Best Way to Clean a Rear End Housing
The rear axle came out a while agone, and it was clear it needed assist. And then, my programme is to strip information technology down and clean it upwards a bit. The previous possessor told me information technology has 3.89 gears in information technology and it drove fine, then I'll open it up and run into what it looks like - just I have no plan to rebuild the differential if it doesn't need it. Someday, I may desire lower gearing, but I want to go through the rebuild offset. A 3.89 rear stop with my wide-ratio toploader means this affair will have enough of oomph off the line, only volition be spinning too many RPMs on the interstate to want to get very far. The pulsate brakes that are attached to the rear terminate are in serious need of a rebuild, so that will go it's ain (AWESOME!) postal service.
Permit's commencement talk a little about that famous Ford 9-inch rear end. Ford cranked these things out for cars and trucks from the tardily 50's to the seventy's, and then at that place are lots of subtle differences over the years. Some of the actually fundamental figures are the width of the axle housing and the blazon of gear carrier associates. For the most office, these axle housings and gear carriers are pretty interchangeable. Simply it'due south worth knowing what what you have (or need to go) for your detail build. There are several sites that can help decode which i y'all have. Kevinstangs page and 1969Stangs site are proficient starting points. Cutting to the chase (unusual, I know), the rear axle in my machine is non original to the car, but probable from a late-50's Ford sedan. Information technology's also narrower than a standard '67 Mustang, which means I might exist able to squeeze wider tires in the back (woot!).
This post will accept usa all the way through the rebuild. Again, no gearset changes or whatever craziness like that. So, what exactly needs to be done? Well, we take to remove the restriction drums, the axles, the restriction assemblies, go the axle bearings and wheel studs replaced, the housing and the gear carrier need cleaned and painted, the brakes rebuilt, the brake hard lines bent and replaced, the axle seals replaced, so on. Don't worry, I made a list ;)
My programme - "as-executed" - for the rear beam rebuild. You can see the fenders are besides in the flow, and whoa, what a trip those turned out to be!
The 'before' shot. Come up back to this one time y'all've gotten to the terminate ;)
The differential gear carrier in the center there (also chosen a 'middle chunk') is where the gearset lives. Thats what turns the spinning driveshaft motion into spinning wheels. Nasty looking matter. Simply I'm keeping it - the Ford nine-inch rear terminate is supposed to exist i of the toughest out there.
The backside shot. You tin can see the leaking fill plug has left a stain, just look at all that surface rust an road crud too.
Drivers' side drum brake assembly. The bracket waving around in the air is the brake line distribution block, splitting the brake fluid off to each bicycle. It's supposed to exist attached the the axle.
This is the vent for the axle. It was plugged upward, so naturally the axle fluid gets pushed out somewhere else under pressure - namely the ends of the axles, which could get into the brakes, and now information technology's a projection. Interesting that this vent is clipped in identify and not screwed in place. This is 1 of the clues that tell me this rear end came from an older Ford car and isn't original to this i.
Pry off the Passenger Side drum - easy enough - and nosotros find spider webs, nests, and carcasses. Recall the bug-bombing post? This is why we did it. And await at those brakes!
Drivers side brake pulsate. Also shown are cycle spacers that were installed. Non going to keep these, I hear too many horror stories of WFOC with these. (Wheels Falling Off Car).
Much more work to go the drum off this side. Hammer persuasion needed. Metal-on-metal shock help suspension the rust bonds holding the drum in identify. That hole in the beam face provides access to the beam bolts. Turn, unbolt, echo.
Tool Fourth dimension! A slide hammer kit like the one shown is used to pull the axles out of the housing. Autozone had the slide hammer and the axle puller for rent.
First remove the beam bolts, THEN attach axle puller foot to lug nuts, And then slide hammer that axle out. (I got the lodge correct here 50% of the time)
Here's an axle popped out of the housing. Two or 3 skillful whacks and it comes out.
With the axle out, we tin conspicuously run across how bad the brakes are.
Axles out and fix to get to the shop for new bearings (those round things clamped on near the bottom of the axle) and new wheel studs, since several have stripped threads.
Disconnect the brake line and the pulsate associates pops right off there.
"Get yourself a box...Go a cardboard box...."
Brakes volition get rebuilt later.
Bleed out the 30 yr-old fluid. Smells similar death. Tastes worse.
In that location was and so much muck on here, I started with scrappers and scrubbing pads. Call back all the grime nether the flooring? A lot of it ended up on here as well.
Not one to miss a adventure to overcomplicate things, I make up one's mind to endeavor to media nail the axle in my driveway....
...with a
Harbor Freight media gun. What a hopeless optimist I turned out to be.
Afterwards as much mess and dissonance and dust equally I could tolerate, this is where we ended up. Better, just not done yet.
Yay! A Mess! Hear me now, understand me afterward - media blasting in your driveway will brand a bigger mess than y'all thought possible. I'm saving equally much as I can so when I become a blast cabinet I can make use of it over again. I'll never do this once more.
I had to finish the cleanup with a paint stripping disc on a die grinder. Now information technology'south looking better.
