E-brake, hub caps and a little cable in hiding!

It's either been too stinking hot to work on my truck, or I've been unable to find the time.  However, despite the oppressive humidity, I did find time to squeak out a few important projects this weekend.

Project 1:  E-brake

The Land Cruiser e-brake is a drum bolted onto the output shaft of the transfer case between the transmission and the rear driveshaft.  The advantage is that there is but one set of shoes, adjusters, cables, etc.  Less to go wrong.  Probably, the trucks place in the military and outback contributed to the design.  The one flaw is that the output shaft passes through a seal that lasts only so long.  Once that seal fails, this technological anomaly becomes an unwelcome oil-slinger.  Take a look, about midway, under any Land Cruiser and your likely to find the area to the rear of the transfer case a disgusting mess.

There are two parts that appear very much as any drum brake system will look.  A backing plate with two shoes and a mechanical spreader (no hydraulics).  Then the "shaft" drum, with a polished outside and splined inside, rides on the output shaft of the transfer.  Here are the pics of my cleaning, painting and installing.

Finally the e-brake is back on the truck!  There is still a little work to do (cable, drum) but it's good to see this kind of progress, albeit small.

Taken from the right rear of the truck

Taken directly on, in line with the driveshaft

Project 2:  Hub caps

This was the second set of caps I bought used on Ebay.  The first set was NOT (as the seller suggested) applicable to the TLC (Toyota Land Cruiser).  He was guessing that the part for the mini-truck might fit, and I thought so, too.  This set however is the real McCoy.  Rarer than hen's teeth!  Got very lucky and scored on the price, too.  So there was a small amount of road rash and rust to remove.  Paint is black and the lettering is oh-so-perfect gold.  So, black is easy, but how to preserve the gold?  Still thinking...  I don't want to paint over and re-letter... too hard.  And the paint would never be as resilient, or good looking.

Project #3:  Speedo drive.

You may recall the speedo drive gear discussion.  To recap, there are a variety of gear ratios to accomodate tire size affects on the recorded speed.  Toyota never intended a gear for oversize tires, but my intention is to be as close as the available parts will let me.  I'll dispense with the details of the parts, and jump to the problem.  My old gear is frozen on the cable!  So, I've been soaking the union (slip fit, with key) in PB Blaster for two weeks.  Time has come to see if they'll come apart... and they did with a light tap (thanks Nan).  I'm a bit worried that the driving gear will wear this new plastic part (information about this modification is anecdotal, at best!).  Well, after assembling the new gear and test fitting, all seems (statically) okay.  A few spins of the drum and it seems to turn smoothly.  No pics of the trial fit... sorry.  Next time.

Old gear frozen in place (rust)

Apart!

Old vs new (new is 1 tooth extra)

Finally, two tidbits:  First,  the chain oil you see below has been on my (or my Dad's) shelf for over 35 years.  Yes, nearly forty birthdays!  I bought this can to go with a Schwinn bicycle I bought as a teenager.  It is still holding pressure, AND is the damnedest best oil you have ever seen.  A little goes a long way.  I'll hate to see it go, but at this point I think it may outlive me!

Second:  When my truck was delivered in late June 2005, the seller included a new e-brake cable as the e-brake was frozen (recall the "slinger") and he was pretty sure it was a seized cable.  It wasn't and I was able to get it working when I replaced said oil seal.  However, this part is the very first new or used part ever stocked for this project and it has been waiting patiently at the bottom of a Rubbermaid tub for its moment to shine.  That time has come!  Next time...  Different Bat Time, same Bat Channel.

Transmission and transfer case!

Warning!  Language not intended for children, adults, humans, or, really, any living thing...

This post is going to be short and sweet.

So, my good friend Orlando decides this will be the afternoon that he chides me into removing the shrink wrap from my very dejected boat (she is usually plying the waves by April).  He is unwittingly right-on in warning me that the boat might be growing mold and mildew under that skin, but I saw through the pretense...  He really just wanted to go fishing!  (I really WAS worrying about the mold and mildew.)

But, deviously, I agreed to take on the boat while really needing his help for a much less appealing endeavor.  In fairness, I didn't think my other less appealing task, which was to install the transmission/transfer assembly in the Land Cruiser, was any more than an hours' job (utt oh).  But I needed help on this one, as the damn thing weighs well over 100 pounds (I guess about 125) and I can't do it alone.

So, he arrives and learns of my devious plan (ain't too happy 'bout it either) but, like all good friends, rolls up his sleeves and grabs a wrench.  I'll let the photo's explain what's involved:  NOTHING!  Hear me?  NOTHING!  I had the lift.  I had the straps.  I had a MASTER FUCKING MECHANIC!  It was 80 glorious degrees and low humidity.  Plenty of light.  We were motivated (recall... a fishing trip!).  If we were missing anything it was a waitress and a Mai Tai.

