BillyBob Work-in-Progress Log

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

BILLYBOB MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for BillyBob, including required tools, materials and procedures.

10. Emergency Stop Mr. Scott!

December 23^rd 2000  I'd just finished the Steering Wheel Spifin' up and had decided on some dashboard work for the next interior job when BillyBob experienced startup problems. That took three weeks to solve.

As I lay under BillyBob this morning installing his new re-built starter, the corner of my eye caught something out of place. The passenger side parking brake cable had given up the ghost and was hanging loose from its moorings. I depend on the parking brake so this will be my next project. JR had jerry-rigged the driver side cable at some point to pass Pennsylvania inspection (fighting the conspiracy) and it was still holding.

JR later on obtained the correct Parking Brake Cable assemblies but had not installed them. He sent them along with BillyBob when he sold the truck to me. 'Cept for some surface rust they are in good shape. I'm gonna start ordering all the parking brake parts I can find from the various vendors and freely apply penetrating oil to all the parking brake connecting linkages in the mean time.

January 11^th 2001  Received bunch of parts from Chevy-Duty last Friday. My only problem with them is that they continue to ignore my instructions to ship to the Krash Lab instead of my home address - a minor inconvenience. The goodies are: (#32-225) Parking Brake Handle Grommet, (#40-115) Parking Brake Rod Seal and Bumper, (#40-711) Parking Brake Lever Boot, (#40-725) Parking Brake Boot Retainer, (#40-731) Parking Brake Boot Retainer Screws, (#40-761) Parking Brake Release Lock Guide U-bolt, (#71-883) Parking Brake Cable Boots, (#71-888) Parking Brake Cable to Backing Plate Gaskets, (#71-891) Emergency Brake Control Rod, and (#71-892) Brake Yoke Ends.

Made a run to the local Sears on Monday to get started with accessory purchases for my new Craftsman Air Compressor. I picked up a Craftsman 50 foot, 3/8" Air Hose and Craftsman 11-Piece Air Compressor Accessory Kit. This will give me some minimal play-around gadgets 'til I get some really useful air tools.

January 27^th 2001  I've been ordering tools at the rate of one a week to spread out the cost and keep my budget in line. If the spirit of my Dad is watching, this allows me to "plausibly deny" that I'm procrastinating on this project. I don't think he's buyin' it . . . He knows I dread the prospect of wrestling those rear brake drums off. JR doesn't think I'll have much trouble since he re-did the shoes when he had BillyBob so it's not like they haven't seen the light of day since the fifties. Even tho' I ordered these tools over the period of four weeks, they all arrived in the past few days. First to arrive was the Mechanic's Stool (#33796) from Northern Tool and Equipment Company. This mobile butt-to-ground adapter will save my knees while working in the wheelwells. At the end of the week, Eastwood's Abrasive Blaster, 90 pound, siphon (#22026) showed up.

Timing is everything, and I missed this time. Boyoconner shared his new purchase of a pressure blaster (better than siphon) he purchased from Harbor Freight on the Stovebolt.com Forum. I didn't try Harbor Freight 'cause they have a reputation similar to J. C. Whitney . . . You can get good deals, but if you don't know your tools (and I don't at this point), you can end up with junk. Had I seen Boyo's posting before I ordered from Eastwood, I would have ordered the pressure blaster from Harbor Freight 'cause Eastwood is expensive. An Ingersoll-Rand IR-235 1/2" Drive Heavy Duty Air Impact Wrench arrived from Amazon.com. This had been on back order for several weeks, but I did get a fairly good deal at $79 plus shipping. I also picked up Craftsman's 12-piece Impact Socket Set, 1/2" Drive, Standard at Sears a week back.

February 3^rd 2001  Good news and bad news . . . Bad news: A hard rain hit the Krash Lab just after I got here but before I got the tools out of BillyBob's pickup box and inside under cover. Good news: The rain stopped after a half hour. More good news: A fellow member of the Stovebolt.com Forum, Rick Cavender of Cohutta, Ga. (Rick51) arrived with his family (four generations in two cars!) to visit for awhile. Rick got to meet BillyBob up close, warts 'an all. I didn't think of firing BillyBob up and giving Rick a ride around the block until five minutes after he left . . . about the same time he thought of it. More good news: by the afternoon, the shade tree garage had pretty much dried up. I jacked up the rear end and pulled the rear wheels. The new mechanic's stool and impact wrench works great for this purpose. I still tighten the lugs by hand so they aren't over-torqued. The driver side rear brake drum came off without much coaxing and the linings are good. More bad news: The passenger side drum wouldn't budge, even after backing off the shoe adjuster a lot. The final bad news is that it looks like I have to remove the shoes to get at the parking brake cable connection . . . Drat!

