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-   -   Restoring Rusty (https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=645440)

68Timber 11-16-2015 01:03 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaplain (Post 7378113)
Wait...I've been out of touch for a couple of days. All of this dialogue from leaf springs not lining up? How come this shackles won't allow the spring to move forward?

I apologize if I missed something. Don't mean to speak out of turn.

Appears the drive-shaft is bottoming out, may need to be shortened.

Gregski 11-20-2015 04:52 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaplain (Post 7378178)
Oh my...

Chap I think you mentioned you did your rear end already, did you have any issues with the drive shaft, or is your pawertrain not in yet?

Gregski 11-20-2015 04:56 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
so quick update so you won't think Rusty and I fell off the face of the earth, well after seeing my entire family get sick, you know how that goes, it was my turn to get Bronchitis, so today is day 7 of feeling miserable, missed the entire week off of work

not bragging just letting you know that as you make Restoration Plans, those plans might could change for various reasons, I'm just keeping it real, stuff happens

the good news is LMC Truck confirmed they got my returned McGauphys front coil springs and will be refunding me $150 bucks! can't wait I'm thinking reinvesting in BellTech Nitro shock kit all the way around before that money burns a hole in my pocket

Chaplain 11-20-2015 05:18 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregski (Post 7382905)
Chap I think you mentioned you did your rear end already, did you have any issues with the drive shaft, or is your pawertrain not in yet?

I did not have that kind of difficulty with my driveline. The only difficulty I had was finding the correct u joint. During my teardown, I ditched the original u joint so I had nothing to compare it to. I had to take measurements. After the O'Reilly's person went through 3 pages of u joints we gave up and I called a local driveline specialist. In his southern voice he said, "You need a Precision 372." That solved my problem.

Can you get some movement out of your rear shackles once the truck is on the ground?



Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregski (Post 7382908)
so quick update so you won't think Rusty and I fell off the face of the earth, well after seeing my entire family get sick, you know how that goes, it was my turn to get Bronchitis, so today is day 7 of feeling miserable, missed the entire week off of work

not bragging just letting you know that as you make Restoration Plans, those plans might could change for various reasons, I'm just keeping it real, stuff happens

the good news is LMC Truck confirmed they got my returned McGauphys front coil springs and will be refunding me $150 bucks! can't wait I'm thinking reinvesting in BellTech Nitro shock kit all the way around before that money burns a hole in my pocket

I can understand being in my area of the country and getting the crud but how do you get bronchitis is California? :waah:

Gregski 12-05-2015 09:25 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
3 Attachment(s)
Alright Bonchitis you took three weeks of my life and that's all you're going to get! I don't care if I aint 100% I need to get back out there into the arena, [ahem] garage.

So its been a while, so I will remind you where we are at. We need to remove the drive shaft and separate the two pieces to see why it won't telescope in and out, cause in its current state / position it's about 1/2 inch too long to mount up to the differential.

So here we go. First we remove the dust shield thingie, which was a bear since it probably wasn't removed in 40 years, but we got it off.

Then we removed the drive shaft off of the truck cause it would be easier to work on it off the vehicle.

Gregski 12-05-2015 09:30 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty - Separation Anxiety
 
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now since this ol' two piece driveshaft was sufferin' from a bit of Separation Anxiety we decided we need to go to Home Depot and contrive a cockamini drive shaft separator

now this hardware may be Grade 3 if that, it ain't impressive at all but it may do

and $30.96 cents later we had ourselves the Drive Shaft Separator 3000

Gregski 12-05-2015 09:33 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
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well show us how it works bro

we start off my cutting the angle iron into four even pieces

then we assembly the separator like so

Gregski 12-05-2015 09:38 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
3 Attachment(s)
now you aint gonna set any world land speed records with this thing, but its safe not dangerous to use, its cheap, and eventually it gets the job done

we turn the nuts two half turns at a time on the four long studs, so go Stud 1 two turns Stud 2 two turns, Stud 1 two turns Stud 2 two turns, do that about 10 times then flip the drive shaft over and Stud 3 two turns Stud 4 two turns Stud 3 two turns Stud 4 two turns, we do that so the shaft don't bind and slowly we see progress ie splines, and then Victory! Victory! we have separation

I think it maybe took half and hour to do it, shoot better than taking it in for service and paying moneys

Gregski 12-05-2015 09:41 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 


So now the plan is to clean the splines and the inside cavity real good like cause I see some gunk / old grease at the bottom maybe its hydro locking the shaft so it can't go in more, maybe the shaft is just too long, we don't know yet

Top Tip: The splines and the female end are keyed in the sense that they go in only one way, that is important cause the drive shaft is balanced, so you ought to put it back together the proper way, the key is two splines grouped together so there is a small section where the spline appears to be double wide, just sayin'

Question for HATZIE when we go to lube it up again can we use the White Lightning grease you recommended earlier on in the show, or can we use my daddy's old Castrol all purpose grease instead?


enaberif 12-05-2015 09:49 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Well I am going to say that your driveshaft was in all the way meaning that if its too long you'll need to shorten it or see if you can somehow move your axle back.