So, here is the position of the tranny it took all of 10 minutes to achieve.  The splined shaft is lined up with the PROPERLY aligned clutch/flywheel.  Grease and oil where it was needed.  I obsessed over this alignment, knowing how very important it is.

And here is the position after 2 hours of LIFTING, WIGGLING and SHAKING 125 lbs OF STEEL.  TWO HOURS OF SCREAMING, BLAMING, YELLING, CRYING, AND TELLING EACH OTHER THAT WE WERE A DISGRACE TO THE HUMAN RACE AND SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN!

That's right, same dang place!  I'd have had better luck getting my spline into Gisele Bundchen's clutch, for Christ's sake.  Then, at 10:30 PM, about 5 minutes before the sky was to fall (really), and 4 minutes before I would lose all respect from a good friend, I made a suggestion.  It went something like this, "WE PUT THAT FUCKING STRAP BACK ON AND DO THIS MY WAY YOU (expletives deleted) OR I AM GOING TO BED!"  By now, we have gotten to a place that made me very uncomfortable.  Murder-suicide!  (I'm not really sure whom would have assumed the role of killer and who the killee, and thank God fate stepped in).  Right before the crime was to take place, the Gods of Perpetual Motion let this 14 spline (?) shaft slip right into that freaking hole as nice as could be.  And here are a couple to prove it!

 
Notice my honorable friend at the end of that ratchet?  Still on the job after the boss berated him like a cheap whore!  Okay, a very expensive whore.  Thank you, Orlando!

I need a helper this weekend... Any takers?

(no animals were hurt in the making of this blog)

Worth the wait... Some real progress tonight!

Thanks for coming by!

I want to acknowledge everyone (not individually mind you!) for reading this blog.  I can't be sure how it happened, but I've learned that many more friends and family are following my trials and tribulations than I imagined.   I thank you and will try to keep it light!

Word for the day: "Irrigation"
The weather man tells me we had the 3rd wettest June on record.  I'd call that irrigation.  And yet, my lawn looks no better than it did on July 1st in 2012, 2011, 2010... well, you get the picture.  I'd say the dormancy thing is genetically coded in the rye grass.  15 inches of water, but it's not fooled!  And that's a good thing because I HATE MOWING IN JULY!

Okay, progress has been slow during the last few weeks.  My uncles memorial (great party though!), Courtney's graduation (Yippee!) and a host of other early summer distractions.  That's okay because if you think I'm worried that one of you fools is going to take this project away from me, I'm not.  It's not going anywhere!  So on I plod.  There have, as always, been a slew of petty projects.



Rocker Assembly - I dug it out of it's hiding place, which I kept clean, thankfully.  Let's see, where are those pesky push-rods?  I put them in a flat box, labeled 1-12 and taped them down.  Okay, once found, they went into a bath of mineral spirits and cleaned with Scotch-Brite.  Then, I dropped them into their respective holes (careful to not lose position) and oiled liberally.  Then, the rockers get another spritz of WD-40 before getting dropped onto the head.  For now, I've just torqued the hold down bolts but kept the adjusters finger tight.

Next, install the intake manifold and carburetor.  It turns out that what I thought would be a trivial little task became a more involved project.  First, while it appeared that the exhaust headers aligned pretty well,  it had to be just right to allow the intake to fit and allow me to finger tighten the hold down bolts.  Then, I discovered that the hardware was not installed properly before I disassembled the engine.  No problems and there was no lasting damage, so with the correct washers and a wee bit of MacGyvering, the manifolds are on and tight!  Hip, hip, hooray!

Today (Tuesday, July 1) I came home from some successful field work and, feeling all powerful, I decided this evening would be the evening to reassemble the tranmission and transfer case.  I had spent the weekend cleaning the remaining road grime from the transfer and preparing it for the new seals and gaskets. The tranmission was a used (warranty = 1 year) unit, but I wanted to replace the one critical seal at the front shaft.  Again, I have all the parts, so time is a-wasting.  No photos of the tranny seal, but here is the cover I removed (you can see the paint missing from the bolts) and the seal is pressed into a recess in the back of that cover.  Also, a new gasket was installed.

On the transfer, I wanted to replace all the seals and check the bearings.  The auxilliary drive (otherwise called the FRONT drive) has it's own shaft and coupling on the transfer case.  I removed the coupling and replaced the main seal.  The new one was a bit different with a "cup" seal that rides up behind the back of the flange.  The bearing was a bit dirty (shown here) and I gave it a flush with spirits and then a bath of oil before installing the seal and flange.  I clamped the flange in the vise to keep it from spinning while I torqued the nut.

