1970 Brockway

[67RModel]

I figure the easiest way to repair it for a hobby truck is to pull the 5th wheel off and drop the axles and suspension completely out of the truck. Drill the ends of the cracks, and weld it up. Then lay a channel insert on the inside of each frame rail going past each suspension mount at least 2' and bolt it all back together. Any crossmembers in the area of the insert will have to be shortened accordingly. But in your situation where the truck has already been stretched it may be better to just cut off the bad section and start over. Either way its a pretty big job.....

[Brocky]

IT is one of those "6 of one and a half dozen of the other" Questions.. Even as a hobby truck I think I would try to locate a reasonable priced cut off with air ride and graft it on....

[Mark T]

Someone already tried a repair on the bottom flange between the tandems.  Like said earlier, fairly common place for a problem on one of those. Truck has potential, definetely worth making some kind of repair to.  

[mowerman]

Well, all in good time that’s what we do is constantly mess with these things…. Bob

[h67st]

Working on trying to get the truck driveable; today's project is the rear brakes. Looks like new shoes are in order.

Also some past axle damage; bearing is sloppy on the spindle so I'll have to get that fixed at some point.

One inner bearing is stuck on the axle, I'll try an H bar to pull it off. If that doesn't work, is the heat wrench the next step? Any suggestions?

[mechohaulic]

if two pry bars don't work then for me , it would be gloves/ goggles and 5 in die grinder with cut-off wheel. slice and dice the outer cage then gingerly cut inner . less heat and flame . couple slices on inner sometimes is enough to pry it off. have lucked out with a bearing remover tool wedged behind bearing and tighten; then the BFH for persuasion.

[mrsmackpaul]

Pull the rollers and cage off the bearing

Axle stand underneath on the inner part of the bearing with some weight resting on it

Then out with the gas axe, nice and hot and heat small area the, say 3/4" till nice and orange

Then belt that with a mash hammer 

This will make the carrier swell and slip off pretty easy

Not a lot of heat, maybe 30 seconds or so, then just into it with the hammer

 

The idea is to heat just that bit of bearing not the axle at all

If you don't wanna try heat, just big, like 1 inch high tensile bolt as a punch 

With the axle supported you should be able to crack the bearing case, might take some belting though

And wear eye protection, been hardened steel it tends to splinter a bit and these move quick and fast and puncture skin pretty easy

 

Paul 

[h67st]

Thanks for the ideas guys! I got lucky, started to put a bearing splitter on it and it popped right off. You're right about safety gear, whenever I use a hammer, grinder, cutter, etc. I cover everything up. There was a guy on here that got his arm torn up pretty good by a cutoff wheel...let me see if I can remember who that was...

[h67st]

My next chore was tackling the fuel tanks and lines. The right tank is too rusted and bent to save, but the left tank had just one rust hole (and a lot of rust, debris, and goop inside). I drained it and steamed/washed it thoroughly. Even after it dried, it still had rust flakes and dirt inside (baffle made it hard to get all clean).

So as I was welding the one rust hole, I notice smoke coming out from behind the data plate so I popped it off and found this.

I'm a terrible welder but I figured I'd give it a go so I cut out a square hole and welded in a patch. One nice thing about cutting the hole was I could reach inside and finish cleaning the tank. I coated the inside with Kroil to see if it slows down the rust. I had to air up the tank and re-weld pinholes a couple dozen times but now it's air tight. I installed the tank and some new lines yesterday; it's really nice to be able to start the thing without using a can of fuel hanging on the truck.

[The Rubber Duck 006]

I'd love to have that old Rig!! I'd paint it up just like my Grandpa had his Brockway!!

[mowerman]

Excellent yes I just barely started practicing welding myself. I am same way. Got a long way to go. I wouldn’t even attempt of fuel  tank ….. looks good 

[70mackMB]

Data plates will do it every time. Glad you caught it when you did.    .....Hippy

 

 

 

[mrsmackpaul]

Ah the dreaded fuel tanks, I've done a few over the years

Apart from having a air hose dangling in the tank while welding or grinding I can't over any smarter advice 

Cut out more rust than you think you need to was some advice given to me many years ago

The rust seams to effect the steel ariund the effected area even though it looks good

And use a thick piece of steel for the patch, the heat has somewhere to go to and less of burning a whole thru 

Top job

 

Paul 

[h67st]

I pulled the front wheels to look over the brakes and hub; needs some new stuff.