Removing the differential is a great way to injure yourself. That sucker is heavy. Seriously, you may lose a vertebrae to this task if you are not careful. Think of the diff as an 80-pound (not kidding) kettlebell with a poor handle. Besides, those studs information technology mounts on are not perfectly directly, so it gets stuck while coming off. An engine hoist or crane would make this safer. Don't worry Mom, I'm fine. (I made your grandson do virtually of it.)
After the diff is out of the style, clean the inside and the gasket mating surface. (Check out that mill mark '3' in there - similar a time capsule!)
This affair needs some work besides.
Removing the axle seals is easy - use that same slide hammer kit and the axle puller attachment as shown and - pop - out it comes. These, like all rubber pieces, should be replaced every 30 years. One of mine was leaking due to the previously mentioned blocked vent line.
Textbook maneuver. See how easy this looks?
Clean the axle mating surfaces here as well as the seal mounting surfaces. Also a good time to run some rags through the tubes to remove whatever build-up of gunk in in that location.
New axle seals, bachelor at any automobile parts shop. Take the old parts with you to exist sure. You need to match inner and outer bore likewise every bit thickness. This shot shows part numbers for your enjoyment.
Driving in the new seals using some tools, including that super-handy slide hammer over again - this fourth dimension with an beam seal installer-pusher thingy.
Tip: measure the distance the old seal sits at before pulling information technology out. So you'll know for certain where the new 1 goes.
In daylight, the housing needed more cleanup piece of work. And then, I used aforementioned stripping disc and die grinder. Worked peachy.
Mixed up some SPI black epoxy primer and shot the housing and my new engine crossmember and floor back up (not shown). 12 oz. mixed did two coats for all of it. And I love the way information technology looks. Seriously, merely look at it!
Here's the business organization end of the differential gearset. Very absurd. Why is information technology chosen a iii.89 gearset? If you were to count them, y'all'd find 35 teeth on that thing. The pinon (not seen in this shot) has ix teeth.
35/9 = 3.89. As well, a good rule of pollex - the thicker that big gear is, the college the ratio probable is, and the worse information technology'll be for your gas milage. Nevertheless, for muscle cars, gas milage is inversely proportional to fun! All the bearings are free of slop, in that location's no noise or friction when I turn the yoke, then nosotros'll leave it as-is and come across how it goes. I got a quote for a new 3.l gearset, but $500 was just besides much to consume for a function that may be perfectly good for now. The modular nature of the Ford 9-inch housing makes information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to swap afterward if I want. For now, simply clean up the gasket surfaces and embrace the gears to continue crud out.
My high-tech differential holding fixture. Let the degreasing begin.
Another random sideways picture. Whatever. You lot can all the same run across how much cleaner information technology is now. Yous really have to degrease this affair well or the paint won't stick. I used wire wheels, degreaser, scrub pads and lots of elbow grease.
Chemicals used, left-to-right: SPI waterborne wax & grease remover to clean all painted surfaces, Rustoleum clear for the yoke neckband, Duplicolor primer in a nice flat cerise-oxide color that looks factory to me. I'm interested to see how well it'll concord up. [In hindsight, I probably should have used my SPI red-oxide with an added reducing agent to go far less glossy. Next time, peradventure]. And VHT high temp bandage fe metal paint. Don't need loftier temp pigment necessarily, but that'southward how it comes.
First, paint the yoke, and then the collar, and then the carrier housing. The whole strip-clean-prep-pigment process took 6 hours. (Just sayin'...)
Axles are back from the store - new bearings, new wheel studs, and then I painted the plates with that loftier temp cast iron gray for a prissy uniform look. Note the oval holes in the end of the axle - that indicates the axles have 28 splines at the end that plugs into the differential. This is adept to know as axles and diff's come up in 28- and 31-count splines, and they have to friction match. 31-spline axles would take circular centers.
New gasket installed on housing later on a couple days of letting the epoxy cure.
The differential gets installed with new hardware and torqued to spec's per the shop transmission.
Spoiler alert: Here's the new rear brakes installed, forth with the new parking brake cables.
Rear view of the finished product including restriction hardlines. I may end up reworking the drivers side hardline - I'm non happy with the bends. I had to buy the '65-'66 kit because my housing is shorter than a housing from '67 would be.
Isn't she lovely? After about 34 logged hours of work over a month or so, this matter is gear up to be reinstalled nether the car in one case we're fix for information technology. I've already received new leaf springs and hardware, so the whole rear suspension will be new. This was my first mechanical "rebuild", and it was a blast. I tin can't wait to get to the residuum of information technology!
Parts listing:
Brake line kit
Brake distribution block
Axle vent kit
Wheel studs (10)
Axle bearings (ii)
Axle oil seals (ii)
Axle-to-Brake Assembly gaskets (2)
Beam housing-to-Brake Get together gaskets (2) - yes, these are different
Differential housing mounting hardware kit
Paint
SPI Epoxy primer
consumables (restriction cleaner, rags, pads, diff fluid, etc)
Source: http://67fastbackproject.blogspot.com/2015/05/rear-axle-cleaning-painting-and.html
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