Stymied,,,

Parts didn’t arrive today. Still showing in transit in NC,,, Monday,,, USPS, of course,,,,

One with drum, one without. the one without was the passenger side.

I knew I was in a fight when I pulled the wheel and saw factory retaining clips,,, on a 25 year old Truck,,,, But surprisingly, the Passenger side popped loose after about 5000 hits with the hammer. Ok, mehbe 500,,, And as you can see if you embiggen the pic, those shoes look GOOD,,, Fact, no seeming wear or much of anything on that side. I did note that I will need to replace the p-brake cable on that side, as its liner is degraded and showing rust, but amazingly, it still ‘moves’ inside the sheath.

THEN, Drivers side. Upgraded to a 3# ‘drilling’ hammer,,, The drum IS loose on the spindle. I accessed the adjuster sleeve, and even an inspection port. I can see that the shoes are locked tight to the drum, The drum is loose, I can put a prybar between it and the backing plate and see it wiggle. BUT,

It! Ain’t! Movin’!

Tried every trick (but one ) so far to get ‘stuck drums’ loose. Tried loosening that adjuster, but its wedged so tight, those little teeth just break right off without moving. I know the Pbrake cable is good, and using that is what adjusts the brake shoes,,, and apparently, someone was PUMPING that peddle at some point. Things are JAMMED UP tight. I have one more trick up my sleeve,,, Cut the retaining pins to the hold down springs. I can access them on the backing plate and Cut that little head off with a die-grinder. Use a prybar to pull them ‘proud’ and WHACK!!! with a pair of side cutters or die grinder, Things will move then, and maybe enough that I can get it clear without more death and destruction. Besides, A brake hardware kit is CHEAP compared to all the other stuff in there.

Looking in that inspection port, the shoes look to be about the same thickness as the passenger side. I would say the origninal owner is a former truck driver and did LOTS of compression braking using the engine, with a very light braking foot. I know when I was driving a stick, my brakes tended to last double or triple that, compared to when I drive a slushbox, because thats the way I was taught to drive a stick: use the engine, save the brakes for emergencies. Just blows my mind: A 25 year old truck with factory original brakes with 195K on the clock And they look GOOD!!! No corrosion on the hardware, shiney adjuster (after you hose off the brake dust) and can still see the color coding of the springs.

But I’m whooped: swinging that hammer, prying with crowbars, prybars. Wiggling under the truck to access the adjuster ports and inspection ports,,,

And breaking up a dog fight,,,,

Kinda let that one slip, did I?

Yeah,,, some pillhead came wandering through the hollar around lunchtime with his Pittie. Cozzie thought nothing of it, wanting to play, and it turned into a brawl pretty quickly. Cozz held his own, and only had one scratch on his chest and lots of slobber in his fur, The other dog ran off (after I put two rounds of .22 into the dirt. Didn’t want to chance hitting the Cozz)(yes, I carry even around home,,, don’t you?) and was trailing some blood. Nothing copious or lifethreatening, but he definitely was the worse for wear, even though he was twice Cozzies size. And he was worn out, or has been shot at frequently, as he didn’t put it into high gear, just ‘quickened the pace’ with gunshots following him.

In hindsight, it was just two alpha mutts sorting out dominance, but if you have ever been around a dawgfight, you know it looks way worse than that. Had it been a duel, there would have been a dead or dying dawg, not two mutts running off in seperate directions.

and for those telling me to chain the Cozz up or install him in a kennel or something to that effect,,, TOO LATE,,, He’s used to his freedom and if I started doing that, I would get ZERO peace about it. He likes to roam, doesn’t roam far, but THIS HOLLAR is his territory now. Deny him that and I may as well,,,, Well, It’d be like putting you in jail for living your life, without doing anything wrong. Think about it. I have, and thats why I can’t do it.

More tomorrow, Gotta bust out the recording gear and actually do something for a podcast this week. And not a clue what right now,,,, WING IT!!!