Driving from California to Illinois--with 2 X H.A.M.B. friendly vehicles

Good news for sure... yeah 12 bolt should be pretty common, just remember to get diff fluid also while your there. and maybe get some red permatex to put around the outside of the seal where it goes into the axle housing they are prone to leaking...

 

Stubbs... Thank you again.. I'll post an update when I have one... Just to double check as I'm having a hard time finding a diagram on-line... There is just the one bearing for the pinion that can be removed without taking the rear cover off?? I want to make sure that I understand this completely.. Hopefully I'm not sounding too dumb if I'm possibly turning this mole hill into a mountain..

 

When you're laying on your back in a parking lot hundreds of miles from home torque specs are "tight as you can get it and a half turn more". If there is any excessive wear on the pinion or other problems back there just deal with it when ever you have to.

Get home ET. Get home.

 

48-- thanks for that parking lot advice.. I'm probably gonna need it in a couple hours here.. I'm hoping that "couple" hundred is good for the 1700+ that I've got ahead of me..

(right now I'm sitting in this parking lot and a cattle transport just pulled up and the driver is taking a break... I don't think I've ever heard so much moo'ing from living hamburger... I don't imagine that is a load that would be very welcome at a truck stop overnite...)
--- blame this ridiculous posting on boredom sitting here in the cold, idling, anticipating my next on the road repair---

Update @ 7:15 am.. Just stopped by NAPA here in town and confirmed what I thought.. Now to down play any of the advice received... But there are two bearings on the pinion and I figure if I'm going to do one- they need to both be done... Headed to a local shop now to see if they can help..

 

Update: well, it looks like as bad as the economy supposedly is-- no one is willing to make any extra money even when offered twice the asked hourly rate..(-- that would have been an easy $170/hr). I'm going to attempt this one in the parking lot at NAPA if they let me. I guess no one who works as a mechanic anymore does side work? Oh well-- I'm on my own again...

 

Best of luck on your repair. Hopefully ( and there's a good chance ) your R & P are ok.

Reminds me of the early 60s headed back to Eugene, Or from the infamous Seaside riots. Had the yoke nut back off in my 52 ford in downtown Portland about 8 at nite. The pinion sucked back and it got real ugly. We pulled out all the broken teeth and made it the other 100 or so miles home. Lil noisey ... lol

 

Well... I made it to Elko, NV tonight after a very trying day. After checking with a couple locally owned shops in Battle Mountain this morning--I found that no one wanted to make some extra $$$.. So, I found myself in the NAPA parking lot pulling the driveshaft. After pulling the driveshaft-I found that I could turn the pinion nut by hand--and it took very little effort to remove the nut with a pair of pliers in my makeshift emergency tool kit which again grew today due to necessity. After pulling the nut and the pinion--and not seeing any apparent damage--I proceeded into NAPA to get a seal and see if they had a new nut by chance-but all I got was the seal. When I went back out-- I got back under the truck after not-so-safely jacking the ass end up with the trailer jack.. Yeah--stupid-but it worked good. I got it up high enough to almost get the rear wheels up-but left them on the ground. I could almost sit up underneath the 'Burb.. So--being that I like to work on 'clean' stuff.. I started chipping away at all the grease to see what was going on with the rearend. Well--upon initial view it looked like someone had done the old-school axle-strengthening or whatever to the housing by building an V-frame from one side of the axle to the other. Well--I soon found that the round stock bar that was bent was something more like a small protector. The 12-Bolt housing was severely beaten I'm guessing earlier on in life. I'm guessing that maybe after hitting rocks or something up on the ranch that there were cracks or something in the housing that were machined out at one time. But, if you look close at the pics--you see the half-moon cutouts on the top and bottom. Oh--and the welding job. Don't even get me started as that sheetmetal is really barely held in there. The grease was doing a better job holding it all together than the weld. Anyway-after cleaning off the front and rear of the axle--I decided to check the front bearing. I still didn't know if I was going to have to pull the rear cover--I was praying I wouldn't have to. After much consulting with my dad--I got off the phone and made my own move. I pulled the front bearing--and upon inspection it looked very good. No inordinate wear and the race looked equally nice. (much better than the axle bearings for the front hubs that I removed and replaced after re-packing them). I could see the surface of the rear bearing through the pinion housing and it looked okay too. The crush sleeve was in place as well--so--I decided to just put a new seal in, and tighten it all back down 'tight'. I know there is a set pre-load for the bearings when the rear ends are first built--but this was not my planned maintenance activity and a full-rebuild in the dirt parking lot was not the answer..

Here are the pics of what I was looking at..


