Waynos work truck.

[izzo]

That's sweet man!

[wayno]

I have been having to bleed the passenger side rear brake every other day, it gets air in it when it sets over a couple nights, so I changed the wheel brake cylinder, when I removed the drum I seen that the brakes were just about worn out on that side, so I started calling around for a set of shoes, after Baxters was a fail, I called Costless and while I was waiting, I recalled having a box from a long time ago that I kept for the part numbers, so while waiting for Costless to look up the numbers I found the box in the attic, I looked in the box and seen a brand new set of Nissan brake shoes, the guy on the phone said something and I gave him the Nissan part number and then I told him what I had found, he laughed and said there were no shoes available for my dually axle available, and he said go to Nissan.
I put the shoes on and adjusted everything, then I called Nissan and asked if they could get me a set of rear brake shoes for the 1986 Nissan 720 dually truck/mobile home, they said there was one set available in the country, I went and paid for them right after I hung up the phone, they cost me $120.something with tax, they said it would take two or three weeks.
I also changed out the wheels/tires on the work trailer, I used a set of 521 wheels , I had to bend the angle iron piece a little because the wheel offset was a little different, but all is good now, I even took a set of 620 SS hubcaps and drilled the middle out to clear the axle covers.


I lost the rubber cover on this side

I also called the "Ott's Friction Supply" number and another company picked up, they said they think they can re-line my brake shoes, but it will likely cost more than I paid Nissan for the set of shoes I just bought, but one can not be picky if one cannot get them anywhere else.
By the way, I have 2 brand new dually axle drums up in the attic also, they cost me about $500.00 for the 2 of them about 10 years ago, they also were the last in the country, there was only supposed to be one left, but another one suffaced and they asked if I wanted it, at that time I also bought a set of lug nuts for the dually axle, I think I paid so much for them I have decided subconsciously to forget what I paid, I went in and pulled the parts out to see if I could find a receipt for the lug nuts, and I found a set of Nissan brake wheel cylinders, I have so much stuff around here I have forgotten what I have

[Charlie69]

Wayno keep the old shoes and find a local company that relines brake shoes and have them relined.

If you can not find a company up there send the shoes to me and I will have AZ brake and clutch reline them and ship them back to you.

How you doing. Still shooting in the 80s?

[wayno]

Wayno keep the old shoes and find a local company that relines brake shoes and have them relined.

If you can not find a company up there send the shoes to me and I will have AZ brake and clutch reline them and ship them back to you.

How you doing. Still shooting in the 80s?

I think I have found a place to re-line them, but they are likely $40.00+ a shoe, that is over $160.00 a set, that's kinda steep, I will look around some more, I will ask Nissan to send another search out to see if any more sets show up.
I got pissed about 3 weeks ago during a game of golf, I turned a 4 foot birdie put into a bogie, I have not golfed since.

[izzo]

Use your breaks sparingly lol

[wayno]

Use your breaks sparingly lol

It's the work truck, that thing is loaded up half the time, but your welcome to drive around in front of me warning others I am coming down the road, just don't stop in front of me as I will be using the brakes sparingly.

[wayno]

When I picked up my new set of brake shoes from the Nissan dealer, I asked them if they could put out a search for another set, the guy looked at me and said that the search said this was the last set, I explained to him how the Portland Nissan(122nd) had a search started for dually brake drums when it showed none available at that time, and in the end two had showed up off the shelves from other dealers, he was not interested in doing that, and told me to look for them aftermarket.
It's sad when dealers are not interested in finding parts anymore for classic applications, all that says to me is that they have bought into this new disposable economy, one day if you don't have a car less than 10 years old, you will not qualify to have a licence, that's so..............

[510freak]

It is very hard to get anyone up here to look for stuff they have no desire or knowledge. Dealers on the island,I think are a waste of time
There is a good parts guy(datsun guy) in Vancouver bc. Sources alot for people there

[Laecaon]

Arent you supposed to contact Chico Nissan for Datsun parts? Try calling them... I forget the guys name though.