I only found one place that had new shoes (https://www.truckandtrailer.parts/) so I ordered them, unfortunately they were unlined. I called the shop here in Columbus that relined my Mack shoes; they quit doing that. I went online and found Brake Materials and Parts in Ft. Wayne Indiana; I handed them to UPS on Friday and got them back on Tuesday.

Does anyone know why they ever made wedge brakes? This photo doesn't include 2 chambers, wedges, rollers, housings, and seals. S-cams are a heck of a lot simpler, and if I had to replace much hardware these would get expensive real fast.

[Geoff Weeks]

Wedges use less air for the same stopping power. And were self adjusting (when everything was working) long before automatic slack adjusters came out.  Also can fit where some S cam can't and are similar to the air over hyd used on some real heavy axles.

 I have a set of relined 15" you could have had for the cost of shipping.

 Main thing is lube up everything real well and make sure the protective boots are on the wedges to keep them from seizing in the bores.

Edited June 27 by Geoff Weeks

[h67st]

I'm very happy now, I have a legal title for this truck! After 2 years of phone calls, letters, emails, and waiting. The owner died in 2021 and his heirs didn't want to mess with the truck (he left a lot of vehicles and stuff to sell or dispose of). They had their hands full and didn't want to go through the hassle of getting the probate court to issue a new title. In Ohio you can apply for a court-ordered title; basically a judge looks at your evidence and if they feel you are the rightful owner, they give you a clear title.

[mrsmackpaul]

That's good news, worth effort and phone calls etc to have it all sorted 

 

Paul

[mechohaulic]

On 6/12/2024 at 2:47 PM, h67st said:

My next chore was tackling the fuel tanks and lines. The right tank is too rusted and bent to save, but the left tank had just one rust hole (and a lot of rust, debris, and goop inside). I drained it and steamed/washed it thoroughly. Even after it dried, it still had rust flakes and dirt inside (baffle made it hard to get all clean).

So as I was welding the one rust hole, I notice smoke coming out from behind the data plate so I popped it off and found this.

I'm a terrible welder but I figured I'd give it a go so I cut out a square hole and welded in a patch. One nice thing about cutting the hole was I could reach inside and finish cleaning the tank. I coated the inside with Kroil to see if it slows down the rust. I had to air up the tank and re-weld pinholes a couple dozen times but now it's air tight. I installed the tank and some new lines yesterday; it's really nice to be able to start the thing without using a can of fuel hanging on the truck.

you can watch everyone else do a task/skill ;; the do it yourself is the only way to learn how . welding is a skill having many positives. to build/repair on your own is the best. for real fun start with a stick rod then advance to a wire-feed. other way around is like high school before grammar school. first time welding for me was putting a sliding 5th wheel on a R-685st which was going to haul a chemical tanker!! talk about sweating . LOL.. 7lbs of stick  rod.

[mowerman]

Yeah, it’s definitely not as easy as it looks. I am still at the very beginning stage myself still got a long way to go touché on the title and the brakes Dean thanks for letting us know…he’ll . I forgot all about that truck… bob

[67RModel]

On 8/19/2024 at 9:43 AM, h67st said:

I'm very happy now, I have a legal title for this truck! After 2 years of phone calls, letters, emails, and waiting. The owner died in 2021 and his heirs didn't want to mess with the truck (he left a lot of vehicles and stuff to sell or dispose of). They had their hands full and didn't want to go through the hassle of getting the probate court to issue a new title. In Ohio you can apply for a court-ordered title; basically a judge looks at your evidence and if they feel you are the rightful owner, they give you a clear title.

To be honest that is the only reason I didn’t drag that long hood Road Boss home that was sitting next to your truck. I didn’t feel like going through all that bureaucracy and red tape only for them to tell me no. Not even sure how much worse it would have been since it was out of state. That and I had just purchased another one not too long before you found that one. O well. At least you got yours sorted out.

[mowerman]

Drove mustang, 9000 , and road boss for nissens ….. road boss was always my favorite one…. Bob home alone.