Mike, The Devil is in the details So hard NOT to address these issues while they are in your face. Good job my friend The Prez
Frame repair where the constant cyclic load of the knee lever shocks lead to cracks in the frame. Cutting out both layers, but making sure cuts are staggered. Welding in new metal and spraying some weld through primer before closing up. I added a 5/16” carriage bolt to pull the two layers together. I will run tube shocks instead of the Houdaille shocks. Same was done on the other side. I also Por15’d between the two layers where I separated the frame from x-member. Last job for today was welding in the plate with the wishbone mount. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Very impressive the way you work that metal. Love that Cadillac engine. That car has always been my dream car.
Good to see that you are still on it Mike. There is always a satisfaction in doing work for your harshest critic, yourself! Inspiration for me to get back on my 39. (Been sidetracked sorting out all the shit that life sometimes throws at you. )
Finally got around to working on the Merc. First order of business was to lay out the crossmember geometry to determine where and how much to cut. I made a cardboard template and transcribed it on a piece of plywood. Everybody who has ever cut a baseboard knows that the cut has to be at half the angle in order to make the pieces line up. The crossmember has some weird angles so this is not an exact science. I am shooting for 5” in addition of the spacer I already removed. I made an attempt to bend it in place, but that was not going to happen because I welded in a cross brace to make sure the frame width does not change. Bending in place would have required the rails to move out somewhat even if the final dimension on paper indicated there was little change in finished width. Anyway, the crossmember has to come out which made the welding and grinding easier. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I made templates at the bottom, top and rear view to trim the crossmember to fit. I had to trim almost 1/4” in the front and on top, so bending in place would have never worked. Lesson learned. I cleaned and beveled the outside edges almost to full thickness to get good weld penetration. After the outside was welded I flipped the frame to weld from the inside as well. Still need to make small filler pieces where the bottom lip does not line up, and grind the welds. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
My car was done in the 60's the easy way with a straight tube across but if i did it today it would be just like yours! Great job. Looks nice.
Took a break and got busy with some project around the house and traveled to Europe on business and added a week in Switzerland visiting with family and friends. Anyway, I’m back finishing the crossmember. I wanted all the visible welds to blend in as well as possible and used the angle grinder with solid wheel, flap wheel, die grinder with cut off wheel, and carbide bit. Usually I use the needle scaler to get the surface texture to match the surface rust, but the scaler is broken so I just used the die grinder. The straightener crossmember results in A 5” drop and an additional 2” if I leave the factory spacer out. I will decide once I set up the chassis. This was another one of my “this shouldn’t take more than a day projects” that kept me busy far longer. I still have to replace the factory rivets I removed to de-rust the crossmember. Stay tuned! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Frame is ready for sandblasting. I replaced the rivets I had to remove for de-rusting the joints between frame and boxing plates/crossmember. I used 3/8” carriage bolts. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Frame is epoxy primer and painted with Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black which is a toughend, urethane based paint. Most chassis parts are in paint as well. All new Lincoln brakes and drums, new 5.5” hubs, front and rear springs, tube shocks for front. Still have a bunch of small parts to order. The rear axle is all apart, cleaned and rear dry to be put together. Unfortunately my source who rebuilt my last one is no longer available so I will have to tackle it myself. The first issue I encountered was the torque tube center bearing, which all manuals skip because it is not reproduced and the bearing itself sees very little load. However, the torque tube was completely full with sludge and grit which made me want to pull the bearing to clean the tube. I made a puller to pull the gearing out to the back. The ID of the driveshaft necks down about 1/4” where the bearing seats and has a shoulder on the front. Here’s the bearing... After some cleanup I found the rubber casing had deteriorated and softened beyond hope. The bearing itself however is in good shape. This is what it should look like Some research and recreation confirmed an OD of 2.38”. There is a slight hump of 2.7” diameter which keeps the bearing from sliding back towards the rear. I was able to measure it with an extended bore gauge and much patience. I decided to recast the rubber reusing the original bearing. I made a delrin plug with the correct OD of 2.83” and cast it in plaster. I used a casting urethane from McMaster.com to recast the rubber portion, after thoroughly cleaning the bearing and sanding the OD. The orange thing is a piece of foam to form the recess in the rubber to allow grease to find its way into the bearing. There are two delrin discs underneath the foam which form the passage and prevent the bearing cage from filling up with liquid urethane. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
One improvement could have been to coat the plaster mold with wax to prevent the urethane from sticking. A quick dressing in the belt sander took care of it. The last step was to replace the felt seals. I found the correct OD felt washed, but had to enlarge the ID. Ready to be installed! I made a big washer and spacer to pull the baring in place. Not knowing how much force this would take, i did not want to only pull on the bearing, but apply the force in the rubber as well. The pointers indicate where the grease opening has to align with the zerk fitting in the torque tube I used a wood dowel to attach an extension so I could push the puller in and keep it aligned. A long bolt and washers are used to pull it in place. Grease opening is showing as the bearing is pulled in. A couple of more turns and the bearing is in place! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Great job on the bearing rubber. I had the same problem when I pulled my bearing out. Skip Haney in Florida sells a replacement bearing assembly. I think if I knew how to, I would have done it the way you did it.
