new brake lines

[blacksnapon]

Anyone know where to look for this? I have read a little on hotrodders, but...it can't hurt to read more.

Most parts stores have double flare tools and tubing benders. Best way to do it is to buy an extra piece of tubing and practice on it before starting on the real thing.

 

[O'Rattlecan]

you can buy small pipe benders at the hardware store. One that we sell has 3-4 different grooves for different size pipes. Works well with conduit and low guage copper pipe.

Ryan

 

[Fellro]

I guess I don't know quite what you are looking for... Most of it comes with experience, as far as how to flare itself, and bending, the wire trick is all I can offer for making sure you get the bends right. Trial and error, practice, and experience will teach you more than reading about it...

 

[john112deere]

This is turning into the repair job from hell...

Long story short, I've got the rear lines in from the ABS box (anyone know if I need to do anything special to bleed this?) and am going to wait a day or two (at least) before I replace the fronts; need a few days to calm down...

Anyway, as part of this, I took the bed off to sand and paint the frame, which I knew was starting to rust. That's going well enough, except that I can see I need to replace the left rear spring mounting-thing. There are two pieces, one riveted and bolted to the frame, and that one is OK, but the one from that to the spring, is rotten and not safe. It's brother on the other side is pretty bad, too, so I'll replace both.

What is the name of this piece, and can I get one? Anything special about replacing it? Dealing with the rusted stuck fasteners will be a pain, but nothing I'm unfamiliar with. I havent' a clue what that spring will do when I unhook one end of it, though...

 

[Brian_B]

I just took the springs off of my 56. I cleaned them up and lightly painted them. Then added poly liners to soften the ride a little. On mine..unbolting the spring didn't do anything.

Now...if you take the spring pack apart, you need to have a "C" clamp on it. They are under pressure.


I will let others speak from experience with ranger springs though. I have all my brake lines formed now. I am missing one fitting that I can't get until Monday. I hate this place. LOL

As far as the spring hangers, you will have to grind the rivet heads off and knock them out with a hammer. Some people drill them, but I was never successful with that. That might just be me.

When you put replacements on you probably want to use grade 8 bolts where the rivets were. This is holding your truck up.

 

[Fellro]

I think he is talking about the shackle, not the hanger, but yes, that would be the way to get the hanger off, and definitely use grade 8's to rehang, as well as loctite.
The spring won't come flying out or anything when you take the eye bolts out. And as stated to do anything with the center bolt, you need a c-clamp to get it back together.

 

[john112deere]

Yeah, the shackle. I picked up a pair of them at the dealer today, $32 a piece.

Thanks!

 

[john112deere]

Anybody got any tips on removing the bolts from these things?

I jacked up the bumper a little to try to reduce the load on the bolt as much as possible and got the top one out on one side.

The bottom one I've gotten to move a little, but I can't get it any more now that it's gone ~1/2".

It's hot as hell here, and I swear the humidity is over 100%, but I've got to get this truck done.

This whole damn mess is just one of those things where hardly nothin' goes right...

I'm doing everything that looks like it's going bad, though, so hopefully it'll all be good for a while after I get done...

 

[Brian_B]

No...I am sorry, but I have never had to deal with rust. My 56 just unbolted, but it was born in GA and lived in the south all its life.

Is it possible to cut the bolts with a torch (or grind the heads off) and just replace the bolts and the rubber (whatever they are called) in the spring eyes?

 

[john112deere]

It's actually not rust (you lucky SOB ), at least in the way I'd expect rust to be an issue. The nuts came off without too much trouble, once I realized that my 4-way tire iron would fit them.

The bolt will turn, and I've moved it maybe 3/4" now, beating on the loose nut with a hammer so as not to bugger the threads on the nut. (The nut is now ruined, but at least the end of the bolt isn't mushroomed out so it won't fit through the hole.)

 

[Brian_B]

Use a torch and burn out the bushing (rubber thing in the spring eye), the bolt will fall out. Then put new bushings and bolts in?

I am just guessing. I have never replaced them. Mine are brass (I think) or some sort of metal and are greasable.

 

[mrfixit]

Many manufacturers used to "stay" those bolts, where they damaged the threads so they WOULDN'T come out. I think Brian is right on the money with the hot wrench idea. Rent one and git r done if you don't have one.
you ARE better off with a real cutting torch and not a propane torch, tho, as if they remain stubborn you can blow the heads off.

 

[Fellro]

If you have air power, which it doesn't aper you do, spin them fast and use a prybar to push them out a the same time, usually works for me... I personally haven't done any spring bushings, but have had success using my impact to get them loose. If you have it spinning, you have a chance at getting it out. It's when they don't spin you have all kinds of fun... If you can't use an impact, have someone pry on the bolt while you turn it.

 

[john112deere]

New shackles are in (mostly).

Got a buddy over here, and with two of us, we were able to use a pry bar to remove any loading on the bolt, and then beat it out with a drift we found at work.

Need to find one new nut, but other than that it's all set.

 

[Brian_B]

COOL! Glad to her you got it out without destroying everything. I know what I would have done.

 

[john112deere]

I never said I didn't destroy anything....only thing that I really ruined was the rotten shackle, but my big pry bar doesn't have the same shape down the end it used to.

