Builds chap79's Build Thread (4 Viewers)

[chap79]

your jackstands on gravel makes me nervous! be careful I once had a major accident this way......

Makes you nervous, I’m like every time I have to do this. Even more so when I’m working on the rear. Gravel with a slight grade keeps my life insurance policy high.

When I’m wrenching on it I usually add an extra set under the frame rails or sliders.

 

[chap79]

And as far as gathering wood in the Mohave Desert, it’s not that easy. I have lots of firewood at home, usually 2-3 cords split. I am just getting tired of half of the back of my truck being loaded with wood when I go out to camp for 4-5 days. And I don’t like having spiders and scorpions tagging along on my vacation escapes. And I don’t want to start towing a trailer for it.

Plus I use the wood to heat the house in the winter and for use in the outdoor fire pit.

I just need the fire ambience for the woman. I’m good with my headlamp, a book, and a bottle of scotch.

 

[chap79]

Got the rear axle cleaned up and painted too.

 

[chap79]

Remarked all my suspension fasteners for easy viewing if they’ve moved.

 

[1973Guppie]

I'm seriously shocked.
How could someone get burned from coals being covered by sand? I would imagine the coals would go out in a couple of minutes after being buried in the sand and certainly not last overnight or a few days.
It's not the only idiotic rule I've seen or heard about so I should not really be surprised.

sand acts as an insulator, we cooked a whole boar under the sand one night at surf and turf years ago, had it for breakfast, I still remember the gamy taste with my coffee the next morning, there was something very manly about cutting slices off a cooked board on a tailgate looking at the ocean and drinking coffee, my farts were bad that night, lol.....

 

[chap79]

On the way to work this morning I rolled over 250k.

 

[chap79]

I’ve been chasing a squealing drivetrain sound for the past few days. I originally thought brakes as I knew I was due. Replaced the front and rear pads as well as the rear rotors. I managed to get pebbles in the rear pads groove and grind them into the rotors.

Took it for a test drive and still had the same hair curling shreek of swine being butcher somewhere under the truck. So I put the axles up on four jack stands, put it in drive, and walked around to listen to what I hoped was a wheel bearing. It was not. So while my truck was precariously suspended in the air I crawled underneath it .

Got my squeal deduced to two possible things. Either the pinion bearing or the front housing of the transfer case. My hearing isn’t very good and it was difficult to tell which side it was coming from. I'm leaning towards the pinion. I added grease to the drive shaft and the noise went away. (I’m guessing due to added pressure on the preload).

Reason for thinking it is the pinion is because when I smacked it on a rock on John Bull it caused the 3rd member bolts on the housing to loosen up over the next couple of weeks. I hadn’t noticed until it was leaking fluid. I'm guessing the impact messed up the preload. Thoughts before I throw more money at it? @baldilocks @GW Nugget

 

[baldilocks]

Hard to tell. I have slammed pinion yokes and ground them on rocks in medieval fashion several times on my cruiser and past rigs without bothering the pinion bearings or differential in any way.

The squeal you describe would indicate oil or grease starvation. Even a diff bearing that’s toast won’t squeal like that if it is well lubed.

Is your pinion seal leaking oil?

 

[chap79]

Hard to tell. I have slammed pinion yokes and ground them on rocks in medieval fashion several times on my cruiser and past rigs without bothering the pinion bearings or differential in any way.

The squeal you describe would indicate oil or grease starvation. Even a diff bearing that’s toast won’t squeal like that if it is well lubed.

Is your pinion seal leaking oil?

Seal, no. The gasket was weeping but but the oil level was still full. I’m planning on topping it off and ordering a new install kit so I can tear into it when I get back.

Gotta pay to play.

 

[baldilocks]

If your diff is squealing that loudly, I would not drive it.

 

[chap79]

If your diff is squealing that loudly, I would not drive it.

If it was a Jeep, I’d agree. See ya on Friday.

 

[Outsane]

If it was a Jeep, I’d agree. See ya on Friday.

 

[chap79]

Happy Easter!