I came across that when I researched, but didn’t know if he was still selling it. In the end it only cost me $40 for the urethane. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Made good progress on the rear axle this weekend. But first a shout out to Andrew Kohler at Kohler Kustoms for a great job dropping my axle and spindles- thanks! Unfortunately my local source for rebuilding the rear axle has run dry so I am giving it my best shot. I bought the Vern Tardel booklet but was a little underwhelmed because it skips all the critical steps how the set gear lash, etc. i have a couple of other sources and the Ford Service manual that covers some of the missing information. I had previously disassembled and cleaned everything, and ordered a complete bearing set. I already pulled the races in the axle bells by running a weld bead around the circumference and using a slide hammer. I used a generic puller to remove the bearings of the differential carrier, although I broke one of the arms even though I applied heat on bearing. I ended up cutting the cage and remove the rollers so I could apply heat directly to the race. They finally budged, but not easily. I heated up the bearings using a hot air gun prior to installation, and oiled the mating surfaces. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The pinion has two tapered roller bearings, the one adjacent to the pinion is an interference fit. The second bearing is a tight slide fit and is used with the two pinion nuts to set the pinion drag which is 15 in lbs. the pinion is first assembled, then the housing neck is heated for a few minutes to about 250F. Prior, I changed the pinion support bearing in a similar fashion. The length of the pinion / driveshaft complicates the assembly process somewhat, but also makes it easier to align before installation. The decision to assemble them vertically made it easy and the pinion practically dropped into place once aligned. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Getting the bearing drag set is somewhat tedious, as the lock nut affects the setting of the first nut. Two 1-7/8” wrenches are required @$30/ea from Amazon. I made a crude torque gauge using a pice of wood and a 1.5lb axe head. At 10” from the shaft the shaft should start to spin if the bearing preload is correct. The last pic shows the axe weight used in an adjustable fashion similar to a scale. I used a break pedal as a bushing to reduce friction on on the saw horse supporting the long shaft. Once the two nuts are tightened, the special washer is hammered in place. Finally, I built an assembly stand to help with the gasket selection to set the gear lash. I still need to study the procedure in detail for next weekend.... Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Ingenious as usual Swissy Still love the H.A.M.B. for these types of tutorials Built a bunch of Dodge axles, whilst at Chrysler. Much easier because of all the factory tools and training Damn Dakota gears would whine at 42mph Country roads surrounding dealership had 45mph speed limits.
Continuing with the assembly of the axle. All parts were marked using a punch or Dremel prior to disassembly. I used Loctite in addition to the safety wire after torquing to 30 ft lbs. The axle assembly is then dropped into the right axle bell which is torqued to the center housing with a .007” shim. The stock assembly used .008” shims on both sides. With the left axle bell in place with the same shim there should be slightly increased drag when turning both axles simultaneously, indicating that the two roller bearings are preloaded correctly between the two axle bells. The pinion should have .003”-.010” lash. I ended up with .0045”. If the lash is too big, a thinner gasket needs to replaced on the right axle bell to move the ring gear closer to the pinion. The same amount would have to be added on the left side in order to keep the distance between the two axle bells constant, and not to change the preload established before. Everything looks good, now removing the axle bells again and applying shellac sealer on the gasket surfaces before final reassembly. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I can’t hardly believe I hadn’t posted in 6 months. Got quite a bit done in the meantime. First was the transmission rebuild: Rear mount was broken, but easy to get. I purchased a complete rebuild kit with Timken bearings and all the small parts. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Steering box got a NOS worm gear new sector bushing and nice used sector. Slicing the old sector is the easiest way to remove it: Threading the steering shaft and pulling the new heated gear in place. I had to give the shaft a few tacks with the welder to keep it from spinning in the vise Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The Jalopy Journal
