This has been a colder- and snowier-than-usual winter... Even today, it was pretty darned cold, but I decided I could go ahead and do some minor work on my brake cross-shafts.
For the emergency brake cross-shaft, it was no big deal - just mount it in the frame with the new parts I bought long ago. Problem is, the brackets aren't painted, and it's too stinking cold to do any painting. Fortunately, the parts are pretty small, so I just popped them in the oven at ~250F, and let them heat up for about 15 minutes. I took them out to the garage and shot them with some of the Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. I let them set for about an hour, and by then the parts had cooled to jut a little below room temperature.
After that, I stuck them back in the oven to get them hot again; took them out, and shot them with a couple of coats of Chassis Black. I went off to run some errands, and then that evening I was able to install the cross-shaft. I did not install new grease fittings, as I was having some problems getting them to press in. I'll likely buy threaded fittings and tap the hole on another day...
Today, I had time to attempt to reassemble the service brake cross-shaft.
There is a subtle difference between the driver- and passenger sides, so I took some extra time ensuring I knew which one was which. hint, the clevises are twisted outward for connection to the rear brake levers
As with the service brake levers, they are pinned with solid rivets. I installed the new bushings, and had a heck of a time putting the toggles back on, as I miserably failed to remember to scrape the ppaint off the parts... And by the time I realized this, it would do even more damage to get them back off. I tried to get smart and use a mallet and some wooden blocks to put the toggles on, but I finally got to the point where I needed to use a socket to knock the toggles on the final bit. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get the holes aligned to drive in the pins.
Last modified on 03/24/14