No ridge on the bearing surface.  Oh so fine!

This bearing cleaned up nicely.

 80 ft/lbs

I could spend another hour on this little puppy and bore you to tears, but I'm going to throw in a few random pics of the reassembly and the finished unit.

Bottom line, the tranny/transfer is assembled and ready to install.  I had my sons-in-law-to-be (or maybe not-to-be) with me when we got the assembly between the truck's legs, ready for insertion (smile) when I decided to call it a night.  It was too late to work, but not too late for a cold pop!  So we got a cold pop and headed for the ranch.

If there are typos, too bad:  it's 12:30AM!!!!  See y'all next time! (ya hear?)

Busy, busy, busy...

So, you know the feeling:  You've just done something extraordinary, or maybe spent a pretty penny on your favorite ride at the dealership, and ... you just want some hard evidence that all that work/money was worth it!  It really sucks when the new shocks and struts feel just like the old worn out ones.

This is the feeling you get when restoring an old car.  Your dirty filthy all the time.  The chemicals are converting your skin to Naugahyde and time blows by like nothing.  You want to believe all this tedious labor is for the SOMETHING.  But somehow, the car and your pile of parts look mysteriously unchanged.  This is the way my weekend went.

Okay, some levity:  In fact, I did see some progress.  I installed the clutch.  It's hidden by the bell-housing so there is little obvious change, but it's significant.  Here are some boring pics of the pressure plate and clutch fork.  This is probably a few hours work.  Much of that time was arresting the rotation of the crank while torquing everything.

I then went ahead and installed the clutch slave cylinder (sorry, blurry pic).

The parts of the engine block uncovered by components like the water pump and thermostat housing are not immediately discernible so you have to over lay the gaskets, draw a pencil line and then coat those areas outside the gaskets.  It's that, or rattle can around the parts after they're installed.  Since these parts are bright aluminum, which I intend to buff out to a "bling", I chose not to mask and spray.  Now I wish I had.  I am using a high-temp POR-15 engine paint that must be brushed.  On smooth surfaces, it sucks.  These surfaces were smooth, therefore the results suck.

Runs, drips, errors.  Uhg.

Most will be hidden by the components so not to worry.  Breath in.... Let the stress leave your body... breath out....

Where was I?  Oh yes, then there was (a) Miscellaneous Part #1, a small stone guard that appeared in a random box.  I have no clue where this baby goes, but it needs a coat of that ding-proof paint.

Then, while sorting out some of the linkage for the tranny and transfer case, I came upon Miscellaneous Part #2:  It is the hi/lo range linkage for the transfer case shifter (yes I had to research that).  It has a ball-joint covered with a small rubber boot and a threaded adjuster (which I am opting to leave alone, for now).  So first, does the rubber look serviceable?  Yes!  Is the ball joint worn?  I don't know, so let's take it apart and see.  Ooh... Damn.... That's a lot of rust.  Some vigorous cleaning and wire brushing and I think I can make it work.  The lube that might have once resided in that joint was replaced by a healthy amount of rust which had no place to go because of the boot (which did it's job) so it acted like a pseudo lubricant.  A bad pseudo lubricant!

I softened the rubber boot with WD-40 (bad for rubber but good in small doses), Painted the adjuster, then packed the joint with molybninum grease (good for ball-joints).  And....not bad!  The process to restore this diminutive part was time consuming but fun.  Imagine, that rubber being supple after 33 years!

There were several batches of bolts that needed reconditioning and painting, none of which warranted photography.  I coated the raw steel exhaust hangers with POR-15 and then hung the exhaust system for good.  Incredibly, there was so little room between the headers and the head (a good thing) there were a few minutes of wrestling to get the manifold gasket in place.  Now, can't wait to get the gleaming intake bolted up.  Patience!

There were a few other parts installed today:  The oil cooler, which is mounted to the filter bracket, all bolted to the block, plus the fuel pump.  Note the brass outlets which are brazed to the cooler housing.  Too cool.  The mounting bolts are hollow and are sealed with bronze washers on the front and o-rings on the back.  Interesting system, but it's a wonder it works long-term.  The filter is the right thread (Ford) but the wrong diameter and only there as a dust shield.  A leftover from a car I sold decades ago!

Lastly, the thermostat housing is in place.  I would have installed the t-stat and the cover, but I think I have the wrong gasket!  (hmmm, how'd that happen SOR?)

Good night.