Did a search on the forum and found there wasn't a concise thread about the foibles and follies created by previous owners that have had to be remedied by us in order to keep our rigs on the road and cruising smooth. I thought it might be good therapy and a good way to feel some camaraderie when we are laying on the pavement cursing and asking "what the ....?!" while fixing some ridiculously routed hose or line or what-have-you. This might also serve as a warning for some poor lost soul who thinks it's a good idea to replace all the rotted weather stripping with huge beads of silicone caulking (I'm just speculating, but can see this happening somewhere). I'll start:
Hi, my name is Neil and I'm a 60-holic...
Driveshaft out of phase and one of the u-joint bolts missing: Talk about out of balance, the vibrations would start at about 50 and just kept growing anytime I was on the freeway. I thought initially I was going to drop the driveshaft and get it balanced (we've got a family run shop in town that's been in business since the 40's), when I got under the truck I noticed the phase, and when I went to set things right I noticed the missing bolt and nut in the rear. When I ordered a new one and held the set in my hand I figured a balance weight was about half the total weight of the nuts and bolts! Problem solved!
Power steering fluid in brake reservoir: I was experiencing the famous "brakes locking up slowly and not releasing" problem and figured it was probably old lines acting as reed valves. Ordered a full set of hoses before investigating anything (I know, I know), and when I went to drain some fluid out of the master before starting to flush out the old fluid prior to replacing the lines I saw the telltale red fluid sitting on top of the brake fluid. Needless to say, I got to replace front calipers, rear cylinders and all the soft hose too. Bonus was/is: brakes work great!!
Mauled brake backing plate: I noticed this before dealing with the brakes but didn't think too much about it until I actually replaced the rear pads, upon backing the shoes off with the starwheel and using the 2 bolts I had laying around to pop the drum off I realized what caused the damage to the lower backing plate; somebody decided that they could bypass backing off the wheel (or couldn't achieve it because they didn't know about the starwheel stop plate) or the drum was so badly seized to the hub, the only way to get off the drum would be to use a prybar/crowbar and try continually to attempt to pry off the offending drum thus mangling the poor backing plate rather than achieving the wanted result. On a side note; I had the same mindset eons ago when doing the brakes on my 56 buick for the first time. Being relatively new to wrenching on vehicles and thinking I had all the answers already, I placed a pry bar behind the mammoth drum and tried once, realizing what the end result would be I immediately ceased and realized miraculously that I could thread bolts into the seemingly random threaded holes in the drum and jack it off (yes, that is the only phrasing my mind will offer forth). I don't wheel in deep pits of gravel so I won't be replacing the backing plate anytime soon unless somebody offers one up for free dollars and fifty cents.
Long winded, yes. Am I at the end of my journey with repairing/replacing the PO's whoopsies? Probably not, but that's all I have s far to my recollection. Hopefully if nothing else, I have provided someone out there with a bit of entertainment, My wife doesn't understand half of what I rant and rave about when it comes to the 60, so I figured airing it here was better than boring her more.
Hi, my name is Neil and I'm a 60-holic...
Driveshaft out of phase and one of the u-joint bolts missing: Talk about out of balance, the vibrations would start at about 50 and just kept growing anytime I was on the freeway. I thought initially I was going to drop the driveshaft and get it balanced (we've got a family run shop in town that's been in business since the 40's), when I got under the truck I noticed the phase, and when I went to set things right I noticed the missing bolt and nut in the rear. When I ordered a new one and held the set in my hand I figured a balance weight was about half the total weight of the nuts and bolts! Problem solved!
Power steering fluid in brake reservoir: I was experiencing the famous "brakes locking up slowly and not releasing" problem and figured it was probably old lines acting as reed valves. Ordered a full set of hoses before investigating anything (I know, I know), and when I went to drain some fluid out of the master before starting to flush out the old fluid prior to replacing the lines I saw the telltale red fluid sitting on top of the brake fluid. Needless to say, I got to replace front calipers, rear cylinders and all the soft hose too. Bonus was/is: brakes work great!!
Mauled brake backing plate: I noticed this before dealing with the brakes but didn't think too much about it until I actually replaced the rear pads, upon backing the shoes off with the starwheel and using the 2 bolts I had laying around to pop the drum off I realized what caused the damage to the lower backing plate; somebody decided that they could bypass backing off the wheel (or couldn't achieve it because they didn't know about the starwheel stop plate) or the drum was so badly seized to the hub, the only way to get off the drum would be to use a prybar/crowbar and try continually to attempt to pry off the offending drum thus mangling the poor backing plate rather than achieving the wanted result. On a side note; I had the same mindset eons ago when doing the brakes on my 56 buick for the first time. Being relatively new to wrenching on vehicles and thinking I had all the answers already, I placed a pry bar behind the mammoth drum and tried once, realizing what the end result would be I immediately ceased and realized miraculously that I could thread bolts into the seemingly random threaded holes in the drum and jack it off (yes, that is the only phrasing my mind will offer forth). I don't wheel in deep pits of gravel so I won't be replacing the backing plate anytime soon unless somebody offers one up for free dollars and fifty cents.
Long winded, yes. Am I at the end of my journey with repairing/replacing the PO's whoopsies? Probably not, but that's all I have s far to my recollection. Hopefully if nothing else, I have provided someone out there with a bit of entertainment, My wife doesn't understand half of what I rant and rave about when it comes to the 60, so I figured airing it here was better than boring her more.
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