Went to order rear brake cylinders from U.S and found that the supplier ran out of stock hours before I tried to place the order. A substitute now found and on their way. Should be here in 1-2 weeks.
Brake backing plates have been blasted and painted. This one was assembled with the old cylinder, as a test only. All new hardware bought. Some of the original bolts & nuts were a bit chewed by rust. The 7/16 castle nuts which hold the brake backing plate to the rear axle were a shock as far as price goes. Originally quoted at more that $3.00 EACH!! Stated to be expensive due to their 'rarity'. Finally bought 24 of them at less than $1 each. Still outragously dear.
All bearings & grease/oil seals now removed from diff housing. I followed instructions of fellow MLU'er to run a bead of arc weld around inside of bearing cup. Once this was done, the cup was VERY easy to remove. Axle seals popped out with pushing for hub end with tube steel. Rear axle housing will go to sandblasting this week, once I make MDF plates to cover where they join together. I want to keep them seperate for the blasting, mainly because I can't lift the thing if I put the halves back together.
800kms and 14hrs spent Saturday in travel to retrieve parts from two locations. Pity they were so far apart, and a long way from my place, but all in a good cause.
Booty includes: Brake vacuum booster, 1x shock absorber, a number of brackets & rods etc, fuel pump, steering wheel, spark plug wire tubes (left & right) and another 20in wheel. Was very lucky to be given workable air compressor that attaches to gearbox.
Also returned home with a Sidevalve V8 and gearbox, for rebuilding, both of which were still attached to about 5ft of front chassis. Moving them around will be much easier once I put wheels under it.