between the wheel studs - make sure the nuts are on the studs so that the threads don't get damaged. Hitting the face of the drum will crack any rust between the hub and the drum. It is a good idea to put a thin coat of Loctite Anti-seize on one face, when reassembling.

Hang in there champ, you are doing very well! If you do something every week the project will be finished before you know it,

Cheers Charlie

[zulu delta 534]

Rather than cut a good cable I would try tying the winch rope to a tree, taking up the strain, then removing the top roller (very carefully) to ease the tension on that rope under some sort of control.
Regards
Glen

[Ravvin]

Hi Charlie. The limiter would most likely have come on, but all it does is cut the engine. When I manually turn the short driveshaft to the winch, I can see the brake drum turning in the winch brake housing. It's a purely mechanical system, the same as the MK3 & 4, except there's no shear pin, just an electric sensor that shuts the engine off to protect everything. The cut-out system is one othe the things to check on my electrical to-do list. And it's a long list.
Looking from underneath, there is a roller fitted to the underside of the deck, positioned close to the winch to allow the rope to move from side to side so it lays evenly. What has happened is the cable has slipped off the end of the roller and is hooked around the end and can't slip down again as the grease nipple has it trapped until the tension is released. Because it is hooked around the end, it seems that maybe half the cable was rewound and it all piled up on the inboard end of the winch drum, and this pile of cable has slipped and trapped the loose end under several loops or layers.
As for the brake drum, I got the same advice at work today. It's really just like an oversized Holden brake drum.
Once I get the shaft guide made up for my home-made puller and make some sort of line center so the shaft doesn't wander all over the place, I expect to be able to pop it off easily enough. With the lack of any description in the workshop manual, I was worried I had missed undoing something and was risking breaking things.

Glen, I'll try disengaging the air actuator, just in case the selector yoke inside the winch box is still intact. If the air actuator wont budge it, I can use my mirror-on-a-stick trick and snag the arm with a coat hanger and get a rope on it to manually disengage it. I have to take the top plate off anyway, to beat it back into shape. It's going to be a bugger to get at the nuts on the top of the 2 pulleys as the plate is so bent up. As you can see in the pic above, the square section of the thimble with the 4 bolts in it is actually stuck right back in the gap between the 2 pulleys.
I don't have any trees nearby that I would risk pulling on. The row of old eucs along the neighbour's fenceline are frequently falling over and have no root system. Even if I hooked onto one at ground level, it's likely to fall across the fence and my truck. Although, if I use the stuffed cable off my MK3 as well, I would get a good distance away. I'll have a think about it during the week.

Greg.

[Ravvin]

Got a bit done today, with the usual results of finding more needing to be done.
While looking around underneath today, I found that the 2 rear axle housings have numbers stamped into them.



The rear one is 5678 and the intermediate one is 5701. Are these likely to be linked to a chassis number, in the event that they are removed for rebuilding? I'll have to look and see if the front has one too.

I set up my home-made drum puller and soon realised I needed to modify it. It kept twisting and trying to tilt down and would then slip off. I fixed this by putting another car stand under it.



I tried tapping it around the back edge with the soft faced hammer and as much tension as I could put on the puller without stripping something, but it wouldn't move at all.
I squirted some CRC around the stud holes and the central rim, hoping it would free it up. Then I got a block of hardwood and the 4lb mini-sledge and started working around the rear rim of the drum.
After going around a few times, I realised the sound had changed. When I checked, it was starting to come off on one side, so I concentrated on the other side to keep it even. It soon started moving and then came free.
When I lifted it off and looked inside, I found that at some time recently, oil has leaked in and mixed with the brake dust. I thought it was a thick layer of rust in the bottom of the drum at first,
but it cleaned off with the fine wire wheel on the grinder and left the surface spotless. As it was probably brake pad dust that I was blowing around, I had my filter mask on.
The oil leak seemed pretty fresh and I am wondering if it is related to the blocked up breathers on the diffs and power dividers. I have to remember to pull those off and free them up soon too.



I cleaned the drum up, inside and out, then washed it down with wax & grease remover. Before putting it back on, I put a very light smear of nickle-seize around the lip that was binding before. It slid back on and I was able to pop it off with just a light tap.
As the outside of the drum was a bit rough and rusty, I cleaned all of the flaking paint and rust off with a heavy wire wheel on the grinder, then gave the outside a coat of Galmet Ironize, the rust converter/surface sealer.
Tomorrow when I get home I will prime it, if it isn't raining.

I figured I might as well do the drum on the intermediate axle while I had it jacked up. After taking the wheel off, I used a scraper to clean the ridge of gunk out of the central rim where the drum fits to the hub.
It looks like they had the axle out recently and made a new gasket out of paper. It seems to be working as there are no signs of fresh oil leaks on this hub. Of course, this could also mean there is no oil in the diff.
I set the puller up and got some tension on it, then started on the back edge of the drum with my block of wood and the hammer. After working around a few times,
I managed to get my little finger caught between the hammer handle and the dog-bone suspension thing. Right on the last joint.
I should have packed up then. Next round of belting, the block slipped and I hit the outer lip of the drum full on with the hammer. Instant disaster.



How disastrous is this? Do I need to swap it for one off my MK3? Can I stick some metal bond stuff on it to glue the chunk back in and hope nobody notices? The outer lip seems to be mainly designed to keep splashed water and mud out of the drum.

I was so mad. I took a break from belting things and measured all of the brake tubing as I have to replace it. There are signs of leaks and corrosion at pretty much every flare nut.
I have the bending tool, bending springs and a double flaring tool, so all I need is new tubing and some flare nuts. Measuring all of the pipes was fun.
I used a bit of string with a magnet on the end and working it along the pipes, following all the bends and then measured the string. I need about 17m of 1/4" tubing so I'll get a 20m roll.
I know the hydraulics guys I dealt with earlier didn't have the proper end fittings for brake lines, so I'll have to plan a trip to Launceston some time to go to a proper brake place and buy a heap.

Greg.