Crisis over!
Yesterday I decided there was no way I was going to drill the casting....I had to do it properly! So I took the front axle off and carried it (including the wheel drums, which I had hoped not to have to remove) back round to my workshop.
Then I tried to remove the hydraulics, so as to protect the piping, but one banjo wouldn't release, so I decided to remove the drums whole, which the manual says can be done. But I found that the studs started turning, so realised I was going to have to crack the brake drums, but then two studs fell into one drum....so thought, bugger, that'll make it impossible to use a puller.
That all left me very down last night when I called it a day.
Feeling refreshed this morning, I used wood, hammer and care to split the drums and dismantle the wheels, then texted the good news to Martin who, suitably impressed, suggested coming to see the progress.
He came and helped me use the press to push out the kingpins, which slid out beautifully, so that I could swap the stub ends over. I made a drift with a key to stop it slipping out of the king pin under pressure and Martin came up with a clever safety feature, making a sleeve which slipped over the end of the press end-effector and the drift - to stop the drift pinging sideways and putting a hole in my head.
Once we had re-assembled the stubs on the axle, we went back across to the garage to put the axle back on, re-assemble the brakes, etc and put the wheels on.
Once we had re-assembled the stubs on the axle, we went back across to the garage to put the axle back on, re-assemble the brakes, etc and put the wheels on.
Now THAT is great progress, even if it does only put a set-back right.
No time has been lost because we weren't planning to put the shocks on until Tuesday...and then once we have the clutch, which "B Series" Colin is sourcing for me, we are going to put the engine in!
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