Alley Cat 151

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m3a1
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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » November 6th, 2014, 1:56 pm

Sure looks like it. Was that on eBay? It looks familiar

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by Hambone » November 6th, 2014, 10:10 pm

It was on craigslist in Tomball, Tx., it was listed for over a month, no one bit, so I did. I will post more pics when I get it home.

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » June 2nd, 2017, 11:59 pm

Ok, gang. It's been quite a while since I did anything on the Alley Cat. The backstory to today's work goes all the way back to the day I brought it home. Along the way, the right rear wheel really didn't want to go round and round so we pulled over, backed off the brakes and when that didn't work, opened it up, jammed in as much solvent, and then lubricant as it would hold and then went for broke. It wasn't pretty or stylish but needless to say, we got it home and since then, the truck has needed attention given to the bearings. But there were other problems to be addressed with the Alley Cat so this is the first time I've gotten back to this particular issue. Bearing checks are in store for my MUTT so this is going to be as much for practice and expeditionary purposes as it is for problem-solving.

Hub cap, lock ring, lug nuts all removed and cleaned and painted. A base coat of black was applied, chiefly because I don't have any paint suitably green at the moment.

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Brake drum off. It needs some help. It is scored and has a lip that needs to be machined off. Add that to the to-do list.

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The rear fender-well on the Alley Cat is all wrong. The rear vertical intrudes upon the opening. Later I will sort this out by setting up a gate as a guide and cut it back with the plasma cutter, then weld on a flange. Not a big job but it will make the truck look a lot better.

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The Alley Cat has an extremely ugly and rudimentary upper spring perch.

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Here we have a good, solid foundation for the Alley Cat to rest upon while we work. I get these wood blocks for free at the local motorcycle shop. They come as dunnage for jet-skis and the shop can't wait to give them away. (author's edit) - With regards to safety: what you won't see in later pictures are any wheel chocks. The manner in which this control arm is supported does require that the vehicle be otherwise immobilized. In this case, the truck's wheels are nestled down in the gravel, it having been sitting in that spot for some time. So in this case, the truck won't move.

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Removing the u-bolts in order to remove the axle shaft. A large, long screwdriver inserted into the wishbone of the axle, by the u-joint, keeps the shaft from rotating while I loosen the nuts inboard and outboard. This allows me to work alone. That's a 1/2" wrench by the way. Rotate the axle 180 degrees and replace the screwdriver in order to work the other side. Quick and easy. If memory serves, I believe the book calls for these to be tightened to 40 lb ft of torque. I won't be reinstalling the axle shafts for some time because the differential is going to need some attention but it is not part of this job.

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Oh boy, these rear springs are FUBAR. Oddly, they are both FUBAR in the same way. Makes me wonder if someone applied heat to get them to settle to correct ride height. Not good. Not good at all.

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I've found that releasing the axle shaft from the flange at the differential first allows it to rest on the lower control arm while working to free the outboard end. There's a small advantage to this if you're working alone.

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Secure those u-joint end caps before going any further or risk losing 'em!

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The Alley Cat's simple design makes it easy to get to those top shock bolts!

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After removing the cotter pin and crown nut (or castle nut if you prefer) a small tug on the drive flange will bring it away from the spindle. Make sure that you round up the washer that is supposed to be beneath the crown nut! It's placed there and necessary to prevent rotational forces from being transmitted directly upon the nut.

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And here we have the spindle after having been removed from the rear of the carrier. At this point, the inner bearing, upon which the inboard end of the spindle is supported, is still in the carrier behind the inner seal. The shiny sleeves on the spindle and the drive flange are the surfaces that mate with the seals. In this case, these sleeves are still in great shape and I will re-use them. A complete seal kit will contain new sleeves should you require them.

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You are viewing the brake backing plate from above. I am taking this all the way down so we are about to remove the brake assembly and the carrier. Remove the brake line. It requires a 3/8" wrench. A line-wrench would have been a better choice but this nut offered no real resistance. I might have removed the bleeder to make more room to work. Below that are six 11/16" bolts & nuts. These secure the carrier and brake backing plate to the lower control arm.

