Tim,
drop the transmission cross member. That will help a Hell of a lot. There is
a small plate connected to the rear of the transmission and to the the
crossmember, there is a rubber grommet on this and will probably fall apart
when you touch it. You will need to take four bolts off holding the bell
housing in place, and slide the ball back onto the drive shaft. Clean the
shaft first to make it easier to move. Might want to provide support for the
drive shaft as it is quite heavy. When you get everything apart, you should
be able to access the u-joint with no trouble.
Note: When you reassemble everything, make sure you do NOT use the small
fill hole located on the top aft side of the transmission as this will over
fill the ball and the transmission. Use the regular transmission hole to
resupply transmission fluid (The transmission provides fluid for the ball
joint as well.) There is a special adjustment you have to make when putting
the ball back on to the transmission. Use new seals, and make sure you put
the seals in place BEFORE closing it up (duh. Lesson learned the hard way.
Had to take it all apart again to put the seals on.) If you don't have the
shop manual, get one as it will make life so much easier! Might want to
check to see if the seals on the torque tube are worn as well. (Check for
fluid levels in the differential. If you open the plug and fluid pours out
of it, chances are that one of the seals on the torque tube are leaking.)
Mike
51 3100 http://nogrownups.tripod.com/Mikestruck.htm
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 19:22:26 -0600 (MDT)
From: tim <lloydt@Colorado.EDU>
Subject: [oletrucks] U-joint removal
I think I've narrowed down my problem to the U-Joint between my 4-speed
transmission and closed drive shaft. The speedometer works fine,
indicating that the tranny itself is fully functional, and the
gears-not-engaging sound gets louder with higher gears.
My problem is I can't seem to get at the inside of the U-joint. I've
unbolted the rear cover, as well as the plate on the crossmember below the
U-joint. There's an L-shaped bracket that's riveted to the plate, with a
big honkin' chunk of metal underneath it that prevents the bracket, plate,
and U-joint rear cover from moving very far past the crossmember. What am
I doing wrong? Is there something else I should be doing to inspect the
U-joint? The shop manual is very unhelpful on this problem.
Thanks in advance,
Tim Lloyd, lloyd@lasp.colorado.edu
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|