I've had a lot of time in the garage this week, Easter holidays are heaven sent for teachers.

I started by trial fitting the pedals now that I had modified the chassis mounting bracket and it went well.  I then removed them again and cut about 7mm off the chassis tube that the pedal bar goes into and remounted it all again and this time everything lined up well.  I removed it all so that I could paint the bare metal from my modifications and drilled out the end of the master cylinder rod so that it would take a bolt rather than a clevis pin.

It is amazing how dirty the chassis has got in the months since it was painted.

I then turned my attention to the steering box.  Armed with a free set of bearings I loaded them up in grease and went to fit the inner shaft only to discover that it wouldn't go in with the bearings in the way.  So I removed it all and then mounted them onto the shaft and inserted it as a complete unit, amazingly it worked.

It felt good to complete this job.

It seemed sensible to turn my attention to the brakes and so I started by replacing the linings.   I was only able to get brake linings off John rather than new shoes complete but I remember thinking at the time that it would be a new skill for me to master and exciting at that.  I spent some time looking on YouTube for guidance and eventually found a video posted by an American farmer who was doing the same to his tractor.

I made some gaskets for the wheel cylinders using my newly acquired hole punches which was time consuming but fun and then fitted them.

It occurred to me whilst doing this that the new but old stock brake linings were made by a company called Raybestos; surely they must contain asbestos? I decided that I shouldn't dwell on it.  All in all it was great fun doing it and very satisfying.

For no good reason I decided to strip down the wheel boss and paint it.

There are some cracks on the wheel but I have found out a way to repair them, thanks again YouTube.

I then installed the steering shaft and connected up the steering rods, again good fun.  The bar that runs between the steering box and the idler holds two track rod ends and they won't screw into the bar far enough.  It needs a run through with a tap but I don't have the correct size nor the left handed version so I am looking into how I might get that sorted.

Next on the list was to fit the brake shoes and the hubs, but first I needed to fit the wheel bearing into the hub.

Now I realised that I had the shoes on the wrong side as the pins that locate on to the adjusters are the wrong way round, donut.

I also realised that I had forgotten to install the felt bushes over the spacer studs, again I'm acting like a donut.

Eventually I got it all sorted.  I have made progress but it sure takes time.  Onto the brake pipes next when I next get back into the garage.