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Here is the carrier and brake backing plate, now free of the lower control arm. If you have an experienced eye you may notice that there are no covers on the horizontal slots on the lower portion of the brake backing plate. These slots are there to allow you to adjust the star-wheel adjuster on the other side. Normally, they should be closed up. If left open, they could allow stuff to get inside the brake drum which is generally not good. My point is - If you a new to all of this, be aware that parts may be missing from the job you are working on. So you aren't really done until you have verified your work against the Tech Manual. In this case, not having the pieces that cover these slots is not a fatal flaw but it should be addressed.

If you have any doubt of the importance of such a small thing I will say that these missing covers are directly responsible for the problems I was experiencing with the bearings on this wheel. The junk that got inside got ground up by the brakes and made its way to the seal (which was old but still soldiering on) and then past the seal and into the bearing grease and finally into the bearing cone, pretty well jamming it up. It could have just as easily been particulates that were more abrasive which would have had the effect of ruining the bearings completely. So, for want of a few parts that cost pennies, the result could have been repairs that amounted to hundreds of dollars.

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Here is the carrier and brake assembly, face up. It is important to take note of the flange at the face of the carrier. This flange is pressed over the end of the carrier in order to hold the outer seal. Because the aperture in the brake backing plate is exactly the size of the carrier, the flange is too large to pass through it.

To remove the the flange and outer seal, flip the entire thing face down, grasp the carrier firmly in one hand and raise it slightly above your work surface and tap on the brake backing plate. The weight of the brake assembly and your tapping will drift the flange off the carrier quite nicely. Just make sure the brake assembly hasn't far to fall! SAVE the old flange/seal. You'll be using it later on reassembly.

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This is the inner seal. It has seen better days and its failure is the secondary cause of my right rear wheel not wanting to go around!

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What we have accomplished, so far, all laid out.

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Tap the inner seal and the inner bearing out of the carrier. This doesn't require much force at all and could have also been achieved with a piece of wood. As it was, I had a socket at hand so that's what I used as an anvil. SAVE the old seal. You'll be using it later on reassembly.

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Believe it or not, that bearing isn't nearly as bad as it looks. It's so stuffed with crap that it's unwilling to turn freely. Luckily, whatever got in there with the grease isn't sufficiently abrasive to have chewed up the rollers or the races. The seal is surely done for.

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The bearing isn't perfect but, once this was cleared of old, hard grease and debris and sluiced out with PB Blaster it's moving freely now. The rollers aren't perfect but once this is cleaned one more time and properly lubed, it'll be perfectly suitable for general use.

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One of the six bolts used to secure the carrier to the lower control arm had its threads messed up. Everything trued up nicely with tap and die but as a result the nut no longer grabs the bolt so this guy will either need to be staked, thread-locked or have a lock-washer. Having a bolt this size rattling around in a brake drum would not be good.

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Here's that long screwdriver hard at work again. It makes getting into this axle shaft a breeze, even when working alone.

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Fine threads, such as these, make it easy to cross-thread the cap on. Be careful when reassembling.

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Many components on the M151 series appear to be dainty. However, the carrier is quite massive. It holds the bearing races and supports the weight of whatever is going on at that corner of the vehicle at any moment. These photos are meant to give you some idea of how large the carrier actually is.

I cleaned this up with a wire wheel. I could have sand blasted it but that would have meant having to give it a very detailed cleaning with lots of soap and water afterwards because you don't want abrasive particulates inside the carrier! It was much faster to knock off the nasty stuff with the wire wheel and follow that up with a wipe-down with solvent. Sometimes less is more, right?

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Even the carrier gets a makeover. The little bit of paint or primer overspray inside can be wiped out with solvent before reassembly. I was working late in the day and didn't want to lose the light to work by when I painted this and didn't mask the carrier before priming and painting.

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Here we have everything laid out. Top left is the drive flange with sleeve and bearing. Top right is the spindle with sleeve and bearing and new seal. Bottom left I've laid out the new flange and new seal. Lower right is the old flange with the seal in place.

