Job Done

I mentioned earlier that I had done 1/2 the job replacing the trailing arm bushings and painting  and cleaning up the rear brake drums. Well, I found the time and got it all done and let me tell you, it feels pretty darn good.  In fact, I had to pull the axles again after replacing the wheel bearings because like an idiot I reused the old oil seals (which were both all boogered up) and they both leaked quite a bit since the job. So, with a trip to Moab coming up I knew I had to replace the seals.  It went well, I got the axles pulled quickly and only had one brass pinion gear shim fall out which was easy putting back.

 The bitch was finding oil seals.  The whole reason I didn't have new seals was O'Reilly's carried the bearing but not the seal (which makes no sense) I went to Napa and they had to look all over the city and found 1 set and it took me over two hours just to find the part and get it home. I have to say that all auto parts stores are NOT created equal.  AutoZone is OK if you need something a retarded monkey could find. O'Reilly's is better but ... I still get the feeling that half the time it is just a job and they could care less. Napa seems to be focused on getting the parts you need and they job out to all sorts of automotive vendors who need better service and knowledge base then a store that primarily caters to the clueless auto enthusiast looking for a Betty Boop air freshener.  Once installed the oil seals seem to work fine and the brakes work as well as drum brakes work. I did drive to Moab and I had no problems whatsoever in 900 miles of driving.