Part 4 - Brakes and Suspension

Brakes and suspension were not on my immediate project agenda.  When I first got the truck, one of the problems that appeared as a lack of power was dragging rear brakes.  At that time I went in, freed them up, cleaned things up a  bit, and repacked the bearings.  This worked great until one of the parking brake cables decided to freeze up on me.

Shocking...kind of

In a classic case of "you might a well do it while you're under there", I decided to expand the rear brake maintenance to include replacing the truck's well worn out front struts and rear shocks.

Working from back to front, I started by pulling the rear wheels.  What I found was a pair of shocks that were, shall we say, past their prime. 

The housings were rusted to the point that they were no longer holding pressure.  Fortunately, a few shots of Deep Creep and the bolts came right out.  Since this truck is more of a workhorse than a restoration, I replaced the shocks and strut inserts with gas inserts from my local NAPA.  They'll get the job done, and were quickly installed.

Mmm...crusty

New brakes and shocks

With the rear shocks replaced, next came the rear brakes.  After several attempts to stop the rear shoes from dragging, I ended up with a combination of parts from NAPA and "quality German parts" from Adirondack Auto Brokers to get the rear brakes working satisfactorily.  Shoes, hardware and parking brake cables were all replaced. 

With the back of the truck back on the ground, I turned my attention to the front struts.  Remembering how crusty the front springs and strut housings were when last had a front wheel off, I decided the prudent thing to do would be to get a new set of housings and completely rebuild them.  I sources a pair of housings from a classified ad on VWVortex.

The old housings (l), were rusted out.  making replacement housings (r) a wise purchase.

Ah, all shiny and new

again sourced from Adirondack.

Actually removing the old front struts became a bit of adventure.  Rust and road grime of the years had eaten away the nuts holding the strut housing to wheel bearing housing bolts to the point that I couldn't use a wrench on them.  Instead, I broke out my trusty grinder made quick work of the soft metal of the nuts and bolts, on the driver side at least.  The passenger side was a bit more stubborn, as the top bolt had fused itself to the wheel bearing housing.  In this case, a combination of the grinder and a drill made quick work of the soft metal, and without too much additional effort, the front end was back together and the truck was back on its wheels.

Before...

and after

One of the side effects of replacing the front struts was raising the front end of the truck a good inch or two.  At first I thought the nose was too high, but after driving the truck around, it settled to the point that it now sits level.  The before and after on the truck is amazing.  the additional height in the nose has allowed a bunch more suspension travel, so the truck is no longer riding around on the bump stops.  The truck handles much better now, and with the rear brakes no longer binding, were back to almost spirited acceleration.

What's next

At this point, Rattle Can Resto is a bit up in the air.  I originally purchased the truck mainly as a yard truck; to make the weekend runs to bulky waste or the local home improvement center.  While the truck has performed this task efficiently, its small size and lack of towing capacity really limit what I can do around the house with it.  The restoration of the truck is also becoming a bit more involved than I'd like it to be, to the point that it takes time away from the '68 Fastback collecting dust in the garage.  There may be one or two more project updates on the truck, but might just as easily expect the next installment to be the final of the project.  I'm in the market for a full-size GM or Ford long bed pickup, of an early-to-mid 90's vintage, and I have someone interested in this truck to convert to WVO/Biodiesel.  More to follow.

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