Hello all. I am new to this truck, as it is to me. I recently scored a 1974 f100 Explorer 2wd with a 360 and a c-6...first truck i've owned that was older than me!
when I bought it everything was fine with it save a few blown fuses and the parking brake pedal would not push down. with a little lubrication and a lot of foot power I finally engaged the parking brake and was able to release it. Sweet! The not so sweet part is that since then I hear a thumping noise coming from under the truck that keeps pace with the wheel revolutions. I took it and had the tires checked...and was told that all was well. Had the driveshaft looked at ....was told that all was well, so I changed the front brake pads just for kicks but the sound is still there. Could the parking brake mechanism be hung up in a rear drum? I 've fiddled with the cables and they seem to loosen correctly under the vehicle.
on a side note,while poking around under the truck, I found a rubber tube that had broken from a connection on the rear drivers side axle shaft. I reclamped it on but found that the tube end led to nowhere. what is this? there was another tube directly across from this one that connected to a metal tube.
I apologize for any ambiguities or omissions on my part, but I am learning how to work on these as I go along.

 

When engaging the parking brake on a truck that may not have been engaged for 5-10-15 years it's not uncommon for it to stick. You can find out if this is so by blocking the front wheels, putting the truck in nutral and jacking up one rear wheel at a time to see how hard it turns. The rubber tube that is not connected to anything is a vent. The other rubber tube is the brake line carrying brake fluid from the master cylinder to the wheel cylinders. No need to apologize for asking questions here, thats how you learn.

 

While you have it on a jack stand, go ahead and pop off the tire and remove the drum. You will likely find that the connection to the parking break leaver is broken; or even the leaver itself. This damage would allow one or both to hit the drum as it rotates.

Here are some pics
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...rInfoPages.htm

 

THanks for the replies.It is pretty rainy here today, so hopefully tomorrow I can go out and jack up the rear and get to work.
I'll post any info.Thanks again.

 

Hey everyone. So I jacked up the truck and pulled the tires and drums....they seemed okay but for one small leak in the passenger side cylinder, so I overhauled that. But I found a tremendous amount of play in the driver side rear axle, so I pulled it and the bearings just fell out all over the place.
I lack the equipment to remove and press on the new bearings, so I took it to a shop and had them do it.Turned out the axle was from a 1980 model and I'd bought the wrong bearings anyway...but problem solved!
Thanks again for the advice, I love this site.
matthew

 

Glad to hear your on the road again.

 

Thanks fastfarmer... I'm glad to be back on the road! I sure like your truck, by the way. I hope to get a few pictures in my gallery soon...actually it is only laziness keeping me from uploading pictures.
Peace.