"Smitty's Garage"

Well, UPS just delivered me four General snow tires (made in Germany) pre-mounted and balanced on steel wheels (made in China). Thought I was buying all American, silly me. I didn't mind Made in Germany molded into the tires, but I have to confess, the China part makes me a little nervous.

rberq wrote:Well, UPS just delivered me four General snow tires (made in Germany) pre-mounted and balanced on steel wheels (made in China). Thought I was buying all American, silly me. I didn't mind Made in Germany molded into the tires, but I have to confess, the China part makes me a little nervous.

My '06 Buell XB12 has wheels that were made in China. I'm hoping that someone took a little extra QC time on my set.....

Yeah chinese wheels is a scary thought! But I think with the sue-happy nature of society today, you'll be all set. A company would be foolish to cheap out on something as critical as a wheel .... I hope!

Nice Sunday car Sting! MINT! I want one! Looks like a cross between a Nova, El Camino & Vista Cruiser! Kick ass in the snow!

Smitty,

You need one of these :

Your absolutely right!! Nice setup!!

Time to dig this thread up for another abortion of GM engineering .....

My '07 new body style Silverado has just under 46K on the clock, so it was time to do a brake job ( needs a lower ball joint too ... but that's another story for another day!) . Front brakes - piece of cake. Actually easier than the older ones, if that's possible. Rear brakes - SUCKED!!!!

For those that don't know, GM went back to drum rears on the half-ton pickups (maybe others too, but not sure on that). Drums are far more reliable than those shitty disc/drum getups they used through the 90's and most of '00's, so good deal there. BUT .... instead of the several springs which were a pain, but manageable. they went to this damn torsion spring bar. Good holy crap stick .... this setup fits the definition of GALACTICALLY CRAPTASTIC to a tee ....

This damn thing requires you to perform an opposite Thigh-Master to try & stretch the bar left to right, while trying to lock it into the shoes .... all while using your knees to hold to the 2 shoes in place! THEN ... then bar has to twist BACKWARD at the bottom to lock into a metal tab!!

Took me 5 hours to do both rear brakes: 4.5 hours and a pint of blood on one side, then a half hour on the other ( steep learning curve on that one ... ).

The pics should clarify wtf I'm talking about here ....

Smitty,


Just an FYI Lisle and I think some other companies have a tool to do those springs it hooks on and then you can spread the spring. It cost around $35, may be worth it if you are ever going to do more.


Also I noticed a little purple lube on the self adjuster arm. Is that permatex extreme? That stuff is my favorite. Glad to see you lubed the components we get so many cars in the shop for brake noise cause someone did a job and din't use any lube.



Eric

Smitty rocks.....

At 46k, I would have probably planned on changing the gear lube and just pulled the axles for easier access to the brakes. Not sure if it would made a lot of difference in this case, but it should helped when I had to overhaul the e-brake components on my Grand Marquis.


Speaking of gear lube...at 46k it is a good time to get that OEM "grape juice" out of the differential anyway. You would probably be less than impressed with the amount of metal on the magnetic plugs. Aren't you an AMSOIL guy? Severe Gear 75w90 front and rear!

Barack Obama suggests you get a "hybrid van" to accommodate twelve passengers. Too bad they don't exist.
I just serviced the back brakes on the 93 Ranger to celebrate passing NJ State Inspection. .. When I bought that truck two years ago I was pretty sure it had under 50k original miles. No seals leaking yet! I think it saw little use but then got pressed into service as a firewood delivery truck.

Anyway, the first day I had it on the road, the right front caliper seized and smoked up a storm 45 miles from home. I was able to pry the caliper from its death grip with the stock tire iron and limp home, afraid to apply the brakes. I got new loaded calipers, which are still very cheap for the Ranger.

New brake hoses too, worth doing and I've heard old hoses can cause caliper seizing problems.

I like to run some emery cloth around the inside of the drum to break the glaze, sand the shoes ever so lightly, adjust the shoes out since self-adjusters rarely work. I had been hearing a squeak, but the shoes have some miles left on them, prolly the semi-metallic causing the squeak. I send a lot of compressed air through the assembly to blow out the completely safe asbestos-free dusty dust while holding my breath for safety until the wind blows the cloud across the neighbor's property. I chop the scale off the cast iron drums and give them a coat of spray paint to help them hold up a little while longer. Also took a tiny artists brush and applied a little Never-Seize to the shoe contact surfaces by prying the shoe off the backing plate.
I noticed feelable play in one of the back bearings, will have to worry about that later, no leaking rear seal though.

