Finished a 4-month brake repair

I was really not happy with how the brake bleeding went back in December and the winter has been really cold and nasty.  So nothing has happened since.   Today was a bright sunny day (and almost above freezing!) so I dove in.

The first step was to install these Russell speed-bleeders (1/4 28 if you are interested).  This is something I should have done a long time ago.   It is a bleed screw with a check valve built into it.  Put a tube on the bleeder, open it one turn, pump the pedal 4 times, close the bleeder, and done.  The new bleeders are even longer which makes it easier to get a wrench on it.

I also adjusted the brakes on all 4 wheels.  At the end of the process I had an OK brake pedal.  Not a great pedal, but OK.

While fooling around with the brakes I tested the parking brake and was not getting a lot of brake action on the driver’s side.  I think I just need to adjust the cable but in case something is broken I decided to pull the drum.  So out came the drum puller.

Well that was a waste of time.  I cleaned off the brake dust and put it back together.  The picture did not come out but I adjusted the brake cables one hole tighter on both sides.

All back together.  Drove the car for a dozen miles and locked up the brakes a couple of times.   Everything seems to work just fine.


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