[510freak]

Chad

[wayno]

So, ever since I lost the transmission and replaced it I have had an issue with the clutch pedal, I have had to press it all the way to the floor to shift, any less and it grinds and such, so today it was dry and I had some time, so I got underneath the truck and checked how much play the rod had, it was so loose that I am surprised it had not fell out, so I made a longer rod, checked it, and the pedal was still was to far down, so I adjusted the pedal play also, now it is great.

While starting the truck and test driving it after making all the adjustments to the clutch system, the starter was sounding worse and worse, it has always sounded bad since the day I put it in, it is one of them aftermarket gear reduction drive starters I bought from someone, I cannot remember where I got that one, but it has always sounded like the gear and flywheel are not matching up, out of alignment or something, well it quit, I had to remove it and it would not test run and engage on the ground either, so I grabbed the used one I bought from izzo I believe, I ground tested it and it worked, so I installed it and it turns the engine over twice as fast without that terrible sound the other one was making, and the engine also starts faster, I hope this one lasts a while.

Here is the bad starter, it runs but will not engage anymore, still looks almost new.


At first I thought the transmission I bought from Ted wasn't that good, it was always grinding into gear, but I think it is fine, it was just the clutch not fully disengaging, I will know for sure after I drive it a few times.

[wayno]

The clutch is great now, and the rod on the transmission has a slight bit of play when the clutch pedal is not engaged.
I now have another issue, if I press hard on the brake pedal it stays stiff, but when I get it stopped and let off some, the pedal starts sinking towards the floor, it only sinks a little before I pump on it to get it back to the top, it bugs me, so I looked at all four corners this evening, none of the brake cylinders are leaking, but the fluid keeps getting low, so I got a flashlight out and looked at the firewall on the inside of the cab, and brake fluid is coming in the cab, the master is giving up.
I had planned on switching over to a dual master this winter, but want power brakes, so I have been thinking about it a lot lately, but this was to soon, not ready yet, so I am going to have to use a new brake master for just a little while, that sucks.

[wayno]

Yesterday the brakes failed while I was out doing my work thing, the pedal just kept sinking to the floor semi slowly meaning it only took a couple seconds, and the brakes didn't really work that way, so I used the trailer brakes and a couple times the trailer brakes and emergency brake also.
So now I will have to use a new Brake Master, but I have to gut it first because I have front disc brakes, and the residual valve inside it will make the front disc brakes seize if I don't gut the residual valve.
I really didn't want to do this, what I wanted to do was fabricate a dual master with a booster for power brakes, but I kept putting off and putting it off, now I have no choice, that is what happens when I procrastinate, now I will likely go another 3 to 5 years.

[wayno]

So I put another brake master in the truck this morning before heading out to do 3 jobs today, I didn't gut the residual valve like I said I was going to have to do, I figured I would do it out on the road if I had to, well I didn't have to touch it which kinda baffles me.
So I was thinking about this all day, and after I got home and logged on here it finally came to me, the master I used had been used before, but only for a couple months on the 1969 Datsun kingcab diesel truck, well I used it on a booster before I switched over to a dual brake master, I had already gutted this brake master.
By the way, the brakes are at the top again, and nice and solid, now the clutch is acting weird again, I will likely have to switch that one out also, I thru a new one in the truck in case it fails completely also, when it rains it pours.

[wayno]

Well my clutch has been getting worse and worse since I last posted about it, and I started getting a miss to, so this morning I pulled the spark plug wires one at a time to see which cylinder it was, and they all made a difference, so I pulled the valve cover and checked the valve clearance on everything, all were loose, meaning none were tight, I also pulled all the spark plugs, the front two were very rich, I closed the mixture screw a half turn on the front carb, I need new spark plugs, but they were not causing my issue.
So since the clutch had been getting worse, I pulled the starter to see if the flywheel was loose, it had started to chatter recently, especially in reverse, so I pulled the starter and checked it, the flywheel was tight, I checked the clutch cover bolt I could reach thru the starter hole, it seemed good to me, although I could make a tool to tighten the clutch cover bolts if I had to thru the starter hole, when I was removing the starter I noticed that the rod I had just recently made was loose again, I could pull it out from between the arm and slave easily, I had to use a pry bar to get it in there.
So I am scratching my head wondering what was going on, I had a miss/vibration starting out that was the worst in first, and second at about 2000 to 2500rpms, I checked the top bolts holding the transmission on next, they were tight, I started looking for the next bolts down and figured out that the one near the starter was gone, so I went to the other side and that one was missing also, my transmission was falling off the engine, I put two new bolts in and put everything back together, and all is good, it's smooth as it should be now, and the clutch is awesome now, no grinding to get it in reverse anymore, and it shifts smooth now instead of hesitating going into gear.
I wonder now if I forgot to tighten them bolts when I put the transmission in after breaking the last one, it has been hard to shift since then, I was thinking that it wasn't that good of a transmission Ted sold me, now I believe it was me that didn't get it all the bolts tight.

