peteandvanessa

I'll have to get some pics, but the other end of the cable fits perfectly in the factory support bracket that's mounted on the flywheel inspection cover. All you have to do at that end is to cut of the factory adjuster from the old hand brake cable, leaving about 4 inches, then use a cable clamp to fasten the new cable to the original factory adjuster. Sweet solution (and a bit of luck I guess) ?

Found an awesome solution to the emergency brake for my 53 1/2 ton emergency brake cable ( you can't buy a new one anywhere). Go to Napa Auto parts and buy a front handbrake cable for a 2005 Ford F150 (about $50). At the barrel crimp end, trim the barrel down a little with a Dremel. Then you can slot it into the hole on the handbrake shaft, you will also notice that the outer sleeve will fit into the retaining area of the handbrake in the engine compartment perfectly. Then on either side of the retaining area, take you Dremel and cut a shallow slot. That will allow you to use the original retaining clip. On the other end of the handbrake cable, just buy some u shaped cable clamps (I haven't finished that part yet but it's easy). And voila a brand new heavy duty emergency handbrake cable....sweet ?

Just going to beat a few of the dents out with a big hammer, pull the front end out with some chains and a come along, the scotch brite the metal work and clear coat it. The only area I'll do a full cleanup is the cab area, most likely I'll make my own seat covers, I'll have to break out my sewing machine (yes, I really do own a sewing machine)

The new emergency brake band turned up in the mail. Now I can have a working handbrake

Been busy today with "Tug". Clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, transmission are all in. Basic wiring done, radiator plumbed in. He starts from the foot starter and ignition switch is working as are the oil and temp gauges. Sweet. Still need to tidy up the top hose (it's too long, but it's all the local store had).

Cleaned and painted the emergency brake brackets (still need to clean up the transmission). The brake band has seen better days, so I have a replacement on order ?

It does seem strange and with the DMV you have to tread carefully I guess. What one person at the DMV says, might be contradicted by another DMV employee. I guess you just have to jump through the legal hoops with them.

Just to document what folks will need to do in California, to get a title when the title is lost/missing and there's no old registration or record in the DMV system and all you have is a Bill of sale: The documents you will need are: 1. Bill Of Sale from the seller (REG 135) 2. Statement Of Facts (REG 256) 3. Vin/Serial Number Verification (REG 31) 4. Title Application (REG 343) 5. Non Planned Operation (REG 102) 6. Weight Certificate from a Certified Public Weighmaster

I filed the paperwork at the DMV this morning. All I need now it to get a weight certificate and they will issue me a new title - Yay!!!

Just got the VIN officially verified on "Tug the Truck" (really easy process using an Authorized Third Party), now I have to go to the CA DMV tomorrow to present the paperwork to apply for a title. It also looks like I will have to take the truck to a weigh station to confirm the weight. Almost there with the official paperwork.

That's really good to know, do you have a link to it?

Installed the flywheel, did some very basic wiring and fired up the replacement motor. Open headers (still have to sort that out), she's running sweet, need to make some adjustments once the radiator and cooling system is installed, but the motor started up pretty easily. Oil pressure is about 40 lbs at idle and is about 60-70 lbs when running at about 2500-3000 rpm, so pretty healthy. Many, many thanks to 59bisquik, this motor seems pretty damn solid.... Onto to installing the clutch and drive train and connecting everything back up.

That's really good to know, do you have a link to it?

I think I'll like it, most of my driving will be short stop and start runs, and it might help with the heat we get here in the summer.

Finished up on installing new hard and soft brakelines, brake pistons and new shoes. Time to move onto the next job, installed the motor today, now with some minor basic wiring I can see if I can get the engine to run next weekend....

The top tow board will need some trimming, the bottom board seems to be cut out in the middle for trucks with the floor shifter, should be easy to trim it to fit the center inspection cover.

My upper and middle toe boards arrived today. They are pretty good quality, a little thinner than the originals (these are 1.3mm thick mild steel). A quick comparison to the old toe boards and they are pretty accurate. They come as bare steel, so will need painting for sure, but much better than my rusty worn out toe boards.

I have these reproduction toe boards that i purchased from ebay earlier this week.I'll let you know what the quality and fitment is like. It's got to be better that my totally rusted out toe boards (i hope) https://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-53-Dodge-Pickup-B-Series-Complete-Front-Toe-Board-Section-NEW/173745834394?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

One step forward, two steps back. I found out why my brake lines weren't holding pressure. I pressurized my whole braking system to 15 psi, it wouldn't hold the pressure, it leaked down in a minute. So I connected it to my compressor and pressurized the whole system again, and guess what, it was leaking (audible hiss) coming from the NEW front drivers side piston. Took it apart, cleaned it, put it back on and it still leaks from one side of the piston. Damn it, ordered another one from a different vendor. The one that leaks came from rockauto, so won't order from them again. While I was there, I checked all the other brake connections, they all seem leak free when checked with soapy water from a sprayer bottle.

That's good to know. When I was getting ready to bleed the brakes, I noticed that the pressure bleeder wasn't holding pressure, What's good about the pressure bleeder, you can pressurize it and if it doesn't hold pressure you KNOW you have a leak somewhere in the brake system, so there was no point in putting in brake fluid until the leaks are found and fixed. It also allows you to connect an airline from a compressor to pressurize the system and spray soapy water on all the connections to find the leaks. Saves wasting brake fluid ?

I did notice that, and spent a good while making sure that the drum isn't contacting the inner brakeline and that there's some clearance so it doesn't rub. I'm still running a single circuit. Right now, I have some missing parts from the emergency brake, that's something I still need to address before driving it.

It's pretty damn close now, the tool I managed to align the shoes very close to the drum and also adjusted the distance from the backing plate.I can now fine tune it once I have bled the brakes.