(rear end looks pretty solid with the angled gussets right..just wait..)




just after popping the seal out.. I hadn't lost as much oil from the rear as I had thought..


everything looks good even though the pinion and yoke were so sloppily connected..




and the bearing.. looking useable still


and... Here it is as I couldn't stand all the grease build up.. See all the holes??? HOLY SHIT is right...




yeah.. some lovely repair work there, huh?? I guess it worked... I dunno





So--I got it all back together after cleaning, hammered in a new seal, and tightened down the pinion after cleaning and inspecting it for wear--all looked good. I got it on and bought myself a 1 1/8" socket from NAPA and just got it "gudentite" with a little red- Loctite for piece of mind. I figured that I could check it after going down the road for a bit (10-20) miles and see how it was holding up. After tightening it up, and putting the driveshaft back in place, I found that there was no play or slop whatsoever in the rear pinion anymore. And, I could turn it nicely to feel the backlash--which is a little sloppy--but I can deal with that.

So--you are all probably thinking that I should have been on my way through a few states after that part?? Not quite so fast.. I decided to check my repair job on the exhaust/intake gasket.. Not good. the front bolt and stud were loose again. The third stud in was already known to be stripped and I had asked NAPA about getting another gasket, but they didn't have one and wouldn't until tomorrow. so--I decided to try and use the original. Off the intake/exhaust manifold came again after much deliberation. The deliberation was mostly spent deciding what I was going to do about the stripped stud as it was just one more criticial element that was going to keep the monstrosity from leaking exhaust gas and inhaling it trough the intake port--or merely heating up the engine compartment. So--it all came off and I decided to Helicoil the number three stud. Yeah--I could have just tapped it for the larger bolt--but the hole in the manifold didn't leave much room for hogging it out to put a larger bolt/stud through. And, since the front of the manifold is already missing one ear (the very front)--I didn't want to thin out the steel any more. So--I tapped it and all went well. I did have to hog out that stud's hole in the manifold and one other one to get everything to line up again perfectly--maybe my hole wasn't perfectly drilled--but I didn't hit any oil or coolant passages.. yay.

Okay--so, I got all that put back together with some assistance from NAPA once again with bolts and studs and new nuts. Everything went together nice and tight this time--and seemed to seal pretty good with the old/new gasket.

SO, i clean up lightly and pack up my tools and say good bye to the folks at NAPA--and pull out... And, what do I realize right away--shitty shitty shitty power. I'm thinking WTF?? So--I say screw it--maybe it'll open up when I get warm and hop on the I-80.. Nope--didn't happen. It took about 3 minutes to get up to 45 miles per hour and after I realized that the popping and squirting wasn't going to stop--I got into a rest area but now I was completely out of the area of 'help' by 30 miles--and 27 miles from Elko--the next really large town.

I pull into the rest area and I'm thinking that I've toasted a valve or something--the 'missing' of the engine is terrible. However, the vibration in the truck is basically gone. So, I seemed to have solved the issue with the rear end--but I'll definitely keep my eye on it--

anyway--I'm standing there at the empty rest-area and see that I have absolutely no signal on my phone.. the sun is going down.. i'm screwed.. The first thought in my head is 'the first person that comes up to me and says "cool car"--it's theres'--no questions asked. Well, this old man comes over from his rig and starts oohing and ahhing over the big-6 and says 'these engines talk to me, soo simple'.. I told him to talk to it for me cuz she's apparently not digging my conversation. He said "she smells a little rich"--that happened to be right after I had the fuel line gushing fuel over the side fender to ensure that the pump wasn't crapping out. Well, after thinking for a minute what was going on--i decide to check something that all of you will say "WHY DIDN'T YOU CHECK/CHANGE THAT WHEN YOU FIRST SAW THE TRUCK?".. Right--the rotor, cap, wires, plugs. I pull a couple wires off of 2, 3, and 4, and do the spark test on the valve cover with the screwdriver--nothing.. And, there was no change in the clickety-clack of the motor. great.. So, I pull the cap--and theres all sorts of junk/grease/crap in the distributor housing sitting with the points. SO, out comes the Brake-kleen for a couple squirts, then some canned air to dry it all out. The points looked fine--no excessive corrosion--but the rotor brass contact was dull and corroded.. I'm thinking--I'll just polish it up a little and see if there's a change.. So, i toss it all back together as the old MSD wires and plugs looked okay. Well--as soon as I fire it up--theres a change. But, I grab onto the cap, and just sort of 'pull' on it--and the tone of the engine changes.. I push it to the rear of the engine--and it starts missing again.. shit-- so, i loosen up the rear screw on the cap--and the engine purrs beautifully again.. I take my hands off--count my blessings, and pull the throttle a couple of times.. Sounds like magic.. I throw my tools in the truck, and power out of the rest-area.. Everything feels good again.. She takes off down the road like she had originally--pulling really well. So, i aim for Elko--white-knuckling it and she's taking the hills really good. She hadn't done this since before I had hooked up the trailer in Stockton.. So, i make it to Elko safe and sound..