Gregski 12-05-2015 09:50 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by enaberif (Post 7399913)
Well I am going to say that your driveshaft was in all the way meaning that if its too long you'll need to shorten it or see if you can somehow move your axle back.

can I just cut off 1/2 an inch from the spline end?

enaberif 12-05-2015 09:58 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregski (Post 7399915)
can I just cut off 1/2 an inch from the spline end?

LOL I sure ain't no expert on that! So I will let others chime in. :lol:

But it looks like its hit the end of the splines itself which means its all the way in its receiving end.

Could be a good time to check how long a 1 piece would be required and swap it out for that.

hatzie 12-05-2015 11:40 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Cutting down the splines really wont get you too far.
A driveshaft shop can shorten the rear shaft and balance both pieces as a unit. I'd farm that out. It's not expensive.

rich weyand 12-05-2015 11:58 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by hatzie (Post 7400042)
Cutting down the splines really wont get you too far.
A driveshaft shop can shorten the rear shaft and balance both pieces as a unit. I'd farm that out. It's not expensive.

Agreed. I used to do them, oh, forty-five years ago, when I worked in a machine shop. It's no big deal.

As for cutting those hardened splines, without taking the heat treat out of them? Good luck with that.

Gregski 12-06-2015 01:46 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
planning on taking the drive shaft in to a shop on Monday to have it shortened, thanks all for your help and advice, looks like I need about 3/4 of play in the yoke so I need to figure out how much to shorten that second rear shorter shaft

I have seen directions on how to measure the one piece drive shafts but haven't found anything on measuring a two piece with a center support bearing

Also my front shaft ends with the splines not the yoke, so I really don't know how to measure the length of the short shaft that comes after it as the yoke is in that rear one

I think I will just install the front one on the vehicle than slide the rear one in and out (now that it slides freely) and determine how much to take out of it that way, not gonna allow this to become Rocket Surgery, ha ha

rusty76 12-06-2015 12:55 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Is it possible you could get a one piece driveshaft from a donor truck? I know my 76s driveshaft is a one piece. Also it's a short bed. Just wondering. I have no idea. Just thought if you got one out of the junkyard it might would work. Either way your doing good. Keep on keeping.

Gregski 12-07-2015 12:00 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
1 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by rusty76 (Post 7400422)
Is it possible you could get a one piece driveshaft from a donor truck? I know my 76s driveshaft is a one piece. Also it's a short bed. Just wondering. I have no idea. Just thought if you got one out of the junkyard it might would work. Either way your doing good. Keep on keeping.

not sure how that would work or what type of one piece driveshaft I would need since my Muncie SM465 has a fixed yoke, it's bolted in and it does not slide in and out

enaberif 12-07-2015 12:17 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Fixed yoke is fine as you can get a slip joint on the driveshaft and then everything just bolts up.

At least in theory this works in my head.

But in all honesty just get the driveshaft shortened and your good to go.. Too much overthinking.

Gregski 12-07-2015 12:26 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by enaberif (Post 7401185)
...But in all honesty just get the driveshaft shortened and your good to go.. Too much overthinking.

That's the plan for tomorrow, stay tuned.

y5mgisi 12-07-2015 07:51 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Just FYI, a driveline from a 70s 4x4 suburban would probably work (one piece) but would probably also need shortened. With one piece drivelines with a fixed rear yoke like yours, they just put the slip in the driveline itself.

y5mgisi 12-07-2015 07:53 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Basically like these,

http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery...ivelines02.jpg

Gregski 12-07-2015 11:06 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by y5mgisi (Post 7401375)

hey but thank you so much for the explanation and the picture, you know what they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so 1,000 thanks to you my friend, I really appreciate it

hatzie 12-07-2015 01:52 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by rich weyand (Post 7400062)
Agreed. I used to do them, oh, forty-five years ago, when I worked in a machine shop. It's no big deal.

As for cutting those hardened splines, without taking the heat treat out of them? Good luck with that.

Like the guys that take a cutoff tool to the tail-shaft on the NV4500 to mount an NP205 because the Adapter kit isn't properly engineered.
Makes me cringe every time I see that.

Gregski 12-07-2015 03:06 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Took the driveshaft in to DRIVE LINE SERVICE of Sacramento and Jim saw the problem in about 2 minutes.

He walked over to a shelf and picked up a brand new spline end, took it out of the box and inserted it into my old drive shaft, then he said: This should go in at least an inch more, it seems like something is blocking it, maybe there is something in there.

For Reference: He could only get the new spline end to go as far as the grease fitting and not an inch or so past it as it should. I had the same results with my old spline end.


Then he sent me home to take a measurement from the center holes of the center bearing support bracket to the tip end of the yoke in the differential.

