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My Former WC51 "Flying Control Dodge" - A New Chapter


Jessie The Jeep

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A small job that has been waiting for time and good weather was the painting of the truck's name, now finally done.

name1.jpg

This is the brake shoe that has been binding. The lining tips are about 3/16 inch, but the centre is only 1/8. Something else for the shopping list.

brake_shoes3.jpg

Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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The new master brake cylinder and wheel cylinders arrived today. I struggled for some time trying to removed the brass pipe fitting from the end of the old cylinder, including using extreme heat and force before it finally gave way.

brakes_master_cylinder3.jpg

Below is one of the better old cylinders, now fitted with a new seal kit. I'll put the two old cylinders on the rear, and the last picture is one of the new cylinders. These will be fitted to the front of the truck.

brakes_wheel_cylinder5.jpg

brakes_wheel_cylinder6.jpg

Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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Joris said:
How on earth......

The skid plate was a bit of a pain, with some bolts and some self tapping screws into the chassis. The nuts/bolts were done by feel with a ring/open ended spanner, and a socket on the bottom. The master cylinder, looking from the front, had the bottom and left machine screw undone by a spanner. The top right bolt that is tight up against the chassis was undone with a thin walled socket on a 10 inch extension. This brings the ratchet far enough out of the way of everything to work.

We got it all back together again today. Slight nightmare when we started to bleed the brakes and had brake fluid pour out of the rear right cylinder ( old cylinder, new seals ). Thinking another £90 might have to be spent on two more cylinders, I suggested we try the new seals in one of the other old cylinders. This seemed to work, and the bleeding was completed.

Another job we felt was needed was a small packer inside the master cylinder where the brake pedal plunger fits in. There wasn't enough thread to adjust the plunger, as there was a lot of free play before the slack was taken up. I cut a 5/16 packer from some 1/2 inch bar, and fitted this down the plunger hole, and it did the job.

I did two short test drives, one up and down the street, and a second around the estate. The brakes are stunning now, and when driving forwards, and braking hard, I almost had the back wheels off the ground! Trying backwards, I managed to lock the wheels and skid a short way.

I'll give it another few short runs and check for leaks before the trip to Elvington.

Two other jobs before packing up for the day, were a bare wire to deal with and mounting the coil the right way up. The original king lead was too short, so the coil had been mounted inverted. Not ideal when it's oil in the coil that cools it. A new longer lead was made up and the coil turned the correct way up.

coil1.jpg

The bare wire was on the horn cable where some insulation tape had previously been. I cut the wire to slot some heat shrink tube over, and spotted several more fractures in the insulation. While investigating them, the whole horn wire fell out of the steering column! So after working out how the horn button came off, I rewired it with a new length of cable.

horn_wire1.jpg

A busy 9 hour day over, but satisfied with the result.

Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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Big bore forward. :-D

 

Just found my Parts manual, and that says big bore to the rear! That actually makes sense to me, as the front shoe will bite harder due to the rotation of the hub, while the rear shoe is trailing, so would require more pressure to give equal braking force.

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Joris, I got mine From Halfords Proffesional range. They are similar to this but with more curve and a ratchet end

plomb_db1820_1730_wrench_halfmoon_cropped.jpg&t=1&h=56&w=150&usg=__gUvgk_aYccNWln2gclcgoooWv1c=

Jess, I'm sure the Dodge forum was big end forward. Mine I took the precaution of identifying the part number then sealing each box with a big L or R on them.

Edited by Tony B
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The manual doesn't lie, so I'm guessing there are a number of people on the Dodge forum with the cylinders on the wrong way. Big bore to the rear does make more sense for even braking of each shoe, due to the trailing rear shoe requiring more force to give the same effect as the front shoe.

 

 

brake.jpg

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