Again, I spoke too soon. The trans is leaking again, the only thing I can think of is the converter is back filling the trans as it sits in an angled driveway. After about 2 weeks of sitting it's down almost a quart (it also leaks a little as I drive out of the speedo cable, via the gear). I don't wanna pull it again, but this sucks. New plan is to slightly venture away from the original build and go to a manual. So '39 pedals, to a 3.03 Ford with a T150 top. I might wait until the '28 is done so I can weld the floor properly or at my mom's again hacking away.
Well that was 2017, now I get to use the BCA bearings and new seals as the drivers side popped in the driveway just after we got home. Thanks truck for waiting to get us home, but the whole project has to wait a few months as I need to help my mom.
Awesome truck! And great work on it. This truck was one of the reasons I painted mine black, it just looks so good!
Thanks everyone. Well, so much for an easy bearing replacement. I need more parts, the center has to come out and need to wake up earlier tomorrow. Also now I have to find my balls......hopefully nothing got chewed up as the center chunk bearings are new. I didn't hear anything bad, just puked it guts out in the driveway. I want to make sure that the vent is clear before I put it back together. Did I mention I hate heat enough over the years. 90+ and I'm in the sun.
55-56, not as strong as the 60s . Stupid question time. I've never had a vent apart on these rears, do they have a filter inside or are they straight through?. If there's nothing inside and it still has the cap on it it should be clear.
Thanks Johnny. Bearings felt ok when I put the truck together in 2017.......famous last words. The new seals might be a little bigger then the originals that came in the bearings as they made the bearing a little harder to spin when the seal was installed. I didn't make the outer seal lip flush with the bearing, I put the lip of the seal just slightly over the hub of the bearing. I also cleaned out the old semi hardened grease in the NORS bearing and replaced it with new synthetic wheel bearing grease (1.25 teaspoons per a Chevy TSB). I'm a little concerned how they turn now with the new seal installed as I found a post on a Chevy board about the new seals "may or may not" fit because of many different manufactures of bearings and only one seal. I don't want the bearing cage to wear through the seal or burn bearings.
Anyone ever use this one piece aluminum axle retainer from Dutchman.......is there really a need for them? They say the stock stamped one can/may flex and the O ring might leak. Have some NOS bearings coming, got all my gaskets, have magnet, went to Smart and Final and got some plastic ladles.
Or these from a Hamber (last posted 2017). I think if I was to make some of these I would make it go all the way around the foot. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1955-chevy-rear-bearing-retainer-plates.1028087/ https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...4-chevy-cars-www-tri-5weecrafted-com.1049401/
Seems like Dutchman is the only one making them now. @Johnny Gee do you use these or just run the stock setup?.
How many ball are in the bearings?. It looks like some are missing but I don't see a way they can get out without the shells coming apart and I just found pieces of cages near the bearing. I took it all apart, clean it out and didn't find anything in the gears OR housing.....no chunks or glitter. Btw it SUUUUCKS to pull the 3rd member out in an angled driveway.......not the way I envisioned my end....it's gotta be cooler then that. So big rubber wheels chocks, big ratchet strap with axle straps around the pole in front of the washer.
I also bought new bearings, I didn't like the feel of the BCA bearings after the new seal install.....so I wasted two NORS bearings .......not going to try to lube these, they turn fine.
It's all back together and I went on a test drive, so far no leaks. The press worked really nice also....
I think I found the seeping from the rear, both tubes were always damp after a few months of driving. Both backing plates were dry (before the seal let loose), but I noticed when I was replacing the bearings that there was small welding creators in the tubes when they welded the spring perches on. After I cleaned up the tubes I can see a little oil seeping from a small part of the weld on both sides. If I can get in there to clean it I'll try some black silicone .
Sooooo, I didn't want to touch things yesterday since it was Friday the 13th (it's not cause I'm lazy ). I back down the driveway today in the pickup to take it to my moms garage and the trans is slipping, crap I need fluid. Shut off the truck, go to open the hood and SNAP...off comes a big chunk of hood release handle. So I finally get it open, fill the trans and can't get it fully latched again. Yup, fun times.....so I find a long skinny screwdriver and jamb it into the latch pivot point so it can't open and drive it like that. How does it snap 1/2 way up the big part, why is this pot metal, why is this thing so hard to latch and unlatch, why is there no adjustment......ALL these questions and more will be answered on the next episode of "In Search Of". The downside is there's a seam leak on the radiator (which started this all), now I noticed some fin rot. I have another radiator I think, but it's a stock one converted to a SBC and they made this one not hang below the "chin" like the stock one so the bottom tank wouldn't be the lowest point. Salt air is a killer on uncoated copper/brass, so I don't want to kill a Brassworks one. Going back tomorrow for more sadness and pictures.
I know someone on here was making a hood release handle out of a single chunk of steel and having a machine shop do it. I'm seriously thinking to make one out of a couple of pieces of steel welded together, shaped and chromed, if I can't get this thing to latch super easy.
