[RHClarke]

It was beautiful on Saturday. The sun was shining and it was only about -14oC with very little wind. What better time to fix a leaky brake line? After winching the HUP out of its box and jacking up the front end, off came the wheel and tire.

Removing the hub was interesting. There was about a 1/16th of inch play with the bearings, but the two axle lock nuts were firmly held in place by the tab ring. I guess that driving the truck displaces the grease and settles things in. A good reason for all CMP truck owners to check their wheel bearings yearly.

The hub came off with no trouble. All of the trouble occurred on the backing plate. The lines had leaked on the inside and outside of the backing plate. Fortunately, there was no brake fluid on the shoes. After removing the banjo bolt the wheel cylinder was removed. The banjo bolt has its two copper squash washers in place but one washer had a build up on it - perhaps the cause of the leak or a symptom thereof. The wheel cylinder was taken apart and inspected. There was some rust staining on the inside, but all of the parts were in very good shape eliminating it as the cause for the leak.

Our attention turned back to the copper washers and the banjo bolt. A combination of dirt intrusion or loose bolt was determined to be the cause of the leak. After lunch, the backing plate was cleaned up and all of the parts put back together.

The test drive was fun - up to a point. I drove the HUP up to Bob's driveway and decided to turn around by crossing the lawn to the other driveway. I forgot to put the truck into four wheel drive and got stuck. Four wheel drive didn't solve anything as the wheels that turned sat on nice glare ice. It is always interesting to do the "walk of shame" back to the barn to ask for a tow. Thanks to Bob's towing and recovery services, the HUP was put back on the road. After parking it in the sea can, it was back to the barn for a good chat with Bob and Grant on current CMP events. We do live in interesting times...

Photos

1 - The damage to paint inflicted by brake fluid.
2 - HUP recovery operations.
3 - Bob turns out to be "mouse-friendly" - note the mouse ramp to assist the fat little b*stards out of the feed pail.