I decided yesterday, as I was grinding to a stop about 100 feet past a red light, that I’m going to be driving the Scout to Nationals this year.
In the morning I dropped off the Travelall at a local shop, new to me, to have the wheels rebalanced. I got a good feeling from the shop when I pulled into the driveway and saw a bright green Volkswagen bus, a Porsche 944 and a beautiful 1968 Cadillac in their parking lot. Clearly, these are guys who are not afraid of older cars. After talking to the fellow behind the counter, I felt even better. They got back to me toward the end of the day to tell me they’d rebalanced the tires and put the worst ones on the back, but that those two are bent. On my way home, I took it down towards 195 to see how the wheels felt at highway speed. But before I could get there, I found that the brakes had faded so badly that I wound up unable to stop at a red light, requiring me to jam it into second gear, chirp the tires, and aim for the median to slow down enough so that I didn’t pull into the intersection. It was at that moment I accepted the fact that the truck just isn’t safe enough yet to take long distance.
This is fine; the Scout is running great and I have no doubt we’ll make it out there and back. Plus, convertible! I fully expect it to get hinges-of-hell-hot the day we hit the road.
For the Travelall, I’ve got a couple of choices. I’m definitely going to be looking for replacement 15 inch wheels when I’m out at Nationals. But, the most important improvement I need to make is going to be the brake system. There is a kit to convert front drum brakes to discs available, but it’s pricey. If I can find someone to buy the Bestop I’ll have made almost enough to pay for a disk kit. That, and a dual master cylinder would go a long way to improving the brake situation on the truck.
Neal Klinman says:
LOL, that first sentence had me rolling!
Glad you are OK, both physically after experiencing bad brakes as well as mentally to recalibrate your plans.
Wondering if the issue is you needing disk brakes per se, or just needing the drum brakes to work properly. I don’t have experience in that area, but I’m sure you’ll work it out. Safely.
I remain so impressed by all that you have done on your THREE IH vehicles! kudos to you.
I wish I could meet up with you at Nationals but lots going on here this year. Hopefully another time.
PS- I recently saw a listing on one of my FB groups for a 2wd Travelall wheels/ hubcaps/ tires/ axels available? Can’t find now, but maybe in Texas? Some shop that was going to do a 4wd swap maybe?
bill says:
Thanks Neal. One thing I didn’t mention in the post was that there were a pair of cars out a little past the intersection parked uncomfortably close to each other; one had rear-ended the other and they were waiting for the police to arrive, I suspect. So that intersection was an extremely sporty place to be at 5:15 that afternoon…
The brake issue is a combination of things: a single-pot master cylinder (this truck was made before the auto industry realized it would be wise to split the front and rear brakes into two separate circuits), drum brake fade, and the pedal adjustment still not being dialed in. Even if the adjustment was correct, the brake fade is terrifying—especially after the excellent response I get from the Hydroboost conversion in the Scout.
You definitely need to make it out to Nationals! It’s a lot of fun, and the people are very friendly. And no, I didn’t see that FB post—if you have a link, I’d love to see it!