Welcome to the forum.
Best thing for you to do if your going to take on jobs like this is to download a FREE copy of the cruiser repair manual. It should tell you everything you need to know. It's quite big (2051 pages in Adobe format) but well worth it if your going to keep your cruiser and do things yourself.
It's a lot of reading but click on this link and rear away...
Free Pt Repair Manual for all