February 17^th 2001  Ordered a bunch of drum brake tools from Eastwood Company a couple of weeks back and some of them arrived this week including the Drum Remover (#49007). I was stopped in my tracks on my taillight re-wiring this morning (wires too short), so I decided to tackle the stubborn passenger side brake drum again. This time, with the help of the remover tool, I was successful. I might've been hurt but my guardian angel must have been in the shade tree garage today. This gadget is not a "puller". You tighten the screw a bit, then tap at each of the legs where they grip the rim of the drum. I was doing that but at one point when re-adjusting the screw, the drum popped off with a bang and bounced off the asphalt in front of me! I hardly ever ask the Lord for help, but I always offer thanks when I have a close call. While I had the drums off, I cleaned the brake shoe area with compressed air (after donning goggles and respirator). Everything was buttoned back up for the day to await the arrival of the remaining backordered brake tools.

February 25^th 2001  The backordered 3 Piece Brake Tool set (#49021) arrived from Eastwood and I realized I could have gotten along without them. One of the tools was an Bendix brake adjustment spoon which I had already purchased from Discount auto parts. Another tool is used to remove the little coil springs that hold the shoes to the backing plate, but BillyBob has older style U-shaped spring retainers. The third tool from Eastwood helps to remove/install the springs that attach the shoes to the pivot at the top of the assembly. This tool duplicates a unverisal three-in-one tool (looks like tongs) that I purchased over thirty years ago in Pennsylvania and still have. The C-Ring Plier tools (#49043) from Eastwood should help me with the parking brake cable connection to the rear brake shoe. The cardboard box contains the Drum Remover in its dis-assembled state. I picked up a tool box at Home Depot last week to consolidate all my present and future brake tools in one place.

April 24^th 2001  Sidetracked for a couple of months with turn signal re-wiring and gearshift problems, I'm back to working on the parking brakes. The diversion also gave me time to gather some more air tools that might make this job a little easier. Stub hoses from McMaster-Carr. Air tool lube kit and in-line filter from Sears. No-Name impact hammer with four chisels from an eBay auction - The price was right at $20 including shipping. An Ingersoll-Rand IR-429 Heavy Duty Reciprocating Saw via Amazon.com - good price but a long wait. Picked up 'nother "Homer Box" at Home Depot yesterday to tote these new treasures around in.

April 28^th 2001  Good day under the shade tree. Not too hot out with a bit of a breeze (I don't have to do any spray painting today). Decided to start on the brake cable that broke (passenger side). First task is to get the cable off the frame bracket support. The clamp bolt came out with a little Kroil penetrating oil persuasion. Used a pickle fork to spread the clamp enuf to slip the old cable out. Degreased and cleaned the frame, cable support bracket and the spring mount next to it with Eastwood's Under Gone Undercoating/Heavy Residue Remover (#31130Z) and Under Gone Industrial Cleaner/Degreaser (#31131Z) along with putty knife/gasket scraper/wire brush technique. Finished with an application of Eastwood's PRE Painting Prep (#1679Z) and a brush coat of Corroless Rust Stabilizer (#16011ZP).

After the Corroless cured some, a coat of Eastwood's Chassis Black (#1244Z) was applied and left to dry. I'll have to pick up a replacement bolt in the upcoming week for the clamp. It appears to be a 5/16" x 1-1/4" fine thread bolt with only the last 1/2" threaded. While the truck was up in the air, I checked the differential oil level. Seemed a little low but I didn't know how much since the back end of the truck was jacked up and the pumpkin wasn't level. I added gear oil 'til I felt better but not the whole way to the fill hole.

May 5^th 2001  Cool breezy weather - good for undercarriage work. Started by jacking Billybob up and pulling the passenger side rear brake drum again. And it was stuck again so I had to assemble and apply the brake drum remover again. This time, however, I screwed two of the lug nuts back on part way after taking the wheel off. The drum broke loose all of a sudden like last time, but the lug nuts kept it from bouncing off the pavement or my face. I think God might help us out when we make a mistake sometimes, but if we keep doing the same stupid things over and over, we're on our own.

Using the sequence from the Shop Manual, I got the shoes off and parking brake cable disconnected from the parking brake lever on the trailing shoe. This was a simple operation and did not require the specialized C-Ring Pliers. I treated the two bolts holding the cable to the backing plate with Kroil Penetrating oil, then I had a stupid attack . . . I tried to use the impact wrench to remove these hex nuts with a twelve point box wrench on the back side. This had the effect of rounding the bolt head on the back. I stopped before I ruined the other bolt. I managed to get the undamaged, but rusted, bolt off with patience and two box end wrenches. The rounded bolt was another story. Took 'bout forty minutes with reciprocating air saw, air hammer chisel, vice grips, one skinned knuckle and cussin' under my breath.

One good bit of luck was that I had replacement 5/16"-18 x 3/4" bolts in my parts inventory for re-assembly with the new cable. Eastwood's Tin-Zinc Electroplating System (#10049Z) was used to plate these bolts, washers, hex nuts along with the new clamp bolt I picked up during the week and one of the new Brake Yoke Ends from Chevy-Duty. After plating, I put them in Eastwood's "Vibratory Tumbler System" (catalog #43204) with polishing media to put a satin sheen on the new plating.