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Now at the lower left we have the new seal generally laid in place on the metal flange. The metal flange is there to create a place for the seal to nest. Remember, this metal flange is placed on the carrier only AFTER the brake backing plate is put on the carrier.

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So, here we are at day's end we have everything pretty much disassembled, some parts cleaned and recoated and everything inspected save for the brakes which aren't part of the task at hand. New parts are ready and soon we'll be putting everything back together again.

The bearing on the spindle is essentially free of dirt and debris and old contaminated grease and packing it with new grease is going to be a simple matter as you will soon see. With the proper tool (which I have) drawing the bearing off the drive flange is easy which would make it no great task to repack it. But what if you don't have the tool to remove it? What to do? Can the bearing be repacked while it is on the drive flange? Well, I'm going to experiment with that, just to see if its possible and share the results with you.

Cheers,
TJ
Last edited by m3a1 on May 12th, 2018, 11:01 pm, edited 16 times in total.

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Vzike
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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by Vzike » June 3rd, 2017, 4:10 pm

TJ, Your pics are very interesting. I'm comparing the Alley Cat to the Titan body I recently bought. They are very similar. The spring landing pad on the Titan is just a piece of cut off pipe, welded to the frame. I have a couple projects to get finished before I can start a build on the Titan, but I will be looking hard at your Alley Cat work and on Hambone's Titan.

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » June 3rd, 2017, 4:44 pm

Well, thanks. Along the way I'll try to provide some extra shots for comparison.

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m75 » June 3rd, 2017, 6:23 pm

Wow, if only the TM's were as clear and informative! My front end is completely torn apart (ALWAYS much easier than re-assembly.....) and I will be able to use this series to guide the return of parts to proper placement.
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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » June 3rd, 2017, 10:32 pm

Right you are M75, but I'm not writing these in this way because I'm claiming to be some kind of expert. Far from it. There are other folks here much better at this than I, but in order to promote our interest it helps to publish these things in a manner that helps others along with their projects.

And now, I have a little surprise for everyone.

So the bearing on the drive flange can be quite a little problem to remove and replace, generally requiring a special tool to get the job done. But every dollar you don't spend on things you don't need is a dollar you can spend on other, more important things. But how to pack a bearing with fresh grease while it's mounted?

Oddly, it seems there are lots of automotive tools in the kitchen gadget section of your local grocer! This particular solution is less than $6.00. Sweet as a lover's kiss! It comes with a removable metal syringe for easy storage. Plunger system screws off the barrel for easy loading and the plunger itself has a nice silicone O-ring.

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The needle portion of this has holes on the sides rather than the end. Cut it off with an abrasive cutting wheel at the top hole and flatten the "needle" just a little bit so that it will fit between the hub and the cage of the bearing. Make sure to de-burr the needle. We don't want to put stray metal into the bearings.

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You will be injecting grease into the bearing race between each of the rollers. There is no need to jam it too far in. If your bearing is clean and unobstructed then having the tip of the needle just below the cage is sufficient.

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As we can see here, the grease is making it all the way down in. The proof is at the bottom.

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You can scoop up the grease the comes out the top and put it right back into the syringe. That is one nicely packed bearing! Note the shape of the tip of the "needle". The grease that's pushed out at the bottom does have some contaminants in it. Wipe that off and discard it.

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Not ready for reassembly just yet. I keep these containers for projects such as this. Having them and zip-loc bags around helps me stay organized. However, I could just as easily have dumped the bearing into the grease container until I was ready to use it, right?

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More parts to be cleaned and inspected. These are just getting the wire-wheel treatment....nothing special, though I am looking over the hardware for defects.

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And here's one glaring problem...a rounded off nut. Not a problem for me necessarily because I know it's there and can work around it but it's a potentially huge problem for the next guy. I think we'll get something to replace things like that and save the next guy some headaches. Of the eight nuts, three were rounded off. Hardware such as this is cheap. Do the right thing. Spend a few pennies and make it right. If you do the work, your name is on it.

