1961 Ford F500 project.

[Eugen]

When you said bad news I thought

Good thing it was not something major, but I know the feeling when it's all buttoned up and time to fire it up

I'd say the project is moving along smoothly Jeff, happy to see all the progress you're making and the story is great to follow long, thank you again for sharing with us!

[propane1]

The old put the string through the base pan holes to hold the gasket in place trick, ayyy. Hehe. I never heard of that before Jeff. Nice tip.
I like the speed handles. I have two on the top of my tool box. Great things.
I wouldn’t be to worried about the timing chain. But that just me.
I wonder if the rubber sealing lip was flipped over , then after, it flipped it self back to where it’s suppose to be.
Great progress Jeff.

Noel

[JSinMO]

@Gordy The outer case of the starter is filthy for sure. But it seems strong, and turns the engine over fast. The battery is a Neverstart from 2019 I’m thinking it’s getting weak. The connections were terrible. But to your point I’ve seen that on tractor starters before. They get really draggy. I’m not sure if I can measure the amp draw but it might be interesting to know.

@DavidBarkey it was running from inside the drum so it’s one of the wheel cylinders. Those seals look good but maybe they were harder than I thought. Hopefully that’s the end of it, and I don’t have to tear into it again! I’ll keep an eye on it.

[JSinMO]

When you said bad news I thought

Good thing it was not something major, but I know the feeling when it's all buttoned up and time to fire it up

I'd say the project is moving along smoothly Jeff, happy to see all the progress you're making and the story is great to follow long, thank you again for sharing with us!

Thank you, I appreciate you saying that. I enjoy sharing this with you all and the discussions and comments that have come with it. Fingers cross that it will keep going smoothly!

[JSinMO]

The old put the string through the base pan holes to hold the gasket in place trick, ayyy. Hehe. I never heard of that before Jeff. Nice tip.
I like the speed handles. I have two on the top of my tool box. Great things.
I wouldn’t be to worried about the timing chain. But that just me.
I wonder if the rubber sealing lip was flipped over , then after, it flipped it self back to where it’s suppose to be.
Great progress Jeff.

Noel

Thanks Noel! I hope you can use that string trick. I’m with you I’m not going to worry about the chain till I have too.

Now that you say that I makes me wonder if I got one of the seals in crooked. Hopefully it’s squared up now. I guess time will tell!

[Gordy]

@Gordy The outer case of the starter is filthy for sure. But it seems strong, and turns the engine over fast. The battery is a Neverstart from 2019 I’m thinking it’s getting weak. The connections were terrible. But to your point I’ve seen that on tractor starters before. They get really draggy. I’m not sure if I can measure the amp draw but it might be interesting to know.

@DavidBarkey it was running from inside the drum so it’s one of the wheel cylinders. Those seals look good but maybe they were harder than I thought. Hopefully that’s the end of it, and I don’t have to tear into it again! I’ll keep an eye on it.

Here is one of those tools that don't get much use but are nice to have and not expensive. Dual range inductive amp meter, only draw back is you need a helper on the key or a remote starter button

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255638902174?c ... T5EALw_wcB

I did find an all plastic one at Ace hardware about 8 years ago for $5, it tested good against my $$$ Blue Point set.


Gordy

[RoamingGnome]

Ahhh... the old "string through the gasket hole trick..." a variation we used in the shop was to strip some small gauge wire and use a couple of the individual strands for holding the gasket in place - a little easier to poke through the holes and loosely twist in place - and the doesn't get grumpy about dirty fingerprints on her sewing box (or a missing spool of thread...)

[JSinMO]

Ever notice how you get faster at something when you have to do it more than once? I mentioned the other day I had a wheel cylinder leak. Well it’s still leaking so I took the drum back off this evening. Had the axel out and the drum off a lot faster this time!

The top cylinder seems to be fine. But the bottom is surely leaking.

I took it apart and I don’t see much. I think one cup seal was in there crooked, how I managed that I don’t know. I could probably hone it just a touch more and clean it up a bit better. I just don’t want to home too much or I’m afraid I’ll never get it sealed. So I’m gonna clean it up a little more and make sure I get the seal in straight and slap it back together.
[attachment=0]62F928B1-3400-4D1A-B237-39FF835E9AE6.jpeg[/attachment
Hopefully that will be the end of the brake troubles!

[Eugen]

Ever notice how you get faster at something when you have to do it more than once? I mentioned the other day I had a wheel cylinder leak. Well it’s still leaking so I took the drum back off this evening. Had the axel out and the drum off a lot faster this time!

Hopefully the leak is fixed for good this time! I know what you mean by getting faster when you do it multiple times. I once got rebuilt injectors for the truck from ebay. The vendor selling had multiple sets, obviously a business which specialized in rebuilding injectors and selling them. Made sure the right part number was ordered. I was not sure the injectors in the truck were bad, but I was troubleshooting really bad long term fuel trim numbers and was addressing multiple possible causes. Anyway, there was quite some labour involved in installing the injectors when they arrived. The next morning drive was terrible. I thought I made a mistake installing them, so I take them off and try and install them again, with much care to not make a mistake. Same thing, engine running really bad. At this point I thought, maybe, maybe, those injectors I got from ebay are not good. So, pulled them out and inspected them with a magnifier glass. They looked the same, yet they were different. In fact they had fewer spraying holes, instead of 6 on the original, these had 4. The model number showed they were for a Honda Civic!!! When I contacted the seller, they implied that I was trying to scam and insisted there is no way they made a mistake. Cleaned the old ones as well as I could and put them back, car ran nice. But back to what you were saying Jeff, it took a lot less time the last time I put the injectors in. Really show practice makes perfect eh?

[JSinMO]

@Eugen That sounds like a bad situation with those injectors. Yea I guess your right practice does make perfect, but it sure can be aggravating!

I went over that leaky cylinder again and put it back on the truck. I thought I’d test it with out the drum so I ran a heavy strap around the brake pads and bled that side.

Guess what? Now the drivers side rear is leaking!!

Well, what to do?
I could go through them all again. I could probably, maybe, possibly finally get them to seal, but would I trust them?
And if I go too far with honing them the seals won’t fit. From my research finding the right over size seals isn’t going to happen.
Who knows how much fiddling I’d have to do before I would call it good. Not to mention it’s kinda a pain in the to keep taking it all apart.

So I’d did some looking online and Napa offered new ones at a 20% discount with free shipping! So that’s enough of this nonsense! New cylinders it is!

They came in today, so this evening I went to the shop and got to it. I got the passenger side all buttoned up again and the new ones mounted on the drivers side and the drum back on. I’ll have to finish up tomorrow when I’m fresh, I’m done for the night. Hopefully, finally this will be the end of the brake part of this project.

I’ve said before that I would rather rebuild things instead of just replacing them, but in this case I think it’s the right call. I gave it a shot and failed miserably. If it was some other less essential component I’d probably keep messing with it but I don’t think the brakes are something I want to not have confidence in!

I think that will do for a Friday night truck ramble!