Helping JimT out with an inframe ...

[Rawze]

-- Well, he showed up here on late Tuesday afternoon ( 08-04-2020). I was still working on a major project with my truck, replacing the 1.4 million mile old read differential and a bunch of other stuff. Everything had just been disassembled, and I needed my overhead crane for some of the heavy components.

4 or 5 trips to and from Atlanta and several days later, I finally got most all the right parts to re-assemble everything. It was a mess trying to get the right rear carrier (gearbox for rear diff) .. and my axle housing was different than most trucks, so it was a mess for sure. -- I finally had to resort to actually machining my own yoke for the new unit, as some of the components were obsoleted.

   


-- This all happening while JimT's truck just sat in the driveway not being touched because my truck was stuck under the crane area.

Finally, on Saturday (08-08-2020), we got mine back together just enough to get it moved out of the way and his truck in place. I still have quite a bit of work to do to my own truck, so Mr. JimT will be mostly on his own for a couple more days while I replace all the smaller stuff on my truck that I have not finished up with, but He is confident with handling wrenching on his truck by himself fairly well.


JimT's truck....

As of today, The hood is off of it, coolant drained, Radiator is out, fan removed, and a few other odds and ends done.

   

   

[Signature620]

Looks like fun!

What model diffs are they? Never seen anything like that rear one.

[Volvo8873]

Looks like a Meritor rear end, Curious to know why also.

[Chamberpains]

If you can, request that JimT updates us on things he runs into that are interesting as this project goes on. That was one of the most interesting part of Waterloo's updates on his overhaul.

Also, your rear end rebuild looks similar to what I've done to my trucks. EVERYTHING gets replaced when you pull it apart. But I like that you pulled the 5th wheel and mount out of the way. I'll bet that makes doing all that a hell of a lot easier.

[JimT]

Spent most of the morning today pulling off misc parts (ac, alt, etc...) and labeling all the connections on the damn wiring harnesses. Most are falling apart/crumbling and only a couple connections had labels still attached. Tedious and slow, but it will save me a lot of head scratching come reassembly time. Plus I'm learning every step of the way.

[Rawze]

(08-09-2020 )Signature620 Wrote:  Looks like fun!

What model diffs are they? Never seen anything like that rear one.

It is a Spicer 402 read diff. It is the SPL170 bearing and heavy driveshaft that makes it hard to find the right yokes. That model yoke (the 161) is obsolete with no replacements avail.

I purchased a 221 yoke and precision-machined down the back of it by 0.380" + under-cut the back end of the splines it to make it fit.

[Waterloo]

No ramps under Jim's truck? Is he going to do the lower end? Enough room under there?

[Rawze]

(08-09-2020 )Waterloo Wrote:  No ramps under Jim's truck? Is he going to do the lower end? Enough room under there?

we can jack it up and put blocks under it when he gets that far.

[Nostalgic]

(08-09-2020 )JimT Wrote:  Spent most of the morning today pulling off misc parts (ac, alt, etc...) and labeling all the connections on the damn wiring harnesses. Most are falling apart/crumbling and only a couple connections had labels still attached. Tedious and slow, but it will save me a lot of head scratching come reassembly time. Plus I'm learning every step of the way.

Take multiple pictures of the wiring harness from different angles. It'll make life more enjoyable when you start putting it back on.