[wayno]

OK, so enough time has went by to come to the conclusion that I may have been removing brake wheel cylinders on my work truck for no reason, I used to have this issue, every couple days I had to bleed the rear brakes, normally I had to bleed one side, and every time I replaced that one, then the other side would do the same thing, I was getting air in them somehow.
Now this had went on for years, seemed like every time I changed out the rear end because of howling or clunking, I had to change out the rear wheel cylinders, no matter how long it sat, even if they were newer.
So a little while back my brake master failed, I had to use the trailer brakes mostly, and sometimes the e-brake to get home, so I put a master brake cylinder on the truck that I had used briefly on the red 521 kingcab before I changed over to a dual master, keep in mind that I was having to bleed the drivers side rear brakes every other day, I had changed out the passenger side a while back and it migrated to the drivers side, well that drivers side issue went away when I put the that brake master cylinder on, I have not had to bleed the rear brakes since.
I have concluded that the brake master was the issue, all them years and wheel cylinders were wasted, I was buying a couple of them a year, and my brakes are better now, they stay at the top, I was always adjusting the rear brakes to keep the pedal at the top since I was/am using a residual valve gutted single reservoir master cylinder on my front disc/rear drum brake work truck, and have been for at least 15 years.

[wayno]

So I have been cleaning up for a while around the house, putting stuff up for sale, I needed to move the 2 Datsun 320s, but had to move the work truck first, so I pulled out of the driveway, went to the end of the block and did a U-turn and threw the power steering belt, this belt can only be installed if the water pump fan pulley is removed, what a pain, I tried to do it without removing the radiator, but in the end it had to be removed, during this whole process I found other issues which had to be fixed, unfortunately one could not be fixed, an alternator mount bolt broke off in the block at some point, and there is no room to drill it without removing the engine, at least I don't think I can, so I put it all back together as it was, I will deal with it when I have the time, for now it still works.
It turned into a 5 hour job, and I was really greasy by the time I finished, but it has a new belt, the power steering mount is way better than it was(aligned better), and the alternator is still working fine.

[wayno]

I woke up this morning and it was dry, so I moved the work truck in the driveway and tore the alternator bracket out, grabbed a stock alternator bracket(3 bolt) and looked both them over, I also remembered that my first bracket was out of align a little more than I liked, so I made another mount bracket from scratch.
I did a much better job this time, the alternator is aligned perfect this time without having to use thick washers, it sits a little lower so I was able to use a shorter belt and get the alternator even farther away from the idler arm.
And as everyone knows how it is, after I removed everything, it started raining.
Here is the only photo I have, I was going to take photos, but it started raining and I forgot about everything except making the bracket.

I made a new one because the one I had was only a 2 bolt bracket, after the one bolt broke off in the block it was only held on with one bolt, I didn't like that, so I made another one that uses the lower bolt mount I was not using like the stock bracket did, so now I am back to 2 bolts holding it on, and if I ever pull the engine, I will try to get that broken bolt out of the hole and then my bracket will have 3 bolts holding it on, as I drilled all 3 holes in the new bracket.
It seemed so simple/easy to make this bracket this time, the last one took way longer to make, I guess I better understood what I needed this time, this is my 3rd try.

