Ford-O-Matic tailshaft removal?

When I was working on getting my Edsel going last November, one of the holdups was that the original driveshaft would not go into the original ******. I would pound on it with a hammer a little, and it would barely budge. I didn't do that any more. The yoke was very clean already, but I took some emery cloth to it, and wire-brushed the insides with PB-Blaster. It was very clean. The trans is original, the tailshaft should still be, I know my ****** guy replaced the case since it was cracked, but the tailshaft should be the same.

Anyways, I've never taken a trans apart, but I want to to see if I can see why it won't go in. I wouldn't hesitate on the TH350's I have, but this tailshaft is damn near 2 feet long, and has the ****** mount built in! Is there a specific way to take this off? Mainly I just want to make sure I don't pull it off, only to have gears and springs flying all over the place. Just undo the bolts, and pull it off?

 

A couple of thoughts: Can you measure the tailshaft diameter and spline dimensions without too much trouble using a vernier caliper? If so I would check the shaft, then check the yoke and see what is different.

If you really need to get the tailshaft housing off I would advise getting a manual or copy the section from a library where they have motors manuals. Generally you would have to support the trans at the pan, then take the mount bolts out, along with any speedometer cable and the ge****t that goes into the tailshaft housing. After that the tailshaft housing usually will come out.

 

The diameter and the splines are dead on... It will slip in a good couple inches, but then it just stops. It shouldn't be different. The driveshaft is original, and the trans is the original rebuilt unit, so nothing has really changed.

I have original Edsel service manuals now that I think of it. I'll check them out.

 

Sounds like the yoke splines are not deep enough. But most yokes don't go in more than 2-3 inches before bottoming.

Try measuring the shaft spline depth and the yoke spline depth with the vernier calipers or just a little screwdriver and see what the difference is.