Between acts at the daily circus, Evan and I ran the bench to the trim shop. At some point today, I started to think, “well, it doesn’t look that bad,” maybe this really is stupid. But once we’d left the garage bay, it was clear that some of whatever had been growing on the floor had also sunk deep into that bench. We arrived at the trim shop and the workers there led us over to bolts of fabrics they had available.
There were all kinds, from carefully boring to jarringly outrageous. I decided to stick to something plain — textured enough to disguise some wear, but simple. I’m not trying to totally renovate the truck into something ostentatious, nor do I want to make it look even older than it already is. Should be done by Friday. But the gentleman to set up my order scribbled my phone number on a datebook and left the bolt of fabric I’d selected on the bench. No other paperwork, conversation, or fine print — so I’m a little unsure of what I’ve committed to. Are we on the same page about any of this? We’ll see.
Back at the house, Evan and I reassembled the drum brakes — a ridiculous exercise in stretching springs and clipping together a bunch of pieces that seem to support each other only once installation is complete. Thus making it a very difficult process to navigate slowly. But we did it. And now having assembled two but tested neither, we’re pretty sure we think we’ve figured out how to do it.
I’d like to point out that the Haynes manual does not explain how to do this. “Installation is reverse of removal.” But removal involved hammers and breaking things. We pieced the new brakes together from that stupid parts explosion and educated but whiskey-soaked guesses. Most of a vehicle’s stopping power comes from the front brakes; I’ll be fine.
Then we replaced the flex hose at the rear axle. Tomorrow, we’ll put the drums and wheels back on and then bleed the system to see if it works.
Our last task was to disassemble the attachments on the doors and pull the door cards. This clears me to start working on trim pieces around the windows and repair the passenger side door handles at some point tomorrow.
Once again, George has documented our progress! I could get used to this.
