Hey All,

Pulled both shafts today for r and r.

Just throwing out a couple of insights for those contemplating the job and for search purposes.

Not in the rebuild FAQ:

To do the job you need two good quality 14 mm box wrenches. The harbor freight Jammie's weren't up to the job and I had to buy another craftsman wrench to get the nuts off.

The most important tip I wished I had known beforehand is this:

Start by removing the four bolts at the differential end. They are more accessible than the transfer case end and come off easy. Once that end is free place a jack stand under the prop shaft holding it up as high as possible, this allows better access to the nuts/bolts on the transfer case ends and they are much easier to remove.

Also, be prepared with a sawzall or whizzy wheel as two of the bolts held captive in the emergency brake drum rounded off inside the drum and required cutting to remove. Not sure how I am going to rectify this, maybe epoxy or jb weld the bolts into the drum, that's for tomorrow nights reassembly drill.

And just to point out the obvious; the best way to get at the bolts is to rock the truck back and forth to get them at 270 degrees ie at the bottom most point of rotation. This gives the best access.

This may be overly obvious, but just in case there is some other mech under the shade tree getting into this for the first time not finding much via search I hope I can save you an hour or two of curses and thrown tools.

Cheers, peace and happy holidays to all.

 

Had you put both the tranny and transfer case in neutral you could have hand spun the to make it easier. I wouldn't bj weld old broken bolts. Pull the drum and replace them is all I can think of.

 

The drum is pulled, another tip: no way the screw holding it on was going to come out easy, it required an impact driver to remove. Unfortunately for me the bolts held true and the hex shaped holes in the drum rounded out so it's either a new drum (not in the cards ATM as Christmas finances come into play) so a more creative (read cheap) solution is necessary.

 

Weld the bolts in place to the drum? What about a used drum from Paul Grant or somebody? They can't be in that high of a demand.

I'll add that your should always use 6 point combination wrenches, not 12pt, at least to break the nuts loose.

 

They aren't attached to the drum, they are captive bolts in the output flange, just like the front output. Remove the drum, then remove the output flange, remove the snap ring, and replace the bolts.

 

I think he's saying the metal that holds the bolts captive is rounded and any new bolt would spin as well. Maybe??

 

Yes that is what I'm saying. It wasn't really clear in my post. Lots of corrosion, and it appears the socket the bolts fit into took the worst of it, and rounded more than the bolts. I would prefer a solution to fix what I have w/o aquiring new parts and the associated $$ and wait. I might be able to borrow a welder, I was also considering drilling and tapping a small hole and placing a set screw to hold it in.

 

What about a flanged head bolt and then grind one side to fit snuggly?

 

Ah, gotcha.
I expect a used, good shape, rear output flange could be had for not too much. Welding a bead on the flage then grinding it down would work as well. As would flange head bolts. Just be sure to get good ones. typically flange head bolts are at least grage 8, would would be fine (even though OE the bolts are grade 5). be sure to use grade 8 nuts, or be careful with the tightening torque, you don't want to strip the threads in the nuts.

 

Thanks for the replies, getting into it today will post results.

Ugh I'm a certifiable idiot sometimes. Too many things going on at one time with the holidays etc. Well the latest fiasco that I have inflicted on myself is this; I marked the flanges well with respect to the diff and third member to get them in right, but in my zeal for getting fresh grease in the shaft splines I happily pulled them apart and cleaned them without so much as a thought to putting them back together again.

The front isn't really an issue (I hope) as I have another I bought and can use it as reference to orient the rebuilt one. I have no idea about the rear shaft however. I thought they were keyed somehow I guess, but as it seems to go together in any number of orientations I guess that is not the case.

I am going now to consult Rave and see what it may reveal about this. Of course I should have done that first, oh well. Any help otherwise would be appreciated.

Edit: looked in rave and no love, they show the angles A and B for the front but neglect to mention what those angles ARE. Also only show the flexible coupling for the rear, no mention on shafts with universal on both ends. Did search the site and found numerous references to the shafts only going together one way, but when I was messing with them pre Xmas this didn't seem to be the case. Now fully filled with hot beverages and dressed in my Nanook of the north wrenching wear gonna see what I can see.....