Took the driver's side front brake apart today to see what the problem is with the dragging. But, before getting into that, Yaga asked about what I do on the ears of the outside pads. The first picture is of that pad installed loosely on the caliper. The red arrows point to the ears of the pad, and the green arrows indicate the direction I bend them in order to get a fairly tight fit of the ears onto the caliper to ensure they don't rattle. Having said that, if all the calipers for these trucks hold the pads as tightly to the disc as mine do there won't be any rattle regardless of how loose the ears fit the calipers.

As for what I did to it to reduce the drag, I checked everything to see if there was anything that could be binding. Nothing. Everything was fine. I put the caliper back in w/o the pads and installed the keeper and its spring. At that point I couldn't move the caliper on the slides even though they were well lubed. It seemed to me that the spring was creating so much upward pressure on the caliper that it would not slide. Since I have a spare spring I took some of the arc out of the spring and put the caliper in using that spring on the keeper. Voila! I could move the caliper. It wasn't loose but it wasn't so tight that it wouldn't move. I put everything back together with plenty of lube and went for a spin.

But, the "spin" was really to test the drive shaft. And, it works! I don't believe there is any vibration at 65 under power, but there is a slight vibration with trailing throttle in certain conditions. It happens rarely and you have to have the throttle just right for it to do it. It won't do it coasting nor even maintaining speed, but only when you are slowing down very slightly. I can live with that.

And, while I had it out I took my fancy radiator cap, shown in the 2nd picture, into O'Reilly's to test it. As it turns out, it held no pressure whatsoever. Neither the guy there nor I thought it could be that bad so we tried it several ways, and all failed. So then we tried a new 13 lb radiator cap and it held to the 13 to 14 lb range on the scale. About that time a guy in line behind me said "Is that one of the Mr. Gasket radiator caps with a thermometer in it?" "Yep!" "I have 3 or 4 of them laying on my shop floor. None of them will hold pressure." So, apparently it is a known problem. I'm now running a new Motorad cap and am pretty sure I know why the system has been overfilling the overflow tank. Problem solved. And the third picture shows what I think the problem is with the Mr. Gasket cap - the little valve on the bottom doesn't close and sits at an angle.

Then I brought the truck home and put it on the lift to test the LF brake. It is better, but not good as it still has more drag than the RF brake. However, I can now tell that there is more drag at certain points in the rotation, the rotor is warped just a bit. And, I can tell that the RF is warped a bit as well. So, if I have the time before the trip I'll put the rotors and take them in to be turned.

In any event, it was a good day. Two problems solved and one made better. I'm happy.

 

Those DOHC Honda motors are an absolute nightmare to do timing belts on. I wouldn't try it without a good complete set of tools handy as well as a comfortable place to do it in.

 

This is why U-haul rents box trailers.

 

Part of the reason I told him I can't do the job in his unheated 2-car garage w/o tools. I'd have to take everything I need 'cause he doesn't have it.

Yes, but that costs more by quite a bit, either by pulling it with our Murano or with the truck. I'd rather not pull it w/the Murano as I don't want to put the stress on it. Besides, what a good excuse to get things done on the truck that I want to do?

Anyway, I posted the results of today's work and the post went awry as I posted just as Chris moved the 94 guy's stray posts to the proper forum. Unfortunately my post got caught up in that, but I'm sure it'll return here soon. And, thanks to Chris for taking it on himself to move the guys posts.

 

See Post #1756 above.

Thanks for the help, Morris!

 

Thanks to both Morris and Chris.

 

Finally figured out how to "print" the Evernote to-do list. (If you don't have Evernote you are missing a bet.) Here's where I am on getting the truck ready for The Trip. If you think of something I should check please let me know. But, there will be a flurry of things right before leaving that will include checking tire pressures, cleaning the windows, etc.

 

Worst part about that timing belt is getting the bolt that holds the crank pulley on , it's on wicked tight !
Other then that is a easy job , but I do mobile repair for a living so being in a cold garage or outside isn't uncommon for me .

 

so you move to ok try the tallameana drive if you like hills there is a junk yard at summet south of muskogee with quit a few early 8os pickups in it

 

Gary, if you ever need it, I have the special "inverted" socket for Honda crank pulleys.

 

This is usually very true. The ol breaker bar and using the starter is the technique I have seen. James has a $500 impact gun and it wont touch the crank bolt.

 

Ok guys, thanks for all the tips and offers on a Honda. I hope I don't have to use them as I really don't want to do that particular job in that environment, and from the noises my son is making it looks like I won't.

Knivemaker - I have driven the Talimena Drive a couple of times, and the last was just a couple of years ago. I do like the hills. And, I'll keep that "shopping center", which is what my wife calls salvages, in mind. Thanks.

 

Honda DOHC engines and timing belts are a royal pain.
I've never quite understood why anyone would design an engine with that close tolerances, then use a rubber belt to drive the cam(s).........

 

Noise , belt drive is very quiet . Timing belts have come a long way since the old Pontiac OHC 6s and vega 4s
Most belts will exceed the manufactures recommended service interval .
They are a pain and most consumers don't like the added expense of a timing belt service . Chain drives wear out too , it's a double edge sword .

 

Thank you for the picture, Gary. That's what I thought you did, but I wanted to make sure because most of the pads that I've installed on our trucks fit rather well and don't need this trick - not that it hurts anything, that's for sure. Anything to keep our brake assemblies from rattling is a good thing!

So what did you do to fix your driveshaft again? Did you try balancing with hose clamps? I seemed to have missed what your fix was (feel free to point me to a post number if I missed it).

That's rather disappointing regarding your rad cap. I hope Mr. Gasket can get that fixed because I think that would be a cool gadget to have under the hood. I trust you plan on contacting their customer service department to let them know about your experience and what you've heard from others as well.