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Threatening weather around here so all work is on hold. Meanwhile I'll be trying to decide if I'm going to address the cleaning of the brake backing plate while it's off or leave it for later. If I could get some hot dry weather the decision would be easy. Put it in the blast cabinet and let 'er rip!

Cheers,
TJ
Last edited by m3a1 on May 12th, 2018, 11:10 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by rickf » June 4th, 2017, 8:45 am

I gotta get me one of those! Or several, try pouring brake fluid into the master cylinder without making a mess. I always used the old turkey baster but they are one use anymore due to Chinese garbage materials.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » June 4th, 2017, 10:24 am

Your'e right, Rick. There's a lot of junk out there but I found this to be just about right. As you probably already know, these are used to prepping meats with butter or flavoring prior to deep frying which is why the needle has holes on the sides rather than the ends. This worked so well I'm probably going to buy another one, prep the needle and set it aside for future use. Right now, I cannot say how the first one will hold up after long-term contact with the grease but at only $6 a pop...I'd say we have a clear winner.

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by Hambone » June 4th, 2017, 8:54 pm

Vzike wrote:TJ, Your pics are very interesting. I'm comparing the Alley Cat to the Titan body I recently bought. They are very similar. The spring landing pad on the Titan is just a piece of cut off pipe, welded to the frame. I have a couple projects to get finished before I can start a build on the Titan, but I will be looking hard at your Alley Cat work and on Hambone's Titan.
Sounds like I need to get off my butt. :lol:

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by rickf » June 5th, 2017, 8:51 am

Those springs were definitely heated and dropped but I wonder if they were 151 springs to begin with? I was going to say if you dropped the stock springs that far it would squat but then I realized they are not in pockets at the top, they are much lower. That is why they dropped them. Cutting the ends would have been the right way.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » June 5th, 2017, 6:27 pm

I'm curious as to whether or not I should leave them alone for the time being. Does any one have any ideas? The previous owner drove this as-is though I have no idea if he experienced any particular issues with them. I'm inclined to wait and see.

Made a lot of headway today!

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by rickf » June 5th, 2017, 8:06 pm

Thats kind of a tough call, technically springs that have been heated are unstable and can work harden and break. Looks like they have been doing their thing for quite some time. I am not crazy about the angles they are on. Problem being that if you want to replace them they will have to be custom made.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by Vzike » June 5th, 2017, 8:55 pm

Hambone wrote:Sounds like I need to get off my butt. :lol:
[/quote]

Or get your butt over to this coast when you're down here next month. Always like to put a face with a post!

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Re: Alley Cat 151

Unread post by m3a1 » June 5th, 2017, 9:37 pm

Well, I think we'll just see what happens with this project as a whole and maybe the answer will become obvious.

Speaking of obvious answers, today started with an assessment of the brakes associated with this tear-down. The question was, what to do with the brake backing plate. Should I just give it a once over with a wire wheel and save the final make-over for later, or just go ahead and blast it? Well, the tie-breaker was the fact that, to take it off again would mean having to remove the new flange for the inner wheel-bearing seal and I wasn't too crazy about that idea. It's not that I mind sand blasting (frankly, I love it and the results it produces) but I have a tendency to round up certain odds and ends that need to be blasted and save them for one big day of blasting so I knew that once I got into it, I'd be doing all sorts of stuff that wasn't necessarily related to the project. But before the could happen, the backing plate had to be stripped of all the brake goodies. And so, we begin...

Here we have the brake assembly in it's entirety, as it came off the truck from the right rear. Note the placement of the individual parts. Also note that the star-wheel on the adjuster lays against the spring. The lower spring not only brings the shoes together but also acts as a stop for the star-wheel so that, once it is set, it isn't free to turn on its own.

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This is the inboard side (or outside) of the brake backing plate. Pretty ugly at the moment. Note the slotted holes at the bottom. These openings allow for adjustment of the brakes to the drum with the star-wheel adjuster. Brake backing plates are not side-specific so there are two slots and only one slot is used at each wheel position. Normally, these slots should have a small piece to keep them covered in order to prevent debris from getting inside the drum. They are missing and should be replaced.

