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Bedford


cros

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This time I'm going backwards. Wheels are off because when I started plumbing in the brakes I got suspicious about the standard of work on the previous owners overhauled axles. He'd used an old mangled copper washer under the union so it was off with the wheels and hubs (nasty tapered halfshaft type, special tool and hammer involved). The linings were new and everything painted silver in there, but the cylinder bores were pitted. Shiny brakes are no comfort with fluid squirting everywhere and the pedal on the floor- no second chance dual circuit here.

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It was a similar story with the 3 other brakes, so out it all came. One possibility was to see if the cylinders in the vans original axles would be recoverable, doesn't look promising...

 

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Out of 4 one was usable after a good honing, the others need resleeving. I got a price for this, £70 a pop, which is the price of new ones, so won't be going to the pub tomorrow night.

On the subject of brake parts, I've always found it very easy to get stuff for old vehicles. Everything for my Morris Commercial and Seddon was available off the shelf, the latter being quite unusual. Its cylinders live outside the backplate so you don't have all that unpleasant business of taking the wheel and drum off to change them. The bloke I sold it to earlier in the year phoned to see if I wanted to buy it back, but I've got nowhere covered to keep it.

Back to the Bedford, I connected up the sidelight for a quick wink. In modern speak they have been repurposed and the little white bulbs moved to the headlamps.

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The only other progress has been on the gear change, I've brewed up a linkage that does away with the external selectors (they're still in place under the screwed plate), and with some bushes made from slices of oil hose the change is decent enough. Its easy to slice another bit of hose off when things get sloppy, just need a cable to move the selectors into the first and reverse plane to finish.

Handbrake stuff is also, well, in hand, with 3 very long cables to make up as the lever hangs down under the dash.post-7547-0-50262200-1542399939_thumb.jpgpost-7547-0-58938100-1542400086_thumb.jpgpost-7547-0-06081100-1542400177_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I'm well pleased today. A few minutes ago a courier arrived with a lovely parcel and I ripped it open and screwed the contents straight on to the Bedford.

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The items are these lovely levers that cost £5 apiece off Trailertek. They would have been a billion each from oldmotortek.

The original levers were buggered beyond hope, but now all the door mechanisms have been sorted, and I have 3 lockable entrances. The rear one has been lashed up from bits from an old ambulance and is a bit of overkill, but at least it'll keep people in- I mean out. Merry Christmas!.

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