How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Lynn Eades]

Jordan, I'd just clean it up those balls with a bit of emery tape.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi jordan

At least your rear drum was nice and dry with no leaks....

On the front axle..... did you get new NOS felts from LWD.... or are you making your own........ which ever you use you might want to consider oiling them very well by soaking...... I used the thick chain oil....... warm up the oil in a cake pan....... don't let Vicky catch you...... the oil will get thinner....... and do this outside...... thin out the oil with some acetone..... squish the felt until really soaked ......cover and let it turn thick again..... wipe excess and install.

The surface rust on the ball ..also called the eggcup in mixed company.... can be buffed out with ajax powder and a wet 3M pad.

I also found that the syringe needle that fits on your grease gun....they sell them at Tractor supply....will fit nicely inside the roller bearings and you can really pack them in easier and use less wasted grease.

Your hands will be soft as silk when that job is done.

[Jordan Baker]

Front steering knuckles have all been cleaned up and I’ve begun painting them.

[Jordan Baker]

Rear brake drums/hubs and the rear brake backing plates came back from the sandblasters. I’m always impressed with the quality that is done by the guy I use.

I also got a nice care package from LWD Parts.

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Rear brake drums/hubs and the rear brake backing plates came back from the sandblasters. I’m always impressed with the quality that is done by the guy I use.

I also got a nice care package from LWD Parts.

Hi Jordan

The picture at the bottom of the care package , showing the Felt Ball Seals, to add to the CMP knowledge base could you take a photo of the end and take some measurement along with the length measurements?

Enjoying watching your progess.

Cheers Phil

[Grant Bowker]

From the felts that Bob Carriere bought years ago from Dirk, there is a strip of rubber with felt laminated to each side. It is quite possible that plain felt strips could work but I have no experience with this. I suggest caution when Bob says to thin the oil you soak the felt in before installation with acetone - I don't know but can imagine the acetone attacking the rubber layer.
If anyone plans to make their own seals of pure felt, keep in mind that there are multiple grades of industrial felt (variable hardness and absorbency) some better than others for holding lubricant or resisting rubbing.... I also suggest using a factory (or cut to the same standard) edge against the ball and any rougher cut edge in the groove of the housing. Smoothest edge against the ball for a better seal. Alternately, if you can get the exact thickness needed and cut strips off a sheet, put the thickness perpendicular to the ball and neither cut face acting to seal on the ball. These are suggestions based on thought, not experience.

[Jordan Baker]

I’ll get some measurements of the NOS seals tomorrow. I keep forgetting.

Anyway I went back and touched up all the paint on the springs and the front and rear axles. Everything had been sandblasted a few years ago when I started in on the truck. However I noticed while making up the brake lines that I had missed a lot of spots with my sprayer. I went back with a wire brush and cleaned off all the loose stuff then gave it a good coating of fresh POR15. Once dry I finished off with a coating of their tiecoat primer. Now I just need to finish off with the final colour coat.

I also started taking apart the parking brake linkages. However I’ll have to replace the threaded section of the one as it had the threads chewed up screwing the one end off. My question with these rods is, should they be straight? I’m assuming the bends in them are just from life.

Lastly my truck had what I believe to be one original parking brake cable. From what I can tell it matches other ones as seen on this site. If it’s deemed to be original I’ll start modifying the ones I bought from MAC’s. They are similar but different.