Immediately after getting into a place to park, i check everything over--all looks well. I call autozone--and all they have is a rotor. I find O-Reilley's number, and call them and they have everything.. I drive over there and Katy hooks me up with the rotor, cap, plugs, and wires and I get everything on in the parking lot--and she's all good. I find find that the new cap was still causing the strange miss if it was tightened all the way down. I am guessing there is an issue with the distributor?? I don't know--but I loosened up the one screw just a tad, and she is an oversized sewing machine again.. I find myself a hotel for the night--after finding the Elko seems to be a hopping place-- as it took me 4 stops to find a room.

So--I'm going to get a good nights sleep as the last 48 hours has been hellish.. I'll get on the road tomorrow and I hope I can just keep on cruising.. Aiming for Salt- Lake City by noon.. Unless I sleep in.

trying to NOT ruin the towels..

 

This is very entertaining reading from the comfort of my living room. Your hands must be filthy. Best of luck for the rest of your trip. With your ambition, you'll get that rig home for sure, no doubt.
I once had to make a headgasket for my snowmobile out of a chunk of leather cut from a glove to get home. A guy can get pretty creative when he needs to.
Godspeed.

 

Haha... Dirty hands indeed... People like me should be examples for hotels to change their colors of towels in the rooms!!

 

well bro glad thats all the rear end was.... and you deff saved yourself some $ not having someone else do it...


Distributor --- if the dist has a plastic lower housing also Id check that to see if its tight or wobbling... hell maybe the cap doesnt line up right on the dist...

Id say this man your 1 determined guy and this sounds like a trip that you will talk about when someone asks you about either of the rides...

 

Thanks for taking the time to post updates.

It seems you are taking the setbacks in stride. Relax and enjoy the trip! You will miss the adventure after you are home a week or so.

Rodney

 

Thanks for taking the time to post updates.

It seems you are taking the setbacks in stride. Relax and enjoy the trip! You will miss the adventure after you are home a week or so.

Rodney

 

Having an attitude like yours is what makes this trip possible. Remember that right now all this may be a pain in the ass, but when its over it will become "the adventure" of a life time. Well maybe not as soon as its over, but eventually.

Good luck. Happy motoring.
Seee the USA in yore Chevrolayyyy!

 

I guess this is one of those trips that in the future you'll look back on fondly, recalling the great adventure, and everything you saw, experienced, and learnt on it.

But it might not quite seem like that...yet

 

48 Chubby - thinking along the same lines!

 

Great story !!

Keep us posted and be safe.

Best,
BC

 

subscribed. your a badass.

 

Might be hard to top your story,great reading. Thanks for sharing.



"retirement is underrated"

 

Your persistence is amazing. I wish I could have been more help in Stockton. Smooth sailing from here on..........

 

Quoted for truth. Leep fighting the good fight man! We're all watching (from the comfort of our homes)!!

 

Keep your head up, you'll make it! You've already done what most can't...

 

Way to work through it.

Is your route I-80 to Rawlins WY, 287/220 to Casper...Gillette... Sturgis?

 

Keep at it. Thanks for the great story.

 

I've been following along and reading your updates. Glad you've been able to make all of those fixes along the way. Hope the rest of your trip goes well!

 

i gotta hand it to you son ,you are on determined young gun!! and i do envy that,not your situation, but your determination!!!. i have taken some really whiteknuckle trips and most came off without a hitch.but you just dont quit and i admire that.this is one trip you wont ever forget. you, in time, might forget your grandkids names but you wont ever forget this trip lol.i kinda wish i was there with you,well maybe not. but i do wish you the best of luck for the rest of your trip.

 

Hahah... Yeah, i'm sitting here in my room in Elko getting ready to take off for the day.. And, i'm hoping thta I'm not going to undue my shower efforts by getting all dirty and greasy again today.. I'm posting some pics here from the drive, and in my previous long postings.. Please check back as the photo's are relevant to those postings..

I appreciate all the support and words.. As far as the determination--when I sit here and type out these words is usually after all the curse words and anger and desire to give up have passed. I was never much of a fan for hurdles when running, but there have been more than a few so far.

Thanks again everyone!!!! Getting on...

-John

 

Well my sailing buddies say that the difference between ordeal an adventure is your attitude and it sure looks like you have the attitude to make it an adventure.

I had to read a couple of parts of your story to my coworkers this morning after I chuckled about the bull hauler parking by you at the rest area.

Keep us up to date on the trip when you can.

 

Hope the rest of your trip is good. If you have the time adventures like this can be a lot of fun. Love those trucks and have actually been looking at them lately. Gary

 

Good Luck on your adventure! Keep us posted on your progress heading back east.
Remember HemiFalcon:
No Guts, No Glory!

 

It gotta be worth it ALREADY! good finds!