Another Reason It's Great To Have the Tools

[rake60]

My brother-in-law Bob came in to help me try to get my old junk
work vehicle, a 1998 Chevy Tracker, ready for it's annual safety
inspection. The rear brake drums were quite literally rusted away.
Removing those brake drums involves turning two 8mm bolts into
tapped holes in the drum face to push the drum off it's press fit
on the spindle. Bob said that 80% of the time those tapped holes
are stripped out and removing the drums becomes a real nightmare.
Sure enough the threads were stripped on of of the drums.
I grabbed a cordless drill, 5/16 drill bit, a 3/8-16 tap and a couple
of 3/8" bolts. It took an extra 10 minutes to drill and re-tap the holes
but that drum as easily as the first side with the little bit of extra effort.

The tired old Tracker earned a new Inspection Sticker this morning so
it's good for another year. It did cost me an extra $1.50 to replace a
burned out back brake light. I KNEW I'd forgotten to check something! :
Then again you can't repair a light bulb in a machine shop.
:big:

Rick

 

[Tin Falcon]

I love it when a plan comes together .
Tin

 

[itowbig]

what you didnt beat it with a 10lb hammer. thats what i do but i use wd40 on it first then after it comes off i file the crap out of it so next time it will remove its self :big: my old chevy did that too but not any more. now it falls off when i remove the wheel. except i got to loosen the brakes a bit. ;D
glad it passed. :bow: