Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

Private_collector · #1 02-10-11, 11:55

With the nose panel & second seat not ready for return from sandblaster due to a machinery breakdown, I went back to work on the rear axle.
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This weekend I got the drivers side hub off & removed all bearings from both sides. As with the mates side, the drivers side hub nuts showed signs of chisel marks in direction of loosening. Nuts are OK & needed only a filing down to remove burrs. Notice the 'dimples' on the stub in the 2nd photo? Only short axle end had these. Other end would have been done by someone else & I guess they had other ideas.
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With the inner seals removed, it was easy to see why the insides of both hubs were dramatically fouled with oil/grease and dried dirt mixture. The seal shown here was the worst of the two. The extent of gunk buildup has been shown in a previous posting.
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The short axle shaft has been damaged at some stage. It's not the damage that concerns me so much as how it happened. There was no metal pieces in the drained oil, at least none that fell out with the oil. May be best if I crack the two halves of the diff open to check the crown & pinion. Are the correct gaskets still available or will I need to make my own???

Hopefully, I can take the hubs to the blaster next weekend with some other pieces. Won't have to worry about sand in bearings, but will pack these areas heavilly with rags so no damage occurs.
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The bearings have been checked, cleaned, given a coat of light oil (until i'm ready to repack) and mothballed on the shelf while I await new seals, gaskets and wheel cylinders from RockAuto in USA.

I've got 2 weeks off in mid October & hope to have the diff back together by then, so it can go for blasting and priming. There is a sodablasting Co local, BUT they charge $210.00 per hour. An old mate of mine reckons thats more than prostitutes charge........................I wonder how he knows that for sure.

Phil Waterman · #2 02-10-11, 15:21

Hi Tony

Having played the game of broken axle shafts I would suggest that you go ahead and remove the Diff Carrier and clean it well. When an axle has broken often it leaves lots of small bits of metal. You may find that the marks on the end of the axle shaft didn't even happen in your truck and that the shaft has been changed from another truck.

I've never seen the big diff gaskets, what I've done is gotten a couple of good grade lithograph paper from a print shop and cut my own. Then I use a good spray gasket sealant to soak them and let them dry then give them another coat both sides and install.

If you get to the point that you need another axle, then obviously looking for a donor is always a good idea. Down your way that should not be to hard. Where I live there are not many CMPs so I actually had shaft made by a racing equipment outfit, they make axles for race cars and drag tractors.

Cheers Phil

Private_collector · #3 04-10-11, 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Having played the game of broken axle shafts I would suggest that you go ahead and remove the Diff Carrier and clean it well. When an axle has broken often it leaves lots of small bits of metal. You may find that the marks on the end of the axle shaft didn't even happen in your truck and that the shaft has been changed from another truck.

Phil,

You are absolutely right. I plan to open the diff this weekend. Don't want to have any need to do so later, and that means there can be no shortcuts now.

Re: The diff gasket. Do you mean you join two pieces of gasket sheet to make one piece? If so, do you double them over and build up to an even thickness??

I'm sitting here making new axle gaskets, but am not sure how you mean for the diff one.

Keith Webb · #4 04-10-11, 12:21

The ones I've opened up have a very thin gasket holding the two halves together. You don't want any movement there when it's bolted back together again!

Phil Waterman · #5 04-10-11, 16:53

Hi Tony

Gasket material as sheet stock has gotten hard to find in this day of silicon-based sealants, particularly finding sheets that are large enough to make one-piece gaskets for things like differential housings. Over the years I picked up a stock of sheet stuff at flee markets but just as with NOS gasket sets and the cork gasket material does tend to dry out, or has been rolled so it is hard to get flat.

What I have been using is high grade printing stock paper from a local print shop. Also use tag stock, as used in manila folders this is what I use to print small gaskets from computer. For the larger stuff 24x36 using high fiber or rag content print paper like they print wedding invitations on.

Walked into a printing shop with a micrometer and asked to see their sample book, then proceeded to check the thickness of the various weights of paper. Guy asked me what I was doing and I explained, in the end the guy sold me a box of left over miscellaneous thickness and types paper with 200+ sheets real cheep around ten bucks.

When making large gasket I cut out the gaskets and then spray them with Permatex Spray Gasket (item 80065) which is meant to seal cut gaskets, and to make them sticky so that they stay in place while being assembled. Lay the gasket to be sprayed on wax paper, spray one side and let it get tacky then respray, to spray the other side you need fresh wax paper as the Permatex is like contact cement it will stick to any surface that has already been sprayed. But it won't really stick to fresh wax paper unless you press on it. Then you spray the back side as with the other side and let it get tacky and it is ready to install.

Why did I want various thicknesses, for things like transfer cases where the thickness of the gaskets gets into the preset of the bearings. As I disassemble I save the old gasket (or part of it) to measure thickness when I'm ready to reassemble I select the paper with the closest thickness and go through the shimming process to get the proper preload.

Hope this helps

Cheers Phil

Private_collector · #6 05-10-11, 13:27

That's some interesting information. I'll print your posting and add it to my files for future reference. I have emailed Ross Prince, in Hervey Bay. He might have the bits I need.

Private_collector · #7 06-10-11, 09:51

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This Silex catalog arrived today. It was an Australian Co. so no use to rest of world I suspect. Limited use inside Aust too possibly, but here it is just in case!

The applicable pages for CMPs.
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Ford
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Chev
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Column Headings.

Private_collector · #8 09-10-11, 11:17

Work on the rear axle continues.
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Diff case opened, the cleaning & assessment has began. Insides of casing were OK, but both the seals and bearing cones are not & will need replacing. I have ordered the seals from Ross Prince but feel I only asked for the fibre ring and will also need the metal part too.
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The pinion seal parts are knackered also. Once again, I will have to revise my parts order. As you see, I had to fight the metal bit to get it out.
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Didn't find any evidence of what had damaged the shorter axle end, and the differential itself seems to be OK. One of the bearings has some rust pitting on a number of the rollers and will need replacing.

Hanno Spoelstra · #9 02-10-11, 22:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Attachment 44132 Attachment 44133
This weekend I got the drivers side hub off & removed all bearings from both sides. As with the mates side, the drivers side hub nuts showed signs of chisel marks in direction of loosening. Nuts are OK & needed only a filing down to remove burrs. Notice the 'dimples' on the stub in the 2nd photo? Only short axle end had these. Other end would have been done by someone else & I guess they had other ideas.

Tony,

Looks like the stub has been worked over with a centre punch, creating raised dimples. This is sometimes done to give the inner bearing race a bit of grip to prevent it from rotating.

HTH,
Hanno