I went out Saturday and moved several trees around. I have a large tree burn pile that I have tried to burn twice. The brake caliber must have been really dragging. It runs much better now. I really didn't notice not having a locker in the rear, I'm sure I will miss it eventually.
Several months ago before the front shaft broke, after driving it around for awhile the hub was hot, I thought that the bearing was dragging but took it apart and couldn't see anything wrong. I took two clamps and compressed the caliper. I got it back on but don't know if it will lock up again. If it does I will replace it.
As I was going along on Saturday I didn't have any brakes, I had to bleed the caliper to get it to compress and might have gotten some air in the line. It didn't seem to want to pump back up very good. The brakes on the loader have always been somewhat sketchy. For the brakes, a lever compresses a chevy truck master cylinder. There is no vacuum on the master cylinder so it's basically like braking with the truck engine off.
On the Jacobson that I took apart to make the mower, I have the brake master cylinder left over. I thought this might make a good replacement for the brakes on the loader. I took the lid off the brake cylinder. It was full of what looked like orange toothpaste. I cleaned it out, but I doubt it's usable. I am going to keep messing with it but it probably won't work.