I've lost quite a few brake lines, always lucky with the location though. I just touched a garage door one time when the line blew just as I got home.

The driver's side drum was stubborn to come off. I took my air-impact gun to the back of the drum, gotta be careful not to chip off pieces of the brittle cast iron. Also pounded the drum radially on the ribs and on the front. No luck. I hate to squirt the drum with Liquid Wrench for fear of getting it on the shoes. Last resort. I took some light propane torch heat to the front of the drum and it finally gave up the ghost. The next step would have been oxy-acetylene. you know how rust can weld a drum to the axle. When I cleaned it up and put it back I smeared Never -Seize very thinly on the mating surface inside the drum for insurance.
Now I have to check the heater core and I hope it's a leak. Losing small amount of coolant. It would suck if there's a head gasket problem....

Coalfire wrote:Smitty,


Just an FYI Lisle and I think some other companies have a tool to do those springs it hooks on and then you can spread the spring. It cost around $35, may be worth it if you are ever going to do more.


Also I noticed a little purple lube on the self adjuster arm. Is that permatex extreme? That stuff is my favorite. Glad to see you lubed the components we get so many cars in the shop for brake noise cause someone did a job and din't use any lube.



Eric

the purple stuff is good to 23 or 26oo degrees! pricy but worth it...


hope the ranger isnt a late model 4.0L head gasket.... thier....FUN!!

Coalfire wrote:Smitty,


Just an FYI Lisle and I think some other companies have a tool to do those springs it hooks on and then you can spread the spring. It cost around $35, may be worth it if you are ever going to do more.


Also I noticed a little purple lube on the self adjuster arm. Is that permatex extreme? That stuff is my favorite. Glad to see you lubed the components we get so many cars in the shop for brake noise cause someone did a job and din't use any lube.



Eric

Awesome -thanks for the info. I'm definitely buying one of those!! And yes, that is the Permatex stuff. My brother was buying some parts at a NAPA ... so he puts all the stuff on the counter ... and the guy didn't see that $20 bottle hiding behind his parts! So since I do most of his work, he gave it to me. Yeah I always go overboard with the lube & anti-seize when doing any job. Companies are so stingy with the stuff these days - just look at modern sealed bearings ... Barely any grease. No wonder none make it to 100K anymore.

sterling40man wrote:Smitty rocks.....

Thanks man!

markviii wrote:At 46k, I would have probably planned on changing the gear lube and just pulled the axles for easier access to the brakes. Not sure if it would made a lot of difference in this case, but it should helped when I had to overhaul the e-brake components on my Grand Marquis.

Speaking of gear lube...at 46k it is a good time to get that OEM "grape juice" out of the differential anyway. You would probably be less than impressed with the amount of metal on the magnetic plugs. Aren't you an AMSOIL guy? Severe Gear 75w90 front and rear!

I just did that on the wife's '86 Grand Marquis. Had to pull the axles anyway to do all the seals in the diff that were 25 years old & leaking like hell. As far as the Silverado, I changed the front & rear diffs, and the tranny & transfer case to Amsoil at about 35K. Pulled a tranny line & did a complete flush using almost 5 gallons of that low viscosity ATF, then dropped pan & changed the filter. Front & rear diffs got Severe Gear 75W-110. Found LOTS of metal shavings on the transfer case plug ...


Dan I've done many Ford Ranger rear brake jobs. Just about every single one I had to fight to get the drum off because that cable somehow became disconnected & found it's way between the shoes & the drum. What a piss poor design there. Although the Marquis has the same setup, I never had any issues with that in over 100K. As for the head gasket, just dump some Bars Leak in there & keep her goin'. I've run many a vehicle into the ground with minimal repairs using that stuff for years & years.

Poconoeagle wrote:
the purple stuff is good to 23 or 26oo degrees! pricy but worth it ...

2,800°! Insane!! If my brakes get that hot, I believe I'll have other issues to contend with ... like spontaneous combustion of anything within 5 feet of my wheels!

Sweet! Just found the tool at Amazon for $28.20 - Thanks Coalfire!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GHZMTQ

Awww C'mon Smitty,

It couldn't have been that tough of a job. I still see some skin on the knuckles!!!!!

Or are those just scabs from last week's work ???




Rick

Yeah I suppose one good cut isn't all that bad. What you can't see are the swollen joints on all my fingers of my other hand. Can't even make a fist.

Yeah, scars & scabs of life ...