My rear is naked!

[77-4speed]

Yes that's right,

Bullitt came over yesterday out of the goodness of his heart and I helped him pull my rear end out of the 77. It was pretty straight forward without much hiccup except for me smashing his hand with the small sledge while hitting out one of the bushings. doh!

The only real challenge was "helping" the crossmember drop. The Haynes manual reads "remove the rear crossmember retaining nuts then lower differential and crossmember as one unit." Yeah right! Bullitt whacked on the crossmember with a picklefork until the driver side dropped, then on to the passenger side. After about 1 or 2 hours (with a lunch break in between) we finally got the crossmember down.

Now it's time to clean and drive to Dallas to drop it off to Stingray6974 for repairs.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be back in business, with Bullitt's help of course.

Cheers all.

Russ

 

[Stingray6974]

Wasn't that fun!!!! At least it goes back together a whole lot easier. Hope Bullit's hand gets feeling better.
Mike

 

[RalleyRed]

My hats off to both bullit and Mike for helping a fellow vetter.

 

[Hijinx]

Stingray, where abouts in Dallas are you. I'm out in Carrollton. Would be good to get a few Vetters around the area together from time to time. Either casually or to work on our Vettes. Let me know.

 

[Stingray6974]

Hijinx,
I am actually in Garland just off Lavon Dr. ( highway 78 ). A get together would be fun. Just say when and where.
Mike

 

[Hijinx]

Mike,
Great, I may post something soon to see what we could get together. My '73 is in getting her guts ripped out (new brake system, off-set Trailing Arms, stub axles, bearings and such) and I wont have her back till the end of next week. Maybe I could get something together for week after next or so. Stay tuned.

 

[Bullitt]

You know at first, the smash really didn't hurt yesterday, but today it's killin' like a mutha! I'm gonna sue! :L I left a couple of blood stains on Russ's garage floor, but that adds character! That was nothing though, I've beat up on myself a lot worse. I won't mention the u-joint story. :eek

The pickle fork thing worked again, as this was the same way that I got my crossmember off. Russ's car was just more stubborn. All you have to do is position the fork between the crossmember and the frame section directly behind it. Hold it there and smash the sledge in. The hammering will eventually wedge the fork in and it's just a matter of beating the hell out of it. The fork is wide enough that it causes the crossmember to give up the ghost. Nothing sounds better than hearing it fall. The driver side spring bolt had to be cut though, as it just did not want to let go of the castle nut.

Hopefully the re-installation won't take as much time. Remember not to put the tranny in gear, as the driveshaft is still in there.

Thanks Rick. Like I was telling Russ, I know what it's like to do something new on your own. It can be exciting, but also daunting. I was just glad I could help someone out and prove at the same time, what a great place this forum is all about.

--Bullitt

 

[Bullitt]

Hey Russ, I forgot to tell you that Edelbrock bought Russell. Therefore, you can find the hard carb line you were looking for at the Edelbrock.com site. The line itself is #8126 and can be had in barb end fittings. They don't list a prcie though.

--Bullitt

 

[vmrod]

I used a large crowbar instead of a pickle-fork. I put the crowbar between the crossmember and frame, and was able to slowly pry the crossmember down a little at a time. I had a floor jack under the differential, so it did not fall down.

 

[77-4speed]

Well,

I finally took the rear end to Mike (stingray6974) in Dallas. He tore it apart and we found that both of the side yokes as well as all of the bearings were shot. One of the snap rings was found lodged in the front carrier area! Mike said there was a bunch of metal shavings in the bearing assembly. So, a bearing set and side yokes are on the way. In addition, 2 of the U-joints are shot so I'll be replacing all 4 "while I'm at it". Mike is also going to sandblast and paint the half-shafts for me. Total cost for his labor to tear-down, sand blast, and repaint the diff and half-shafts $150. There is no way you can beat that price! I ordered all the necessary rear-end parts from Toms differential and I ordered the side yokes from muskegon brake. Total for parts including shipping:$334 So it looks like I'll be complete for under $500. Mike is going to e-mail me some pics soon and if he doesn't post them I'll try to. Hopefully parts will arrive before the week is out.

Russ

 

[Tom Bryant]

You guys are having way too much fun down there. Better slow down before you strain something. :L

Tom

 

[Stingray6974]

You bet Tom. Nothing but fun!! :s In fact, it only took about 2 hrs to carefully chisel out the yokes:bang Now what did I do with those assembly instructions?:duh

Mike

 

[Tom Bryant]

Instructions? :confused I thought it was just anti-rattle paper.