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Release the heavy springs from the stud. In this photo I have them stood up so that you can see that they are identical. They must be stood up in order to remove them from the brake shoes.

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The brake shoes are held in place by these individual springs and their anchors. This is the spring.

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And these square thingies are the anchors.

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This is not the time for trying to yank the brake shoes off the backing plate. If you do, you will damage the spring by hyper-extending it.

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To release the spring from the anchor, simply grasp it with small pliers and extend the spring downward while supporting the anchor from below, creating sufficient slack to allow it to unhook from the anchor eye. This does not take a great deal of effort. Once the springs are disconnected simply pull the shoes away from the brake wheel cylinder and lift the entire thing off the brake backing plate and set it aside.

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Harbor Freight gives these magnetic parts trays away (free with coupon) on a regular basis.
DON'T LOSE THE ANCHORS! I'll say that again...

DON'T
LOSE
THE
ANCHORS!


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Turn over the brake backing plate and loosen the brake bleeder just a bit and the gently reseat it. Reseating it will keep the brake fluid in it while you are handling the wheel cylinder later. Fail to reseat it and you'll have brake fluid dribbling out before you realize what's going on.

Take note of the low profile of the 7/16" bolts that hold the wheel cylinder to the backing plate. Choose your tools wisely for loosening (and tightening) these. Some sockets and box-end wrenches have highly chamfered edges meaning that they will have very little bite on the bolt head, possibly leading to a rounded off bolt. Much better to use a regular wrench on these if you can.

Remove the wheel cylinder.

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Break down the lower parts of the brake shoe assembly. (Please excuse the poor focus.) There is absolutely no need to struggle with the spring. Simply rotate the upper end of one of the shoes over the other. This will allow the star wheel adjuster to come free and then it is a simple matter to remove the spring. Reassembly of this group of parts is the opposite of disassembly. No muss, no fuss....no chalky aftertaste! :lol: :lol:

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At this point I took the springs and the anchors and the other assorted bits and gave them a simple, cursory clean-up. I'm going to put them back in and I want it to be plainly obvious that these are older parts, just in case I forget where I left off. The shoes look like they haven't seen much (if any) use but as I said earlier, this project isn't a brake job and the Alley Cat is a project that is really on the back burner so I'm not ready to throw a bunch of money at it.

Remember that ugly, nasty backing plate?

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Well, here it is after blasting. Looking over parts at this stage always takes my breath away. All the part numbers and other details stand out for all to see, once again, after all these years. Just a comment on sand blasting. We have been dealing with a lot of springs on this job, large and small. I was taught never to sandblast small springs. Sand blasting has the effect of work-hardening the surface of metals, like thousands of tiny hammers hitting it) and for items like little springs, whose metal needs to flex, having the metal hardened is not a good thing. Probably not a great idea for springs of any size. If you must blast them, use a much more forgiving blast media such as walnut shell. Even soda blasting would be appropriate. But as we will discuss later, new springs are really the best option because they are inexpensive and will save you a great deal of time.

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In primer. Isn't that lovely!?

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And later...in paint!

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Along the way, some of those other items I mentioned are making their way out of the blaster too. Here we have couple of old oil lamp holders getting prettied up.

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And the brake drum. At first, I thought this was a crack! As it turns out, it's just a mark in the casting but it had me thinking I'd be into this for a new brake drum. The paint that sits in the undercut makes it look like a very convincing crack. Not a big deal having to get a new drum but still, this is a very good example of why you should be looking over your parts quite carefully. In the lower photo, note how the right edge of the casting dives in toward the mark; just an oddity in the casting and not a crack. If it had been a crack I would have dodged a bullet, so to speak.

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And finally, some swag for our friend who needed a skid plate....

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Managed to get everything into paint before the rain hit...again... :roll: So, I'll be letting all that pretty new paint sit and cure up nicely and it'll soon be time to put everything back together.
Last edited by m3a1 on May 12th, 2018, 11:20 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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