VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Oakie Bushing

Can anyone share their experience, while replacing the Oakie Bushing. I have NOT done one, would like to know the pitfalls, if any.

The purpose of an Oakie bushing is to allow replacement of the front and rear bushings and seal at the front of the torque tube without having to disassemble the rear end and remove the propeller shaft. The most likely problem you'll encounter is that the outside diameter of the Oakie (which is an aftermarket part) may be too large, thus requiring excessive hammering force to install, which can damage the Oakie or the front of the torque tube.

The problem with an Oakie is that with the propeller shaft in place, once you start installing the Oakie, you're committed to getting it all the way in. If it gets too tight before being fully inserted, you just about have to disassemble the rear end and remove the propeller shaft so you can push the Oakie back out, probably damaging the seal on the Oakie in the process.

Years ago, when Oakie bushing were in common use and made by American manufacturers, the dimensional tolerances were held pretty close, so you could pretty well count on your Oakie fitting correctly. Now, with Oakies being made in China or from unknown sources, they may or may not be sized correctly.

When I installed an Oakie in the torque tube of my 1940 Chev 1/2 ton, the rear end was disassembled and the propeller shaft removed, so I could easily measure the torque tube bore and compare it to the OD of the Oakie, which, in fact, was too large. I had to remove 2 or 3 thousandths from the OD of the Oakie by filing in the lathe to obtain the proper interference fit.

Without measuring, it's kind of a gamble whether the Oakie will go in or not. There was a member some months back that started installing an Oakie, and it got stuck about half way in. He said he damaged the torque tube end in trying to force the Oakie into place.

Mark

Can the torque tube be removed and leave the shaft connected to the pinion?

I installed one in my 54 2 years ago.I just disconnected the drive shaft from the transmission and removed the old front bushing from the drive shaft using a puller I bought from The Filling Station for that purpose,greased the outside of the oakie bushing as per instructions and took a piece of a 2x6 and a big hammer and drove it in.The instructions were clear,it was a simple job.It does fit tight and it seems like it will not go in all the way but it does.You want it tight or else the whole unit would spin inside the drive shaft.The hardest part was disconnecting the universal joint from the transmission,which wasn`t really hard but time consuming. Helps to have a second person to help.

Good info Mark. Thanks.

I cannot picture how this puller can remove the bushing from the torque tube, while the prop shaft is in place. If the same, I see these tools rented by F.S. or C.O.F.

Thanks for the explanation.

A good question, but I do not have the answer.

Here is an interesting article from the Filling Station about removing the Oakie bushing with the drive shaft in place:

https://www.fillingstation.com/articles/torquetubebushingreplace.htm

Cheers, Dean

Yes it is the same tool that you can rent.Once you read the instructions that come with it you will find it easy to use.

Don't know what has happened here, but I think I non-intentionally messed something up, regarding a CURRENT QUESTION, concerning an Oakie bushing.

A member asked an Oakie question.

I found an old thread I had, from some time back, made an attempt to attach the Oakie thread to my reply TODAY, for the member to read.

Somehow, the OLD thread I had now appears as a current thread. Don't know what I did to make that happen, but I apologize.