I missed plating and polishing the jamb nut that runs up against the yoke and secures it. I'll do that when I take this apart again for the next phase of the parking brake rebuild which will be the cross shaft assembly. It was mid-afternoon and time to try and put this stuff all back together.

A couple of minutes of head-scratchin' and I determined that the "Backing Plate Gasket" is sandwiched between the two "plates" on the end of the cable assembly and this assembly is then bolted to the backing plate. After testing this theory, I took the hex nuts back off one-at-a-time and applied thread-locker compound. I had to try several times to connect the new cable parking brake lever. I ended up using the C-Ring Pliers after all to hold the spring on the cable back about 3/4" long enuf to slip the cable into the lever retainer (needle-nose or any other "thin" pliers would have worked as well).

The Shop Manual is a bit cryptic regarding the parking brake adjustment procedure but I soldiered on and I think I got close to where it should be. When I was finished, I put the transmission in neutral. Both rear wheels were spinning freely. Before I started today, engaging the parking brake pedal would take it the whole way to the floor and the driver's side brake would engage enough to hold the truck on a slight grade (like when waiting for a draw bridge here in South Florida). Now it was time to test today's results. I applied the parking brake and the pedal only went down one third of its play. Now the passenger side rear wheel was locked. The driver's side wheel will still spin which is about what I expected. Success! Next week I start work on the driver's side cable.

May 12^th 2001  Got BillyBob up on jackstands in the cool of the early morning. The driver's side brake cable was the one that JR jerry-rigged. As I studied his solution, it was Deja Vu all over again. This combination of J-bolt, eye-bolt, cable clamp and cable looks very much like the main brake system of JR's 1965 Soap Box Derby Racer! Good to see JR was able to apply that knowledge decades later. The lower clamp portion of the frame bracket support on this side had broken off in the distant past and JR's solution was to use a J-bolt to make up for the missing portion of the clamp . . . a nifty solution I fear would have escaped me. I went to the local mom and pop hardware store this past week in search of a 5/16" J-Bolt. The salesman had never heard of a "J-bolt" so I got a U-bolt to modify. I can't help but wonder if his worldly knowledge is limited to the items he has in stock.

Put some Kroil penetrating oil on JR's rusted-beyond-recognition components and set up the air compressor. Cut one leg off the new U-bolt with the air saw, then cleaned it up with a grinding stone in the Dremel motor-tool. I tried clench wrench and vice-grips on the Kroil soaked connectors without success. There was plenty of room to work here so I cut the rusted connectors off with the air saw. This side didn't have any undercoating or grease buildup, just solid rust, so drill-assisted and hand wire brushing was all the prep necessary before applying the PRE Paint Prep and Corroless Rust Stabilizer.

May 19^th 2001  Hot right out of the box this morning. Tried to get the "heavy lifting" done before I lost my shade. Had the brake shoes off the driver side by 9:00 AM. Last Sunday I plated and polished the bolts and other connectors I would be using today as well as paint the affected frame area with Chassis Black. Operations are going well today, so far. I didn't make the same mistake with the two bolts holding the cable assembly to the backing plate on this side. I used penetratiog oil and hand tools only and they both came off intact.

Got the cable assembly secured to the backing plate without problems and re-installed the brake shoes with a minimum of difficulties (just the normal problems, you know - like getting those ~!@#$%^ shoe pull back springs stretched enuf to get 'em back on the pivot post). Here's a view of the cable assembly entering the backing plate from the backside this time.

Then I hit a snag with the improvised J-bolt. The curved portion of the J-bolt appeared a little too long for a snug fit. Got the air saw out again after a bit of cursin' and cut a little more off the J-bolt . . . probably a little too much. Tried to tighten up the J-bolt again but the angle thru the hole in the clamp was skewed and the bottom of the J-bolt wanted to turn off the cable. I realized the nut was running out of threads and still not tight. Took the J-bolt out again and turned a few more threads on it with the die set I purchased from Eastwood months ago. Managed to get the J-bolt on this time tight enuf (with two lock washers) to secure the cable . . . It works but I'm not entirely happy and I'll be re-visiting this connection as soon as I come up with a better solution.

The driver's side brake was adjusted following the Shop Manual again and the transmission was placed in neutral so that both rear wheels were spinning freely. Now, when the parking brake pedal was engaged, both rear wheels locked up solid. Well, that's it for the parking brake cables. Next job in this series will be removing, cleaning, re-finishing and re-installing the cross-shaft. I'll probably stall around 'til I get a few more media-blaster accessories before I tear into that. In the meantime, I'll start breaking loose the old cross-shaft assembly bolts and installing new bolts and nuts one at a time.

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Issued Saturday May 19, 2001

Updated Monday May 15, 2017

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