When you see it

[Leonard1]

Well I didn't mean to keep everyone in suspense, the story isn't really that great, I was just too tired to type it all last night. I'm actually suprised how many posted overnight.

I bought this squarebody at the first of the year to tinker with, get it running and on the road, and probably unload it early next year. I'm almost to the point of test driving the thing, and slide under to put the driveshaft in, when I notice a massive brake fluid leak on the left rear. (The picture is of the right rear, I didn't think to get my camera out before I tore into the left side.)

Anyway, I pulled the tire off and have my my screwdrivers ready to back the adjuster when I notice there's no hole in the drum or the backing plate. Not good, my next thought was that this thing still has the original shoes, and I'm gonna break something with the bfh it will take to remove it. But I pulled on the drum, and it slid right off in my hand. I was pleasantly shocked, if there is such a thing. The shoes still look perfect, my bet is that they have never even touched the drum, but they are saturated with fluid, so they will have to be changed. As I'm looking it over, I notice that the adjuster on that side is in the right location, but backwards. The teeth don't even touch the bar that moves it.

At this point, it's obvious that whoever put these shoes on didn't have any idea what they were doing. And, since folks don't typically (attempt to) change the brakes on only one side of the axle, I'll bet they messed up the other side too. So I pulled the drum off the passenger's side, took a pic, and called it a night.

Of course, the adjuster is the glaringly obvious problem with the pic. It was actually rubbing on the drum, which conviently removed the teeth from the bottom. The spreader bar? (not sure the exact term) below the wheel cylinder is not in the correct spot, either, but that's kinda hard to tell from the pic.

I don't get it, if a person doesn't know any more about brakes than that, why wouldn't they find someone who does? Yes, everyone has to learn, but nothing was taught here. Just imagine this guy on the test drive if the truck had drums on all 4 wheels!