TY dmack, DD by summer i think (fingers crossed)
After exhausting myself writing up the foregoing story of the brakes, here is something less demanding that I did recently (April 2011).
Leaking Speedometer Gear Housing (Part 1 of 2)
As expected, I find leaks. One of the worst was coming from the transmission. Drips were coming off the rear support crossmember and the extension housing was very wet. I crawled underneath to investigate and took a lot of pics of the "before" situation. Most of the leaking was coming from the speedometer gear housing, with enough flow to keep the surfaces clean near the leak.
After "studying-up" on the housing assembly and parts availability, I cleaned the area around the housing to avoid introducing dirt when the housing came out. The housing was easy to remove, just unscrew the cable, remove the retaining bracket, and twist and wiggle the housing out of the hole. Watch for the driven gear, it may or may not stay with the housing on the way out. I like the pic below. Look at the contrast between all the external crud and the clean-as-a whistle interior. You can see the driving gear, too.
( reminiscent of a bleeding wound, isn't it ? )