All my blog posts lead to this one. After 25+ years of sitting and moving from one spot to another on my father-in-law's property Maverick drove on the streets again. I spent Friday night working on the brakes some more and getting things taken off and cleaned as well as installing my parking brake cable on the right side. It was fairly late when I decided to stop for the night.
Saturday morning was raining but by the time I was done with breakfast it has stopped. In between the occasional mist or shower I was either under the the truck or in the garage cleaning parts, so it did not impact me to much. I ended up buying some brake lines because I destroyed a few trying to remove them from the rear left side wheel cylinder. I borrowed the tube bender but found that the material is so soft that a gentle bend in my hands was more accurate. When I had a 90 degree bend the tool was used.
By 4:00 or so the brakes and lines were all attached. Adjustments made to each wheel and parking brake. I grabbed my dad and we filled the master with fluid and started bleeding the brakes. The process was fairly simple and it took about 45 minutes to complete. The hard part was after each wheel and some times twice we would have to refill the master. The master does not hold much fluid. The good news is that I do not see any leaks and the pedal was solid and firm.
I put the wheels back on, took down the safety jacks and Maverick had her paws back on the ground. Filling the temp gas tank to the brim I jumped inside the cab and started her up. Pulled my phone out of my pocket and started the timer.
Pulling out of the driveway I tested the brakes, not knowing what to expect. This I can tell you, she is not a modern truck. I realize that the shoes have not been seated yet but pedal effort is required without modern technology like power boost. She stopped in a predictable manner. I was hardly moving but the result was a controlled stop.
I moved onto the road and tested again, and again. The result was the same. I was pleased that the truck held a straight line without a pull to the left or right. Grabbing my phone I called my wife. I realize that driving and talking on the phone without a hands free device is illegal but consider the situation. No registration, no brake lights, no seat belt, no turn signals, and a modified gas tank hanging off the battery inside the engine compartment!
As I swung onto our street I noticed that the speedometer was not working, add that to my punch list. Pulling into the front of our street my three boys were as excited as I was. They jumped in and we closed the door, kinda. Another thing to add to my punch list is the passenger door which does not close completely, just mostly. We honked our way down the street and back again. After dropping the boys off I took off.
Around the block and came to a stop sign where she promptly sputtered to a stop. Nine minutes of bliss as Maverick was finally a real truck! I set the parking brake and grabbed the gas can and opened the hood to refill the tank.
The battery held and she started back up once the fuel filter was filled with fuel, timer set and off I went back to my dad's to back her back into her stable and shut her down for the night.
On Sunday, my oldest came out to help me clean the cab and pull the gas tank behind the seat. We had to broom, blow and wipe to get the oils, rust and dust out from her insides. Three bolts broken in the process and a door latch that has been improved with a few adjustments, from www.stovebolt.com.
We filled the tank back up and me, my dad and my oldest, Gavin went for a drive. This time I wanted to see how she did at speed. We got going to about 35. How did I know? Well apparently the speedometer kinda works now. I took it to 40 and outside of a slight wandering, nothing to worry about just get comfortable with she ran well in 4th gear. The transmission is not real smooth and it takes a bit of muscle to downshift as well as being in the right rpm. Up shifting was nice and clean. The slowing down part was also predictable as I mentioned before even at 45mph. Turning around we went over a rough road and found that the old seat was a bit bouncy. Back on the road we raced back up to 45 and turned down another road. 10 seconds later she sputtered and died. I coasted to a pull off area and refilled the tank. That run was about 7-8 minutes.
Since our gas can was empty we decided we had better get back to her stable, before we were in real trouble.
So whats next? Well it is fairly important to get a real tank installed as well as turn signals and brake lights. Then it can be registered and driven.
Tank and its components will be about $250. Brake lights and turn signals are not known yet. I pulled a wire on the brake light switch because it would stay on and drain the battery. The rear tail lights need to be removed to see what the matter is, while the front turn lights are rusted out and I'm installing new bulbs and electrical that was already in the back of the camper.
No comments:
Post a Comment