I admire you focus on details, but I have to express my concerns about putting 50+ year old leather seals in your wheel cylinders. 50 year old leather that has not been soaking in some kind of oil will be dry rotted and prone to rapid failure.

The last thing you want to have happen to this truck after all the painstaking beautiful work you are doing is for it to not stop reliably. No one is going to dissemble the wheel cylinders to check the seal material. I would go with the newer style and have confidence in the brakes, they are REALLY important. It is the engineer in me coming out.

Let me draw an analogy. If you were to somehow put all the original seals and hoses in the carburetor, the new gas with the alcohol will destroy those seals in a matter of days, so you will need to use seals made of updated materials or rebuild the carburetor on a weekly basis.

This is just my opinion and it is meant as constructive feedback. I admire your dedication to detail and you work. I am just suggesting a quick step back to view the forest instead of the trees.

 

This is where I am in complete agreement with you. The wheel cylinders originally had rubber seals, and will retain such. The NOS wheel cylinders I purchased will be rebuilt with all new internal parts (for safety), as I was mainly interested in the wheel cylinder body, displaying the specific "Wagner Lockheed" casting on the side.

It's the pinion, front wheel bearing hub, and rear axle seals that were originally leather, and trust me I spent several weeks considering all variables before deciding to use NOS seals in place of the modern replacements. Though the seals are NOS, these parts literally look as if they were produced yesterday and are much more durable than the modern neoprene replacements. During deconstruction, I was shocked to see my truck still wearing its original "Ford C/R" stamped leather front wheel hub seals after 143,000 miles and 50 years of use (and they still sealed, to boot). The NOS seals will be soaked in oil for several days before installation (correct procedure for leather seals) to properly prepare the leather for its first sealing. It's not only the authenticity I'm after, but the challenge. If the seals develop leaks, they're easy to replace. I think we can agree the OCD has reached its peak , but I won't settle for anything less than perfect with this restoration.

On a side note, the research behind the leather seals led to some interesting findings. Evidently, such seals remain highly popular with the antique military vehicle crowd and operators of logging skidders for their extreme durability when subjected to abuse and heat...so much in fact, the NOS supply of certain seals is nearly depleted.

 

Thanks for the reply and clarification. Sounds fine to me

 

Here's some pics from this weeks progress. The NOS (and correct) Ford/Chigaco Rawhide leather front wheel hub seals arrived last week. After cleaning and a four-day soak in oil, the seals have been installed onto the restored hubs. The hubs will be installed later this week, along with their NOS bearing washers, castle nuts, cotter pins, and grease caps. More pics to follow.

Before:




After:

 

Completed:

-The restored hubs have been installed, complete with 100% correct NOS Ford and Timken parts.
-The replicated U-bolts are back from the spring shop, along with correctly replicated rear spring clamps.
-The remaining original chassis hardware has been dropped off for re-plating in the original silver zinc, cadmium, and zinc dichromate finishes.

Next week:

-Locate and purchase last NOS Wagner Lockheed wheel cylinder
-Make final bends to replicated spring clamps
-Drop hardware, U-bolts, and misc. chassis items off for powdercoat

More pictures to follow. Enjoy!







NOS wheel cylinders:

 

Very nicely done as usual. Will you be keeping this thing in your living room when it is completed?

 

Outstanding! Thanks for keeping us posted. I admire your dedication.

 

Wow As usual! I really look forward to your updates.
Strong work sir!

 

WOW is all I can say, I am looking forward to the next update!

 

Very impressive work and dedication; Read your entire thread and admire the level of detail; I'm looking forward towards your final goal as well.

 

I believe I would not be wrong in saying that this has to be the most extensive restoration ever done to a Fridge. Great work, Dustin.

 

All I can do is join the chorus and say Wow! Outstanding work! Look forward to seeing the completed truck.

 

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all the great comments. I have been out of state for the past two months on business, placing the project on hold. Now home, work will resume next week, with the freshly plated hardware, U-bolts, and wheel cylinders headed out for powdercoat. I'm in the final phase of parts acquisition for the chassis. With another deployment scheduled for September, I'm hoping to make some serious progress before my departure. As usual, I'll keep you all posted with plenty of pictures along the way.

 

After a long delay with the project, I though it you all might enjoy some progress photos.

Completed since last post:

-Located/purchased last of NOS Ford/Wagner-Lockheed wheel cylinders
-Re-plated all remaining chassis hardware
-Located/purchased NOS main parking brake cable
-Reproduced rear leaf spring straps to match originals 100%

Next month's work:

-Powdercoat last of chassis hardware, U-bolts, and rear leaf spring straps
-Located and purchase NOS rear parking brake cable assembly
-Purchase NOS ring and pinion set
-Install all front wheel brake components

In progress:

-Engine teardown

Chassis progress has been rather slow, as it took several months to find the last of the NOS parts. To keep the project moving, I began the teardown of the original, never-rebuilt, 148,000-mile engine (when was the last time you saw an original 1960 Ford head gasket?) and have been purchasing NOS engine parts on a weekly basis. More to follow...

 

Nice to hear from you again. Man, you are making progress.