August

With work on the front running gear now completed, focus has now turned to giving the same treatment to the rear. We knew that the rear nearside spring had a broken leaf which needed attending to so the rear axle etc would have to come out anyway to allow the spring to be removed. Stephen began the process by squeezing into the confined space around the diff to free off the various brake linkages and give any accessible bolts a good soaking in penetrating oil. The following session, Pete joined us again and the two of them got to grips with the disassembling (occasionally assisted by me!).

Pete working on drive shaft and diff          Steve removing nearside rear wheel

Rust everywhere                                   Rick removing brake assembly

By mid afternoon both sides had been stripped of their wheels, brake drums, hubs and half shafts leaving just the axle to be dropped and removed. A very messy job accomplished in double quick time without anything breaking or requiring too much extra persuasion! Not bad considering how rusted in and stubborn some of the bolts were. Stephen will now put in some extra hours before his shifts at work cleaning up and refurbishing all the components to the same high standard as those for the front.

Broken leaf spring

With the wheels etc removed, areas of the chassis are now exposed for the first time affording us the opportunity to give them a clean-up and a coat or two of paint. Out with Mr Grinder and mop disk again! Fingers crossed, we hope that the rear springs and shackle pins are not too bad and will be able to be refurbished and refitted instead of having to purchase new ones.

Last months report regarding the boot doors proved a little premature as upon reassembly they didn’t fit quite as intended. However, after lots of head scratching and cussing, finally they are now semi-permanently refitted complete with new lock mechanism thus almost bringing to a close the complete rebuild of the back end. Some final finishing is still required such as filling of the screw holes on the door skins and the repairing of a few small ‘dings’ on the edges but essentially the job has come to a very satisfactory conclusion.

Boot doors finally aligned