Today, it's winter again (20F and windy). It was time to drain the glop out of a recently-acquired GN axle. 90-weight sure moves slow at this temperature. I have to go down to civilization tomorrow, and I have been meaning to get this thing sandblasted. I plan to go to Camaro discs, so I wanted to remove the backing plates to reveal the brake tabs. This thing came from the Midwest (where it's about 0F, so I'll stop crying...) and it's a bit rusty.
The bad: tried to take out the cross-pin in the differential, and the retaining bolt had broken off.
The good: the part that remained in the differential had about a 1/3 of a thread left on it, so with a pencil-magnet, I was able to wiggle the pin and twist the rest of the pin bolt out - whew! (magnet was also useful to recover the C-clips that dropped into the nethers when I pushed the axles in ; )
The bad: the brake shoe pivot bolts were ON THERE.
The good: a generous amount of WD-40 and a poly mallet applied to the 13/16" wrench eventually broke the rusted locking nuts loose. No need to break out the die grinder, and I can reuse these on my 72 K10 axle.
The bad: both wheel cylinders wiggled badly - a cheesy clip is all that holds these onto the G-body brake tabs - now I see why experts recommend finding a pair of the S-10 cylinder braces if you stick with the rear drum brakes.
The good: the cheeze whiz went into the trash with the rest of the original brake parts.
The bad: the Chinese bargain chrome diff cover is unrusted and dent-free but the bolt holes at the top and bottom are about a millimeter off - some filing was in order.
The good: sand takes off chrome as easily as iron oxide!
The bad: I need about $400 worth of 3.73 ring and pinion plus install kit.
The good: I picked up the GM brake abutments (with parking brake ring already there) before RockAuto ran out of them, and I'll have a nice clean axle housing to modify.
LS Customs' Rear Disc Brake Swap threads: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30606 and viewtopic.php?f=19&t=41067
The bad: tried to take out the cross-pin in the differential, and the retaining bolt had broken off.
The good: the part that remained in the differential had about a 1/3 of a thread left on it, so with a pencil-magnet, I was able to wiggle the pin and twist the rest of the pin bolt out - whew! (magnet was also useful to recover the C-clips that dropped into the nethers when I pushed the axles in ; )
The bad: the brake shoe pivot bolts were ON THERE.
The good: a generous amount of WD-40 and a poly mallet applied to the 13/16" wrench eventually broke the rusted locking nuts loose. No need to break out the die grinder, and I can reuse these on my 72 K10 axle.
The bad: both wheel cylinders wiggled badly - a cheesy clip is all that holds these onto the G-body brake tabs - now I see why experts recommend finding a pair of the S-10 cylinder braces if you stick with the rear drum brakes.
The good: the cheeze whiz went into the trash with the rest of the original brake parts.
The bad: the Chinese bargain chrome diff cover is unrusted and dent-free but the bolt holes at the top and bottom are about a millimeter off - some filing was in order.
The good: sand takes off chrome as easily as iron oxide!
The bad: I need about $400 worth of 3.73 ring and pinion plus install kit.
The good: I picked up the GM brake abutments (with parking brake ring already there) before RockAuto ran out of them, and I'll have a nice clean axle housing to modify.
LS Customs' Rear Disc Brake Swap threads: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30606 and viewtopic.php?f=19&t=41067
