Silverado gas tank strap failure!!

[njsteve]

Finally got around to the rear brakes today. We had the torches, die grinder, and big sledge hammers ready to go. I was dreading the labor that was going to be involved in this endeavor.

Something miraculous happened, though: I sprayed the wheel studs and hub area with PB Blaster, waited a couple minutes and then rung the mounting hub area of the 18 year old drum with a 2 lb. sledge hammer several times. I heard thud, thud, thud, RIIIIIING! and the darn thing came right off! I tried it on the other side and the same thing happened. Both drums slid right off the hubs! HOLY S@&amp;T! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/shocked.gif[/img]

Even with 121,000 miles, the original rear brake shoes had 80% of their material remaining. But they were polished from the years of barely being used due to the defective original combination valve. Since I already had the brand new 75 pound cast iron drums in the boxes, I used them, along with the new set of 13&quot;x3-1/2&quot; shoes, springs, adjusters, and wheel cylinders. (all bought from Rockauto.com). Hopefully the scrap metal guy won't get a hernia picking up the old drums next week.

The truck stops noticeably better now. When you hit the brakes, it is a much quicker and &quot;flatter&quot; stop, instead of the previous nose diving when 90% of the braking was being done by the front discs.

So now the truck is ready for the haul to MCACN in a month.

[Alss]

Guys..also check the spare tire cable on GM trucks..they rust and break also..had a spare come out from under the truck in front of me while pulling the trailer..was a puckering moment for sure!

I have fords and gms..both are suffering from line failures both brake and transmission from corrosion..check them good..lines may look good, but check under the clamps..NE stuff for sure

[black69]

hey on a similar vein to the gas tank straps, our 2001 chevy tahoe lost its brakes the other day. 180K miles, spent 3 yrs in dry california, and the rest in chicago suburbs. They went out immediately, and we lost control of the car, <span style="font-weight: bold">we got very lucky</span>. One of the rusted lines blew out mid section that sat on the frame.

I am on day 3 of replacing 4 of the crispy lines and I am replacing the hoses to the calipers. <span style="font-weight: bold">The originals I could just grab with a glove and rip off the frame and they came off in pieces, they were that brittle</span>.

If you have a GM 2000-2001 vehicle, check your lines for scaling.
The old rusty 71 cuda I used to have, had better brake lines than this dam tahoe!