And Now for Something Completely Different

I decided it made sense to resolve Ringo’s underbody issues before reinstalling the powertrain. First on the check list was making the self-adjusting brakes work properly. When GM built him, he came with manually adjustable brake systems. The next year Chevy changed the design to self-adjusting. When parting out the ’64 4-door, I removed all the brake components, including the backing plates and anchor bolts. I decided to retrofit Ringo with newer setup and installed the hardware which seemed to fit fine with the older backing plate, anchor bolt, and wheel cylinder setup. I found out, however, the diameter of the anchor bolt on the older version is smaller than the newer one; and it does make a difference, so I need to get the correct part put on. Replacing the anchor bolt on the rear brakes requires the newer backing plate also be installed since the hole in the old plate is too small for the larger diameter bolt. After rummaging through a few boxes, I found two GUP anchor bolts of the larger size. I could proceed. Then I brushed all the loose rust off the two rear backing plates I’d stored on the shelf in preparation for the paint job they would get before installation. At that point, I remembered that I was out of rusty metal primer. Irr. That task would have to wait until the next evening. Moving on, I put Ringo’s left rear on a jack-stand and removed the wheel. With the four bearing hub retaining nuts removed, I could slide the axle outboard and remove the u-joint exposing the bolt that retains the yoke to the end of the shaft. The yoke needed to come off since the plate had to slide over the shaft and its hole is too small to fit around the yoke. The bolt came off easily, and, after a liberal application of penetrating fluid, I attached my hub puller and used my 3/8” drive impact wrench to torque down the puller’s bolt. It was quickly apparent that I needed more torque, so I used my ½” drive wrench and proceeded to move the yoke about a half an inch before the threads on the puller failed. Fortunately, it was quitting time at that point, but not before I removed the right rear u-joint and gave the spline a good dose of penetrating fluid.

A trip to the hardware store for primer and high strength fasteners will have to occur before I can proceed with making the brakes work properly.