Hey 1OT, It has some connection "hoo-doo" about mom's and old hot rods... Ever since my brother got his first Oldsmobile sedan and made it look like a fast car, she was against him driving it to school or work. Then when he sold the Model A Coupe and his now Lime Green Oldsmobile Sedan, she was totally up in arms when we uncapped the short exhaust pipes under the new 348 Impala motor he had installed. The capper was when we built the 283-292 SBC motor in our Willys Coupe and fired it up in the backyard... she went nuts saying all sorts of things about noise, going fast and racing... all not so good. Ha! So, the aftermath of our drag racing accident led to her anger or desperation toward all things that made noise or looked as if it would make noise. The funny thing was, during our surf adventures with the flathead 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, she liked that it did not make much noise, had plenty of room for transporting trees, large plants and a bunch of stuff for the local city/county dump. So, she actually liked that we were outside in the ocean doing good things. But for some reason, when my wife and I bought the last 327 SBC powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery project, it sounded a little like a hot rod with a slight rumble. That she did not like. The other thing was that it was only for two and no more people could go places inside the sedan delivery. So, when we were going to celebrate one of her birthday events, my wife and I got in a hurry at our house. I checked the sedan delivery and it was all cleaned out and looked great. I had to check out the motor in case she wanted to look inside... for what reason, I have no idea. But, I opened the hood with the standard hood latch like I have done a million times. But, the million and one time, it snapped off in the closest end to the pivot. Jnaki I was standing there looking at the broken part in my hand and not wanting to take the sedan delivery since I could not open the hood once I closed it. I sat there wondering how I would open it if an emergency appeared in the engine compartment. So, I figured out I could use a small vise grip clamped on to the short stub and click open the latch to raise the hood. The hood latch still kept it tightly locked, but I added a nylon strap to tighten it more and hid it inside of the grille area. The great thing was our old Westside of Long Beach house was three blocks from the old Early Ford Parts Obsolete store. They said that the metal for those stock handles are brittle and could break. Duh! So I purchased a N.O.S. version and for the next 100 hood openings until we sold the sedan delivery, it did not cause any breakage or problems. But, I was a little less in a hurry, made sure I grabbed it with leverage, but not at the end of the lever. Note: Here is a great old photo about the said easily broken lever on the 40 hood.
Well it's been awhile and I've done some small work on it. I pulled the radiator out and had it re-cored, decided to put all the air dam panels back in at the same time. I got the side panels from @Bandit Billy (thanks again for the parts) and the secondary latch. I ended up rewiring the lights so I could have different connectors since the old connectors would hook on the radiator when I pulled it out. To keep the look the same I found some 14g trailer wiring (old was 16g or 18g), a square 4 connector (instead of the flat 4 that was in it), better grommets through the inner fender, covered the wiring with asphalt cover and tied it up better. The horn was hooked to a single inner fender bolt above the tire and I was afraid it was going to stress crack around the bolt. I made a bracket to hook to the bumper iron bolt and also rest on top of the iron so it won't rotate on the single bolt. Since I have an apparent obsession with fasteners, I replaced the bumper iron bolts which were too short (didn't engage the nyloc plastic part of the nut) I found some armor coated USA made bolts on eBay (surprisingly difficult to find USA made bolts) and used them. Horn on new bracket (yes it clears the turning wheel):
I also rewired the headlights and got the running lights working. I had one intact housing and one in pieces, thankfully I found another one on the Fordbarn. The headlight terminals where kinda fun to find, turns out they're a 59 series terminal (5/16" blade) and the Au-ve-co # is 18651 for a SINGLE wire 16-14g wire and a 18690 for a single 12g or DOUBLE 16-14g. These will snap into a 3 prong headlight connector holder. I also replaced the 16" clutch fan with an 18" rigid fan (we'll see how loud it is). I used a mid/late 60s Ford fan spacer since SBC short water pumps use a 1.75" bolt pattern (so do Fords) and the long water pump uses a 2.25" bolt pattern. Seems a lot/most SBC short pumps used a fan clutch as I couldn't find a stock spacer that wasn't for a 2.25 bp. Old set up: New setup:
I replaced the broken hood latch, I'm now modifying the lower air cover under the radiator, making a cover for the latch area for more air flow/block hot air and trying to modify the latch bracket so the hood latch operates easier. More pics to come.
Lower air cover sectioned 1" and made a dam to cover the rest of the area to the radiator since the trans cooler lines are in the way. Slow progress as I'm helping my mom again. Lower: Also started to make a upper panel to cover the grille area.
From my career experience, I would agree. The top one would keep the fresh cooler air going into the radiator and not over it. The lower one and probably the top one too would keep the heated up air from the radiator from recirculating back around in front of the radiator. It's amazing how air flows can go in underhood environments.
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