2017 F15A Starting over

[sth65pac]

Well now it was out, a small task of removing broken bolts.
Yep, tried the weld a nut on method. Failed.
Tried the drill small and managed to snap a 1/4" drill in the middle of one bolt then two either side of the two big holes.
Drilled around the edges on one broken drill and then with a diamond point chisel chipped away for just on 6 hours. I managed to get all of the old metal out and no damage to the threads in either hole.
After getting out the dirt and crap I ran a half cut bolt and cleaned up the threads. Now on to clean the case all up and put in new seals.

Cheers,

Ian

[sth65pac]

Today being Sunday requires little noise for everyone.
I set the task of getting the steering wheel off the shaft. After studying a bazillion techniques which looked dangerous or destructive, I came up with my own. A puller would just rip the arms on the wheel and hitting it at the back was out too.

I spied the steel reinforcing plate in the back of the wheel hub, and found the answer. Hit it with a decent punch on three angles (120 degrees apart) and jar it off the shaft. this made minimal damage to the 72 year old wheel.

What I didn't know was that there was a woodruff key of sorts in the shaft. carefully removed its in a plastic bag along with the wheel nut.

I have restored several wheels before so this one shouldn't be too difficult. I am going to do four steering wheels in one lot as the preparation and setting up is as bad for one as several. Enjoy.

Ian

[sth65pac]

Time to do the transfer case seals. No point in stripping a perfectly good case to the last nut and bolt. I had to replace the input shaft as the splines were badly worn probably due to people dropping the clutch back in the day!!! Thanks to Ross Prince for the appropriate seals.
I don't think that there's any point in explaining how they are removed and inserted. Its already been done before.

Two of which are soaking in oil to soften the leather lip. A nice treasure to find was the Ford Script on the slinger. Not seen a lot on CMP's, but made me smile.

[sth65pac]

Well after the great seal change I painted up the case and lugged it back to the shed.

I have also bolted in the X member and doublers with Hex head grade 8 high tensile bolts. For now it can stay that way until I have the set and dolly made. It is markedly better than what was there.

[sth65pac]

As is always the way with restoration most wear and tear is significant, and my truck is no different. The universals in the prop shafts were cactus. One had only two steel needle rollers left in the end caps. I obtained several new spiders for the worn props and pressed them in and out. About 16 hours work all up, re-packing the end caps and cleaning out the Zork grease nipples to make 100% sure that they would work.

The original Spicers were well and truly dead. I couldn't believe how good the overhaul did to make the units like new. The impossible bit was cleaining out the old hardened grease on the spline sleeves. NOT fun. they work fantastically now though.

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[sth65pac]

The final shaft is the Small shaft that goes between the gearbox and transfer case is the last one. Its soaking in petrol to loosen the gunk and dirt. A full strip and clean plus a complete rebuild is one of the next tasks.

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With all the parts being painted I forgot to show what is happening. SO here goes. Outside I have lots of parts in the shed awning.

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There is also the matter of the spare room. It is filling up at an ever accellerating pace. I have a new locker to put it all in but am yet to assemble it, so the spare room is great .

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[sth65pac]

I saw this on the pintle spring. A nice this to see after years of dirt over the top!

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Moving on I have started the steering box test and evaluation. I drained out the nice jam thickened oil. this was fairly easy to do but I was concerned that the worm inside might have damage from water. Nope, it looks quite ok.

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The shaft had a mud wasp inside and it took me a good hour to remove all of the mud and gunk from inside the shaft using a piece or 1/8" steel rod. Now I can thread the horn wire through the centre in the future.

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The last picture Steering socket: What have people used to replace the gungy old perished rubber seal? Do you just cut a piece of rubber to size?

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Cheers,

Ian