Removing the left, rear brake cylinder and connecting the battery

Introduction

Today I decided it was time to remove the other brake cylinder and to get to work on honing it. I’ve decided that all the brake cylinders in this car will be removed and renovated before putting them all back together again, plus any brake tubes that are worn or past their best will be replaced along with their fittings.

The rear left brake cylinder

So today I removed the rear left wheel brake cylinder, it was in way better shape than the one on the rear right, but still needed to come off as there was plenty of rust visible on the outside

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and once I removed the protective sheaths covering the pistons, I could see plenty of rust on the inner left piston area. The rear brake connectors on this had been replaced with new brake tube and brake nipples, they looked reasonably new.

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The brake tube itself felt strong and fresh and came off easily with no breakage or damage.  I could even make out that the connecting brake hose looked new or new-ish, but I will test it prior to putting everything back in place.

Note: I found this website sells brake hoses

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I’d say that this brake cylinder was either renewed or replaced in it’s lifetime as it was way fresher than the other one. Here you can see that one of the two pistons is even moving by it’s own accord after i removed the dust seal.

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The other side though, wasn’t so fresh.

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After having removed the brake tube, and undoing the backing bolts, i could man-handle the brake cylinder out of its housing.

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and here it is.

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another look at it

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Connecting up the battery

While I was there I connected up the battery that had been charging, and turned the key, the ‘not charging light’ came on (which is normal when the engine is not running). I turned the lever from position 0, to 1 or 2 can’t recall and to my surprise the engine turned over two or three times, with no effort at all.

Awesome !

I won’t start it now though, I want to replace the diesel filter and fluids first, so that will have to wait,

I checked the lights all around, and the horn and the heater blower motors, it seems that everything (or most everything) is working, so that is definetly a plus !

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It also means that the battery is good after all !