Finally got my restoration started on my GTBA

[acmack]

When you sandblast or clean up your brake drums don't forget, like I did, to remove the inspection/adjuster port before you clean and paint ! I found alot of crud and sand trapped under there.

[acmack]

Some of you may not bother using an axle nut socket to remove and set your axle nuts because you don't want to spend the $25 or you can't find your socket. But know that if you choose to use the low buck/field expedient approach which means you whack the edge of the nut with a cold chisel to loosen or tighten the nut then you risk chipping pieces of metal off which can fall and end up in the grease and migrating into the bearings destroying the wheels.

Here are front and back photos of just one of my axle nuts that obviously have had their edges hit with a cold chisel.

[acmack]

I've lightly sandblasted my wheel cylinder covers and reapplied a layer of clear zinc which was the original color of my covers. It was AND still is a commonly used plating for wheel cylinder covers in the civilian parts industry.
Putting the covers on the wheel cylinders requires a little effort if you want to avoid scratching the heck out of them since the covers are a tight fit. The following 2 photos show how at first appearance the covers seem too small for the cylinders:





To get them on in one easy motion lay the cover over the top of the cylinder and then reach around the cylinder and pinch the end caps in toward the center. This allows the cover to get over the rubber end caps. With your free hand slide a plastic blade under the cover and pry the cover edge up slightly while pushing the cover down:



This is a back side view with the cover on - note how it has to drop over the protruding circular boss.



The wheel cylinder with covers and shoes and spring installed

[acmack]

Next I replaced my rear wheel seals. The rears are more difficult than the fronts since the rears have a retaining ring and the seals are much heavier than the front so they require different pulling tools the the fronts. The front seals come out and go in like any car seals.
The first step on the rears is to thoroughly wipe them clean so you can see the retainer and the notch:



Secondly use a heavy duty pick to pick out the leading edge. A thin pick will bend:



Here's the ring out:



This shows 2 types of pullers - the smaller one you'll recognize as a typical seal puller for a car wheel. This will work for the front seals since they are thin and easily removed with this tool. The rear seals are much heavier construction and will not pry and bend out. You will need to use a slide hammer with an L-lip attachment. This puller is a universal body shop puller with a 5lb slide hammer and a fixed heavy butt end and the other end is threaded to allow a dozen different kind of fittings:


First though you will have to pull the inside guts out of the seal so that the slide hammers L-tool can fit into the seal. You can use the standard car seal puller to pull the insides out. Here's a photo of the inside bits you'll be pulling out:

[Ben Dover]

Why not remove the seal by driving it and the inner bearing at the same time?

[acmack]

Joel, that's an old school/cheap way of doing it and that's rough on the bearing. You're slamming the bearing against the seal. Use the proper tools.

David

[Ben Dover]

How do you think races are installed?

[acmack]

Seriously Joel?

I'm sure you can do all sorts of automotive repairs with just a hammer and a cold chisel. Take a look at my earlier post regarding axle nuts.

The races are thick solid pieces of steel. The bearing assys are much thinner formed metal cages.
BTW the races are better installed with a press not smacking them in with a hammer. In combat as a field expedient sure, you need to work quickly with what you have. But for restoring 70 year old vehicles or a vehicle you really care about use the correct tools.

David

[Ben Dover]

I use factory tools when available, my Snap-On tools, and all kinds of drifts for these jobs, most wheel seals readily pop right out with little effort or risk to the wheel bearing. Simple methods do work, Wheel bearings take quite a pounding on their own with normal driving, especially if there is a little play.
Was just sharing a bit of shop talk.

[retro-roco]

Interesting brake cylinder pics... I find it interesting that there appears to be no external adjustment possible at the wheel cylinder??

[acmack]

Instead of a "star wheel" at the ends of the cylinder there are cams located at 10 and 2 o'clock that make similar adjustments by pushing directly on the shoes. They are hidden from view by the shoes in the photo above but can be seen in photos 3/4 of the page down on page 4.
Also the usual cam adjusters are present at the base of the shoes as well.
The 10 and 2 adjusters control lateral movement and the bases vertical.
It's a typical system for the period.

David

[acmack]

In scraping the grease, crud and loose paint off the underside of the chassis I have found so much well preserved original OD paint. It looks like the Fire Department made little or no effort at sanding and prepping the underside for paint. BTW the Navy gray is scarce to non-existent on the undercarriage.

Although it's time consuming I'm going to try to do as much gentle scraping to save as much of the original paint as possible instead of just turning the blasting hose loose and doing a wholesale sandblast of every part.





David

[acmack]

In preparation for putting on the front and rear axle hub caps I consulted parts manual to determine what gaskets are required. I noticed the front axles only call for a metal one and the rear only paper.
Is this typical and why?

My metal one's were present and in good shape when I originally took the front hubs apart so I'll just re-use them. But I have to admit I still feel inclined to add a paper gasket too. What did others use for the fronts? And if you used just the metal ones did use use a gasket sealer/compound with it?

For the rears I found that Joblot still stocks the correct NOS paper ones. They are only a $1 each. I'll use a semi-hardening gasket glue on one side only when assembling the rears.



David

[P.VanTine]

Hi David
Where did you get axle nut sockets.
Thanks. Charlie

[acmack]

One of them I bought over the counter at Fleet Pride which is an auto parts store for big trucks and the other I found on the web. Actually I found several sites that had these sizes and picked the one with the best price. Can't remember which site I ended up buying from.