LP2a SAR restoration

[Phillip]

Brake drums and matching shoes are back from the brake man.

The grease seals in the hubs were obviously what ever could be found locally and a galvanised steel shim of around 1mm in thickness was used to hold them in

New grease seals have arrived courtesy of Macs Auto in the US of A (same part number as per the manual) and new snap rings from the local bearing shop.

I cannot find the little steel cap that goes over the top adjuster. It’s probably not that important but would be nice to find.

When I took the springs off, they were not coloured and were all over the place. Some careful checking to the manual and some references has hopefully enabled me to work which spring is the right colour and therefore where it goes.

The first hub is back on and the shoes centred, the second hub can go on until the cap turns up and then I can complete the brake rods.

The engine is still in the machine shop - it needs a new cylinder liner, the heads and block faced and four broken studs extracted. 4 months down the track the studs are out, hopefully another 4 months and the rest may be done

[Phillip]

With the new brake pads fitted last week, Over the weekend I fitted the matched drums and centralised the pads in the drums (well I think I have, there seems to be very little movement in the cam - following the manual, the process seems to be ‘set by feel’ with no way of checking, no wonder the drivers manual tells the drivers not to touch it!)

I made up new brake rods out of some 7/16” 1030 steel rod (courtesy of a friend in Geraldton who can spot 7/16 amongst a whole pile of 12mm stock )

The local brake & clutch shop found me some rubber boots that are a perfect match for length and diameters - both big and small.

Test fitting everything works, even the park brake! Not sure about the return springs, these are a little lighter than original so I may need to find a closer, heavier spring.

Just now have to paint and reinstall.

[Dale Jordan]

Excellent work Phillip . I've been looking for those boots , I'll use that number and try and get some over here thanks for posting . Dale

[Phillip]

I have to admit, this has been my least favourite job, pulling all the suspension apart, removing all the rust, cleaning and painting has been time consuming. But then you get it all back together and it’s a big step closer.

I learned a trick today, when compressing the spring, if the rod moves left or right of the other end of the of the suspension arm, it is very difficult to get get the other springs and the ball end in. The trick was to place a washer under one edge of the spring compression tool to get it to pull the rod straight. Also, this job is definitely a lot easier to do with the suspension on the carrier.

Now onto the front two units, hopefully in time for the arrival of the re-rubbered wheels.

[Phillip]

I am nearly at the end of the suspension. The last bogie is all stripped and the springs, rods, balls, cups, washers etc have been cleaned of rust and painted, ready for assembly.

The idler wheel bearings were in excellent condition so the wheels, once cleaned of solidified grease mixed with dirt (making something akin to concrete), only needed modern seals to replace the old perished cork seals.

I am still waiting on the engine machining to be completed and the re-rubbered wheels to arrive.

Here is the spring and rods prior to cleaning and painting and the other front bogie installed.

[Phillip]

I’ve sure that subconsciously I’ve been putting this off but tonight I finally assembled the last bogie.

Without this clever little spring compression tool, I do not know how you rebuild spring packs as there is a tremendous amount of pressure required to compress that spring.

At the end of these I almost feel like I know what I’m doing

[Lynn Eades]

The brake boot is available under a ford part number via Macs auto but is a common size from back in the day.
If someone needs a wire dia. and length etc. for the return springs, I can check it out.