[wayno]

Yesterday I was heading home and I had an issue, I basically ran out of gas with gas in the tank, but I ran it really low the day before, so I got a little worried that the pickup tube had clogged with rust flakes or something, someone had helped me push the truck/trailer to the Chucks exit off Mill Plain and then I used the starter to get it up the ramp, by the time I had the whole thing rolling down hill the battery was just about gone, I had it running for a few seconds then it died again, then the battery would not turn it over any more, so I walked home(within a mile), thing is that I had just stopped at the bank, started it up and pulled out to the signal, then it quit when the light turned green and I had made my left turn.
I got a battery and drove back to the truck, I jumped the battery after I had connected an electric fuel pump, I got it started finally and then drove it home, it quit again right in front of my house in the middle of the road, I had to coax it to the side.
I got on my bike and rode back to get my other truck, once home I blew air back thru the line till I could hear it bubbling, I had removed the cap and tested it, it was good(vented cap), I used the electric fuel pump to get the fuel to the stock fuel pump, took it out and connected it back up to the stock fuel pump and it worked fine.
So I was in a hurry this morning, but I checked the oil anyway, and it needed some, so I opened a fresh gallon and added oil, then I headed out, I stopped at Fred Meyers to pick up 3 gallons of bleach and went to my job, on my way to the job I noticed a cloud of smoke behind my truck and wondered who the hell was making that cloud, well I looked behind me again a little while later and I decided that it was me, what a freaking cloud it was(this was a ticket cloud), I noticed that if I let off, or if I floored it the smoke went away, but if I was just trying to go the speed limit it smoked terribly, I mean it was bad, so I finished the job and headed home, I was fine till I started onto the freeway, then it started smoking again, but I told a guy that I would stop by his place and give him a bid, so I basically drove there either floored or coasting, so I pulled up in front of his house and shut it down, the front of my truck was pointed up hill, I talked to him a while and told him his roof was fine and I left for home, I got a 100 yards before I ran out of gas again, I had the electric fuel pump with me so I jury rigged it in and drove home.
I put the electric fuel pump back by the tank permanently, removed that piece of shit stock fuel pump that every time I shut the engine off when it was hot outside it would drain all the fuel back into the tank and then it would not suck it back up before the fuel in the bowls(dual SUs) ran out and the engine died, have any of you heard of such a thing, when it's hot out the fuel drains back to the tank, but when it is cold out it does not drain back to the tank, what a pain in the arse.
So I capped the stock fuel pump hole and started it up and it seems to work fine right now, I took it for a drive and didn't have an issue.
I turned to the smoke issue, it never smoked before today, I started to worry that I broke some rings from the engine going lean but I kept it barely running for so long, I looked at the dip stick and seen it was just a little over full, so I removed half a quart, and it didn't smoke at all on the test drive, half a quart to much caused that much smoke???
I have been fighting this running out of gas issue for years, but I have always been able to keep it running long enough to suck the fuel back up to the tank, I always worry on hot days, I always thought it was vapor locking, but it was likely that stock fuel pump not holding a prime when I shut it off or let it idle to long when hot outside, when it is 90 out it would do it idling at an intersection, or maybe that is another issue.
Now I need to carry another fuel pump in case this one dies, I have had it for over 20 years, I bought it in Alburn when my roadster fuel pump died on my way home from Lake Chelan on a Sunday night, it was puking gas out the vent hole, I never throw anything away if it works.

[wayno]

So my trailer has Datsun 521 rims on it, and they are tucked in really tight, so I bought some inch and an eighth spacers at the Portland swap meet, I installed them today, I had some studded tires that are in really good shape, basically brand new, so I decided to remove the studs and use them on the trailer.
I started to remove the studs.

Poke the pointed screwdriver in beside each stud till I hit the lip on the bottom, then move point to the side and push in another eighth inch.

Pry the stud out.

And it is out.

The tire without any studs.

And the pile of studs I removed.

These tires should last a while, I will need to check the spacers for a while to make sure they don't work loose.
I had to cut the lugnut studs off a half inch when I installed the spacers, as they were hitting the rim/sticking out above the spacers and not letting the rims settle against the spacers, I don't take photos of everything, when something unexpected happens, I think about fixing the issue, not taking photos.