Ok, here goes LOL.

Put the two new tires and wheels on the back end. (looks good) While I was working in the back I pulled one of the drums. Nice project...

The drivers side drum/wheel/tire rotated extremely hard, so I'm hopeful it's just the brake dragging on that side. The Passenger side rotated freely, so that is the one I pulled off. (didn't want to take a chance of having the shoes binding up on the drum)

Now the measurements for the drum appear to be 12 1/8" with a shoe width of 2". Sound about right? The self adjust was frozen...Shoes still have about 60% remaining, however we need to replace the wheel cylinders and parking brake cables anyway.... In for a penny, in for a pound.

I did note the floating axle came out fine on the one side, however it appears that someone did use a chisel on the nuts retaining the bearings into the hub. The nuts where loose from the start, so I bent the retaining tabs back and unscrewed both nuts by hand. (it went: bearing:Nut:Retaining washer:Nut)

Due to the local parts house telling me "Yes, we have the socket for the axel nuts" not having them in stock? I had to do a quick grease packing on the outer bearing, and quickly reassembled it. Just had to wedge/turn the inner/outer nut to preload it slightly and tightened the tabs again.

Now we took the nuts to tractor supply and nothing there seemed to fit. This nut is oddball with the flats being not in a hex shape..(I think it's a Spicer/Dana 60??) So I did the best I could to just button it up for the time being.

Any ideas on that huge nut for the rear axle hub? It's got (according to the shop manual) a beefy setup to preload/seat/final torque on the rear hub bearings. Not something we can do normally without having the right tool for the job.

Just hopeful we do not have a major issue with the left rear brake/hub. It did not want to spin or turn even under the prybar approach. Turns ok once it's on the ground and rolling. However this does explain why all the power seems to be only going to the RR wheel. If the LR brake or something is causing that axle/brake to hang up? **shurg**

Kinda venting on this one a bit. We are planing on nuking out everything with the rear brakes. Cables, hardware, shoes...everything. The cost of the parts alone is much higher then I expected.

S-

 

Your parts store should be able to order you one, if not they don't know what they're doing. These sockets are not all that expensive either.

 

They don't know what they are doing. At least the lemming I delt with today didn't have a clue. I showed him the huge nuts...he looked at them and said "What the heck are they for?".

So my better half actually use paper and pen and sketched the outline of the nuts. I'll be paying Napa in Syracuse a visit in the morning it seems. They have the full warehouse built into their store. (it's one of the regional hubs). Just need some info as what exactly to ask for?

Came close with a huge socket from Tractor Supply. It would have actually fit, if not for the oddball nature of the nut--and the socket was a 6 pt.

S-

 

No you don't need some big socket from a tractor store, in fact napa should have one.
Do a search on this site, I bet you find a pic.

 

Oh, and find out what to torque them down to, I don't remember.

 

The preload procedure was a bit higher then I would expect. Something like 50-70 ft lbs or some such thing. (the shop manual is in the truck...so I'm probably far off the mark) It stated the usual procedure on spinning the hub...tighten to XX ft lbs..back off a slight amount (which I forget now)...Install the lockring, and then the outer nut...tighten the outer nut to spec...and lock down the tabs on at least two sides of the nut to hold it.

I'll be spending time at napa in the morning first thing. I told my better half just for peace of mind I'd probably scoot over and pull the drivers side off and see what exactly is hanging up the works. I'm crossing my fingers it's just the brake shoes dragging, and not something internal to the axle itself.

S-