With everything off, we took...
With everything off, we took care of a small hazard. Two of our wheel studs were showing wear. One was obliterated with the use of a torque wrench, while the other one developed a cross thread. A couple quick whacks with a mallet and we looked like this.
When we were through with our legal battles, a quick assessment of our brakes was needed. Yes, they were legal-but were they safe? Showing more than a few signs of wear, we decided it was time to give the old calipers a rest and gave Raybestos a call. Putting all four corners on the line, we freshened everything up with a remanufactured set of stock lockers and a not-so-stock set of drilled and slotted rotors. Installation was easy as it was nothing trick, and bleeding wasn't even a challenge thanks to a set of Speed Bleeders. I used these recently on my '78, "The Bat's Mobile," and now swear by them. It could be one of the best under-$20 investments you make for your braking system. With some time given to "brake-in" the new parts, the added stopping power (and the subtracted stopping distance thanks to better rotors) proved my earlier hunch true-it had been time to replace those worn out, old parts.
Well, that just about does it for this installment; we're now seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. Join us soon as we get the Wreck ready for paint.
 Installation is as easy as...  Installation is as easy as putting the rotor on. A small tap-just enough to get them to stick for a moment-from behind gets that started. |  After that it was time for...  After that it was time for the ol' washer-n-lug trick. Stack a handful of washers on the stud... |  ...cap with a lug use a wrench-an...  ...cap with a lug use a wrench-an air wrench on its lowest setting in this case-to tighten down the lug... |
 ...pulling the stud into place...  ...pulling the stud into place and there ya go. |  Next, the rotors provided...  Next, the rotors provided by J&D went on... |  ...followed by the calipe...  ...followed by the calipers. |