1961 Ford F500 project.

[Eugen]

Good call Jeff! Sometimes getting a new part is the best option!

[JSinMO]

I finish putting in the new brake cylinders this morning. Got everything buttoned up and the bled everything again. In a confident move I went ahead and mounted the duals! So far so good I now have brakes that don’t leak! I’ll keep an eye on the ground for awhile to make sure there’s no drips.

I noticed it was just about out of gas so I put 10 gallons in and I’ll be darned, the gas gauge works! Now it shows half a tank!

[Toolslinger]

No question new brake cylinders are a good choice. I fought and fought with my Diamond T brakes... The weird lazy L cylinders on the rears were no longer available new. I managed to find a NOS unit out of Israeli military surplus for one side., which was great, but only solved that one. Eventually I just pulled them all, and sent them out for bore/lining with stainless. All new rubber, and pistons too. That should be the end of brake issues as far as that goes... The rest of the system is another story.

That was several years ago. Last year or so, I found someone had put the cylinders back in production... Naturally... Probably still better with the stainless, but it sure would have been nice to just buy new at the time.

[JSinMO]

@Toolslinger The Israelis must of had warehouses full of NOS stuff. There was a bunch that came in for these old Fords too several years ago. That’s how my luck runs too! At least with them rebuilt you won’t have to worry about it for a long time.


We had storms move through yesterday. After being in the 80s for a week 40s today feels awful chilly! So instead of working outside I went in the shop and made some more progress.
Gave everything a good greasing. I repaired the wiring to the brake switch and got them working again.

Now that I’m able to move the truck around I’m feeling a vibration coming from the throw out bearing on the clutch. I figured I should pull the inspection cover off and have a look.
I don’t think these pictures will show it very well but the clutch and bearing area are stuffed full of mouse nest!

I spent quite a bit of time with the shop vac, screwdrivers picks, and a piece of baling wire pulling it out. Nasty stuff

I think I’ll leave the cover of for know to make sure it all out.
I hope that’s all it was and the bearing is ok!

I want to change the oil in the transmission and rear end but looking at them I’m going to have to come up with a way to refill them. No easy way to get the oil back in! I might try a piece of hose and pour it in, or come up with a hand pump. Either way it’s probably going to be a mess.

[Eugen]

Jeff, is there a reason a hand pump like this doesn't work? This is what I used for transmission and transaxle. It's slow but it worked fine.

E9CC03CF-028F-455A-AD90-7DEEB88763B5.jpeg (98.29 KiB) Viewed 7041 times

Nasty stuff mice nests! Yuck! We're having a new problem with mice getting inside the truck. Found mouse crap all over the kids seats so I setup traps and so far I caught 6. This started happening after work was done at the dealership on account of a recall. Boggles the mind. I hope that was the problem in the clutch area but I can't wrap my mind around how that would be.

[Jancoe]

Trucks looking good. I like to pressurize the bottle with air to transfer lubes under vehicles. Hole in the bottle for your air nozzle and hose to diff. Little air and away it goes. No squeeze required.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[JSinMO]

Jeff, is there a reason a hand pump like this doesn't work? This is what I used for transmission and transaxle. It's slow but it worked fine.


E9CC03CF-028F-455A-AD90-7DEEB88763B5.jpeg


Nasty stuff mice nests! Yuck! We're having a new problem with mice getting inside the truck. Found mouse crap all over the kids seats so I setup traps and so far I caught 6. This started happening after work was done at the dealership on account of a recall. Boggles the mind. I hope that was the problem in the clutch area but I can't wrap my mind around how that would be.

Yes a hand pump like that would work fine.
You’ve got an infestation of mice! Yuck is right! I hope you get them all fast. They chew on everything. The dealership must have parked your truck next to a field!

The mouse nest was packed solid in the clutch and all around the throw out bearing so im hoping it was just not letting it move freely causing the vibration. I spent a lot of time getting it loose and pulling it out!

@Jancoe Thanks. good idea. I might have to try that!

[Gordy]

I picked up one of those hand pumps at O'Reilly Auto Parts years ago for 5-6 bucks. Works great, and comes with a second hose for the bottom of the pump you can trim to length for the bottle you are using.


Gordy

[JSinMO]

After our recent rain and storms the weather has turned quite chilly, a good day to be in the shop!

The brakes are still working fine so I figured it’s time to get oil in the rear differential. I crawled under the truck to get things cleaned off and I’ll be darn, the original tag is still there!

So this is a Rockwell rear axle. I was going to put 90 weight oil in, but the tag clearly says it wants SAE140 which of course I don’t have. I think it’s worth putting the right oil in so no draining the rear end today.

I did change the oil in the transmission with 90 weight. I didn’t get a hand pump or put air to the oil jug. I just ran a hose out of the transmission and up to a funnel.

Slow, but affective! I also checked the steering gear box, it’s dry! i can see it’s been leaking. I went ahead and filled it with 90 weight. If it leaks out my plan is to fill it back up with combine corn head grease. It’s a vey light grease and I’ve used it before in tractor steering boxes, lubricates but doesn’t leak out.

Then I decided to start on my unexpected surprise. The fuel tank is leaking!

It didn’t leak till I put 10 gallons of gas in it. It seems to be seeping. I siphoned the gas back out and pulled it out of the truck. The filler neck hose is rotten but I have a piece for that.

I no pulled the tank out and turned it around and what the heck!?

Thats one heck of a patch in the middle of it. I guess I should be happy, as that’s the first real cobbled repair I’ve seen on this truck. I thought well I know where it’s leaking! But it doesn’t seem to be at that patch. In fact so far I haven’t found it. I pressurized the tank with some air and didn’t see anything. I know there’s a hole somewhere, the floor of the truck is wet.

So do you guys have a favorite way to find a leak? I figure if I can find it I’ll patch it too as a new tank isn’t in the budget right now. Thankfully it’s not hard to get it out so I can alway replace it later if I can seal it up for now.

[Eugen]

The welding on that patch is like I've done it!

If you can pressurize the tank how about spraying it with soapy water?

Another thing to check is the line going from it.