Yes, the AA brake drums are enormous and can put you into the windshield if you step down hard.
Removing a AA rear drum took me hours with a Snap On puller and lots of sledge hammer hits. Restoring that truck cured my desire to ever do another one.
I had to make some front wheels since the original AA wheels I had were mostly all junk and when the retainer rings get too rusty the wheels are very dangerous. I cut the centers out of the two worst wheels and mated them to some newer 16" Ford Budd wheel hoops.
On the rear I got really lucky and was able to buy a cool set of '30 AA wheels with monster 9.50-20 tires. They will look really cool with the tow rig I'm going to build.
The next problem is that there is something broken in either the worm gear rear or the torque tube. The rear end will only roll a few inches before it locks up. With the rear tires off the ground the tires will turn freely in opposite directions of each other so I know the differential is okay. I also pulled the shifter out of the ****** and the PTO cover off to inspect the gears. Everything looks good in the trans so I'm pulling the rear end out next.
For those that didn't read the start of my build thread let me clarify that I am just restoring this truck to be a big yard toy and it will not be road worthy. That's why I'm not repairing the body and cleaning it up for personal enjoyment.
That being said, it's kind of fun, like a full size model. Assembling parts, painting with a brush, etc. Anyway, I painted the truck last weekend. I applied a quart of Ford Engine green which is close to the original Rock Moss Green. First I edged the windows.
Here it is out in the sun the next day.
The color is a little dark, I might mix some hunter green and midnight blue together to get closer to the rock moss color. Either way it looks a lot better than rust.
Later in the weekend I got most of the chassis painted black.
Next up, finishing the wheels and adding the fenders.
I'm just building a running piece of yard art. Cleaning the old oil out of the pan, all new gaskets, a rebuilt water pump, carb rebuild, and rebuilt electrical system made it a good enough runner for what I want to do with it.