Well.... my truck is back together and drivable. The real test will be to see how it does on tomorrow’s drive to work.

As for the repairs, I rebuilt my front 3rd member over the weekend. I realized after I had it out of the truck and sitting on the workbench that I didn’t have a thin walled 30mm socket anywhere. Did it walk off? So after some work on the make shift lathe I had one that fit.

Dissembling the 3rd is pretty straightforward if you have the right tools: shop press, bearing splitter, old bearing races and misc metal pieces to use as press tools. Didn’t take many pictures during the whole process as my hands were covered in grease and oil. To remove the large pinion bearing race from the 3rd I made some half moon shapes of our 3/16” steel plate that you can maneuver inside. Then place a socket on top and press it out with the shop press. No bounding on it for an hour with a brass drift.

For reessembly I ended up making a stand to hold the 3rd so I could set it up.

Glad I had some random 2x2 square stock collecting dust. The first pattern check as you can see above was with the original pinion washer (.0780”) and was too deep. I settled on .0755” and that looked much better (no picture though).

After settling on the pinion depth I tore it apart again to put in the crush sleeve , oil slinger, and dust seal. Then I had to come up with another jig to hold the 3rd still so I could set the preload. The first jig failed, 1/8” angle iron bolted to the workbench. Tore the flang bolts right through the angle iron when trying to compress the crush sleeve. So more 2x2 was used.

When I checked the preload I found something was completely wrong. It would go from 0 in/lbs to 20! Completely uneven. So I pulled the pinion out and checked the crush sleeve. Sure enough it was oblong. I’m guessing in all my fighting with the jigs it off centered. Luckily I had an extra. This time I put some grease inside the crush sleeve to keep it centered on the pinion and tried again. Success! Bearing preload smooth at 17 in/lbs with the seal installed. This side done!

Reinstalled the carrier bearings and checked the backlash on every fourth tooth, well within tolerance at .0065-0075. Rechecked the pattern, looked good, tightened the 4 cap bolts, installed the retainer clips and DONE!

A quick test drive and no strange sounds. Guess we will see what happens tomorrow.

Cheers!

 

[chap79]

Well, here’s where it stands currently:

If you kept up with the thread I pulled the front 3rd due to the pinion bearing squealing really bad. I also had a vibration that I thought was coming from the transfer case output bearing. With the third member rebuilt the squeal is gone. I did reuse my old gears so time will tell if that was a horrible idea or not.

Driving to and from work today the vibration under load is horrible. Another check under the truck once home and I can see that my relatively new DC drive shaft has play in the DC portion. Pulled the DS and drove up and down the road; no vibes, no squeals, only the sound of my broken rattling muffler.

I still have the stock drive shaft so I may toss that back in... in a day or so...

 

[Outsane]

hate when that happens... at least you found the problem..

 

[Dragos80]

What would cause the DC shaft to vibrate so much?
Worn out? Out of balance (off road direct hit)?

 

[baldilocks]

What sort of castor correction have you done?

 

[chap79]

What would cause the DC shaft to vibrate so much?
Worn out? Out of balance (off road direct hit)?

The u-joints in the CV are toast.

What sort of castor correction have you done?

I'm running Slee caster plates. My caster is on the low side and I've been thinking about buying his radius arms. But I have a wedding to take care of first. I know, I know....

 

[Dragos80]

80's tend to last longer...

 

[baldilocks]

The u-joints in the CV are toast.


I'm running Slee caster plates. My caster is on the low side and I've been thinking about buying his radius arms. But I have a wedding to take care of first. I know, I know....

I also have Slee plates for 4” lift. My front lift is more like 4.5” and my castor is less than 1*.
I was wondering more about your pinion angle. With what you have, you should be set well for the DC shaft which requires zero angle between the pinion shaft and driveline.
My DC front shaft has run smoothly with J springs, Slee 4”, OME 5” comps and now with the 4.5” set up. If we go to Slee arms in order to dial in more castor angle, pinion angle would then become an issue. My rig is part time now but a smooth operating shaft for deep snow and mud performance is still desired.