Which I did and report 32 3/4 inches.

He will see what it takes to fix my shaft, he thinks once it is working as it should there may be no need to shorten it. I also asked him to replace the center bearing with the rubber doughnut.

More as the news develops...

enaberif 12-07-2015 07:19 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Wondering if you have a metric ton of dirt and old grease stuck inside. Grease can become extremely hard and cause issues like that.

If you have something that will cut through old grease well fill the hole and let it sit.

Gregski 12-10-2015 09:18 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
2 Attachment(s)
got the fixed (not shortened) drive shaft back today, if you look closely at the before and after pictures you can see that once all the whatever was cleaned out of it it actually goes in about an inch more now, see how much closer to the center bearing it is now, it used to be about 1 1/2 away now its like 3/8 away

also had the center bearing replaced which included the new rubber doughnut - out the door for just shy of $80 bucks

plan on installing it either tomorrow after work or on Saturday, will update you all if it is the right length then

rgunlock 12-10-2015 10:00 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Sounds like $80 well spent. I'm sure it will fit fine now.

y5mgisi 12-10-2015 10:13 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Good enough!

enaberif 12-10-2015 10:56 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Wow looks good!

Gregski 12-11-2015 09:57 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
so we had a good day today, the drive shaft fits, I mounted it back up and with wheels on the ground we have 3/8th or 1/2 inch of additional going inability that should do for now

I wanted to share pics but my stupid battery died in my phone, so I will share some tomorrow

I went around and tightened everything back up since the entire rear end was dangling finger tight as we were trying to get that driveshaft to fit, so now its all tightened and good

Gregski 12-11-2015 10:04 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
3 Attachment(s)
naturally you lower the truck, and if you get past the driveshaft problems then something else creeps up, in our case it was the rear brake rubber line that attaches to the differential and feeds the two wheels

well I'm glad I saw it, or there would be no rear brakes soon

note how we fixed it, RoadKill would be proud (who watches that show on YouTube?)

Safety Police, this is a temporary fix to drive the truck to the side of the garage, we will get a longer rubber line soon enuff and route it proper like, or maybe go turn downs on the exhaust right after the mufflers and loose the bendy pipes over the diff, hmm - what say you?

Gregski 12-11-2015 10:05 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
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the fun continued...

as you recall we had to remove the fuel tank to grind off the rivets on the passenger side leaf spring hanger, so today we had to put the tank back on, but first, we had to drain it of gas, yes it did have TEN GALLONS of fuel in it, that's 5 trips to the wifes thirsty Honda Pilot with a 2 gallon red bucket

FUN LEVEL = 2

Gregski 12-11-2015 10:10 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
5 Attachment(s)
we tapped the old fuel sending unit out with a punch wrapped in electric tape and a hammer, and a few Hail Marys

I am glad the new single outlet sending unit came with a new rubber O ring and a new round metal retainer ring loop thingie, since in a bit of irony the old rubber O ring became hard, and the old metal retainer loop became soft, go figure

so here they are the old style sending unit and it's modern day replacement

Gregski 12-11-2015 10:13 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
wanted to show you the new unit in the tank and how a one man tank mounting operation goes, picture a dude under the truck working the jack handle with his foot, ha ha

but again the phone / camera battery died

so the tank is on the truck finger tight, I will button her up tomorrow as it got dark and a visitor came by, so it was time to stop wrenchin

tomorrow progress continues, hopefully we'll get a test drive in, and a pic of the truck on the ground


rusty76 12-12-2015 09:49 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
Glad too see things back in shape. I watch Roadkill religiously. Been watching it since day uno.

Gregski 12-12-2015 10:38 AM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
2 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by rusty76 (Post 7407498)
Glad too see things back in shape. I watch Roadkill religiously. Been watching it since day uno.

That's my boy, they do have a square body in their [ahem] fleet:

The Muscle Truck

Gregski 12-12-2015 06:02 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
2 Attachment(s)
so since I went to a single line fuel sending unit I decided to get a brand new vented gas cap, they had the fancy locking one, but it was made of plastic so I went for the stock looking metal one

here are the old and new caps compared, I wonder if my old one was even vented, as it looks different

Gregski 12-12-2015 06:04 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
5 Attachment(s)
and here's the new one

Gregski 12-12-2015 06:05 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
2 Attachment(s)
and here they are side by side for comparison

Gregski 12-12-2015 06:08 PM

Re: Restoring Rusty
 
3 Attachment(s)
then I decided to go back and shim the hangers as the new ones are 1/4 wider than the stock ones, (in the pick it looks like maybe an 1/8th but that's because the bracket was bent in from bolting it in too much), so a quick trip to Home Depot to get some 1/2 grade 8 washers, bought 9 but 3 on either side seemed to do the trick

the distance from the frame to the inside of the hanger appeared to be the same between the old and new hangers, so I only shimmed the outside


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