Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Some Forest
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:27 pm
Yes, this I needed. This is the same spot I did Chloe's rear wheel bearings back in 2013. Found a brutal path that clonked the side of the car pretty good as it lurched into a tire rut, so I decided that I best stay here a while. We're on Day Three.
It is a beautiful shady spot along a crest under the trees, and other than pine needles stabbing in me in the back and sticking to my towel something fierce every time I have to move it, this place has advantages. Low bug count. Beautiful stars. Only a little freeway racket down the hill. A good blast of 2:00PM sunshine followed by a dappled afternoon and another warm-me-up at about 7:00PM. Tonight, we have a crescent moon.
A brake adjustment turned into a Brake Event. See, I have been remiss in my maintenance over the past 17,000 miles, and the adjusters were frozen solid, frozen solid! what is up with that? I used grease and anti-seize, yes, I did. The adjuster plugs were and are all installed. I guess the insane amount of rain in West Virginia and Virginia and Maryland and more in Illinois and Minnesota and South Dakota and that little deal in the Tetons and Yellowstone, all that rain found its way to adjusters that had not seen any attention since November 19th 2015
(remember that overspray? I sure do):
When I disassembled the brakes to free the adjusters, I found that the shoes were wearing pretty thin at the top. I do not know why, wait yes I do . . . if you don't bother to adjust the shoes in 17,000 miles, your lower ends are further away from the drums. I had gotten used to the lower pedal, blamed it on booster travel or something.
Problem discovered with the new brake shoes (TCM from Wolfsburg West). The holes for the powerful cross spring are drilled incorrectly on the new shoes. They bind the little loop ends against the steel arcs where the linings are bonded on. Plus the holes are too low, so they cause the spring coils to collide with the emergency brake cross bar. Plus, the holes for the lower springs are too small, you can barely get the spring ends to enter from the inside like you are supposed to. Plus, the new lining thickness manages to be quite a bit less than my now 59,100 original shoes, so the ebrake cables, rather than needing to be backed off, required running the adjustment nuts almost to the ends of the adjustment range, and what do we do when these shoes start wearing??
Well it was a pretty day, any way.
Painted the wiper on the AFM so I can record my adjustments to the 1/4 tooth:
Will keep you all apprised of future adjustments. Luftvagon! What is your WOT/cruise afr and what head temps?
Tomorrow, I must reassemble the heater valves and pipes that are currently hanging in trees, heave the heater cables that I had to cut (#&^!!@!) to free the valves, and install new I-hope-they-are-the-correct-length heater cables.
Can't see the stars with this computer screen, g'night.
Colin
It is a beautiful shady spot along a crest under the trees, and other than pine needles stabbing in me in the back and sticking to my towel something fierce every time I have to move it, this place has advantages. Low bug count. Beautiful stars. Only a little freeway racket down the hill. A good blast of 2:00PM sunshine followed by a dappled afternoon and another warm-me-up at about 7:00PM. Tonight, we have a crescent moon.
A brake adjustment turned into a Brake Event. See, I have been remiss in my maintenance over the past 17,000 miles, and the adjusters were frozen solid, frozen solid! what is up with that? I used grease and anti-seize, yes, I did. The adjuster plugs were and are all installed. I guess the insane amount of rain in West Virginia and Virginia and Maryland and more in Illinois and Minnesota and South Dakota and that little deal in the Tetons and Yellowstone, all that rain found its way to adjusters that had not seen any attention since November 19th 2015
(remember that overspray? I sure do):
When I disassembled the brakes to free the adjusters, I found that the shoes were wearing pretty thin at the top. I do not know why, wait yes I do . . . if you don't bother to adjust the shoes in 17,000 miles, your lower ends are further away from the drums. I had gotten used to the lower pedal, blamed it on booster travel or something.
Problem discovered with the new brake shoes (TCM from Wolfsburg West). The holes for the powerful cross spring are drilled incorrectly on the new shoes. They bind the little loop ends against the steel arcs where the linings are bonded on. Plus the holes are too low, so they cause the spring coils to collide with the emergency brake cross bar. Plus, the holes for the lower springs are too small, you can barely get the spring ends to enter from the inside like you are supposed to. Plus, the new lining thickness manages to be quite a bit less than my now 59,100 original shoes, so the ebrake cables, rather than needing to be backed off, required running the adjustment nuts almost to the ends of the adjustment range, and what do we do when these shoes start wearing??
Well it was a pretty day, any way.
Painted the wiper on the AFM so I can record my adjustments to the 1/4 tooth:
Will keep you all apprised of future adjustments. Luftvagon! What is your WOT/cruise afr and what head temps?
Tomorrow, I must reassemble the heater valves and pipes that are currently hanging in trees, heave the heater cables that I had to cut (#&^!!@!) to free the valves, and install new I-hope-they-are-the-correct-length heater cables.
Can't see the stars with this computer screen, g'night.
Colin