Think I found a nut in the stockroom at work today, too, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

 

[Brian_B]

.....Think I found a nut in the stockroom at work today.........

Just one? Where I work there are a lot of nuts.


Oh...you meant the kind that goes on a bolt, not their mental capacity.

 

[john112deere]

We got plenty of nuts too, Brian, but the guy who runs the stockroom is my boss sometimes, and he's a good guy.

Shackles are all in and fastened down. Paintwork/rust repair is done. Rear brakes are assembled and bled. New fuel pump is in. Bed is sitting back on it, but not bolted down.

Two questions:
-new fuel pump is from Napa. High pressure electric unit with attached sending unit. It works, but it seems to hum a bit louder than the one I took out. Hard to say if that's mostly just because the bed is off, though. Is this something I should be real worried about? It's not loud enough to be heard while driving, I don't think, but it's audible at idle, with the bed off and the windows down, for sure. Also, the gas gauge now shows less gas than I thought I had (~1/2 vs ~3/4), but I can't remember for sure what was in there. Is there something I was supposed to do to calibrate this thing?

-anybody got any advice on how to adjust the rear brakes? I understand how to work the adjuster, but I'm not real sure how tight to set them. They seem to work fine right where they are now, but I haven't driven it more than 5 mph... The emergency brake grabs way low to the floor, just like it's done for the last 50k miles (and maybe before that; that's when I first drove the truck). It'll hold, but they gave me some crap about it at inspection last year, and said I needed to adjust the rear brake shoes to make it grab higher. (There is no adjustment on the cable in a Ranger.)

Thanks!

 

[ProjectResponder]

Two questions:
-new fuel pump is from Napa. High pressure electric unit with attached sending unit. It works, but it seems to hum a bit louder than the one I took out. ... Is there something I was supposed to do to calibrate this thing?

-anybody got any advice on how to adjust the rear brakes?

Thanks!

First, when installing an electric fuel pump, you need to ensure the pressure is not higher than the carb is rated for. Usually it's around 6psi. A lot of pumps put out more than that and it can damage the carb and/or dump too much gas into the intake. The first thing to do is to install a fuel pressure gauge in the fuel line at the carb. If the pressure is above 6psi (or whatever the carb calls for) you'll need to install a pressure regulator. This will save you a lot of grief later on down the line.

Second, there should be a "star" wheel inside the brake drum at the bottom. You will find a small oval shaped opening, may be sealed with a rubber plug, through which you can use a screw driver to adjust the wheel. Adjusting this wheel will cause the brake pads to be spread out or collapse inward depending on which way you turn the wheel. Take the tire off of the axle and spin the hub by hand. Adjust the star wheel until you feel a drag on the hub as you spin it. This will put your brake shoes in the proper setting. When was the last time you had your brake drums turned?

Lastly, in case you didn't know, I was stationed at Loring AFB in Caribou for several years. If you have some time, check out my website and visit the photo gallery. I have some photos of the truck up in Maine.

Cheers

I was hoping there was some really good advice on making new lines in this thread. It should be advice on the tools to bend and double flare the lines. Advice on doing each of those steps would be good too.
I am dissapinted.

I used to be a brake line virgin. I learned by doing. I could not find any good info out there either when I started the job of running all new brake lines on my truck. What I found is that it's much easier to start with straight tubing rather than to use the tubing that comes coiled up. It does mean you'll have some unions in the line on a long frame, but that's easier than trying to straighten out coiled lines. I have a regular tubing bender and I spent the extra $$ on a high quality double flare tool. The cheapos at the the auto parts stores are worthless. It really just takes time and patience to bend the brake lines. The key is measure a thousand times and bend once. You get the idea. A wrong bend can mean starting over. Not always, but most often.

Regards,

Michael

 

[john112deere]

My truck is EFI, and the pump I put in is specific to a Supercab Ranger, so pressure should be fine.

there should be a "star" wheel inside the brake drum at the bottom. You will find a small oval shaped opening, may be sealed with a rubber plug, through which you can use a screw driver to adjust the wheel. Adjusting this wheel will cause the brake pads to be spread out or collapse inward depending on which way you turn the wheel. Take the tire off of the axle and spin the hub by hand. Adjust the star wheel until you feel a drag on the hub as you spin it. This will put your brake shoes in the proper setting.

That's what we did; just wanted to make sure, because it seems funny to me that they should drag at all when I'm not stepping on the brake. confused

When was the last time you had your brake drums turned?

Darned if I know. I've had the truck since 200k miles, and the rear brakes still have plenty of wear left in them. Inside of the drums looks pretty good, but the outside is rusty enough that when the time comes to replace the shoes, I'll put new drums on, too. They're not good enough to turn. They're still solid, though, and I don't get any vibrations under braking, so I think they should be OK.

I have a feeling the rear brakes haven't been doing much for the time I've had the truck, though it stops fine unless I'm hauling something heavy; then it's just adequate.

Lastly, in case you didn't know, I was stationed at Loring AFB in Caribou for several years. If you have some time, check out my website and visit the photo gallery. I have some photos of the truck up in Maine.

I'll have to check them out.

Thanks!