VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Torque tube bushings

OK, so got the axles out, differential and carrier out, knocked the drive shaft out of the torque tube with no problems. Figured I could use a 6 foot long piece of pipe, go in from the housing end, and knock both bushings out the front of the torque tube. WRONG! That rear bushing will not budge! I'm underneath there wailing on the thing with a sledge hammer and it will not budge. So now I am looking at my drive shaft and figure I may as well leave the old rear bushing in there, and go with an oakie style bushing due to the wear on the drive shaft. http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r488/Boltergiest/driveshaft%20002_zps9o2gchwh.jpg I will bring a sawzall home from work and cut the old front bushing to hopefully ease its removal. Also some wear on the U joint yoke, will probably replace that too. http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r488/Boltergiest/driveshaft%20003_zpsfkoetmr0.jpg
Does anyone know where I can get the tool that goes in between the pinion gear and bearing when re-assembling? Goes here. http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r488/Boltergiest/driveshaft%20001_zpsccfg1t2b.jpg. Also found a bad side bearing on the carrier. These appear to be barrel shaped bearings, does anyone know of a tapered roller bearing replacement?. Thanks in advance for your help

Some, guys actually broke the torque tube trying to get the bushing out. The 1950 and prior did not have that problem as they were not pressed in.
I found side carrier berainga at a bearing outfit that advertised in Hemmings - about 15 years ago. I believe the F. S. has them now.

Well, that's not good news Gene! Thank you for the reply, though. I just found a Kent-Moore J-4258 bushing puller on ebay. I will try using that with some heat, and see what happens

For the bearing try www.locateballbearings.com. I got one from them when rebuilding my rear axle this past year. They may have it in various brands-some as original-barrel and some offshore. The one I got was a KA11360Z- ABC brand for $45.30. I believe the FS and others were almost double that price.

If the heat does not work possibly some dry ice on the inside might help to shrink the sleeve.

If you use heat, go fast. If the bushing picks up the heat it will grow more than steel. The dry ice is the better idea.

Before I removed my drive shaft from the torque tube I noticed there was movement fore and aft, of the drive shaft, only about .010 or so. After I have my drive shaft on the bench I can see that this bit of play is in the pin area where the pinion is splined to the drive shaft. Not wanting to have to do this job again, I felt the need to address this. So I ground off the peened part of the pin, and drove out the pin. Pin is a good tight fit in the drive shaft, but the pin hole in the splined part of the pinion gear assembly measures .322. Now I suppose I could try to find something to fit the hole in the pinion gear assembly a little closer and adjust the hole in the drive shaft accordingly, but heck, I can't even find anything in three different hardware stores that measure an honest 5/16 (.3215) That is the original pin size. Am I being to anal here in trying to tighten this up? The splines are a nice tight fit yet, so no problem there. Any idea where I can get a stock pin for this? It is a power glide car, pin is 5/16 by a little over 2 inches long

Chevs of the 40's shows the coupling pin. Part # 3657332, $8.50. I wouldn't worry abot the play. Is the little coil spring present?

I may have a used one I drove out if that will help? Didn't grind

I checked out the Chevs of the forties site, their description says pin diameter is 3/16. Maybe a misprint? I don't know if they are all the same. I didn't see a spring, but the drive shaft is still in the vise, so I will check for that. Thanks to both you guys for your timely responses

The pin should never be re-used.
See the March 1950 Service News, page 4, Bolevard Clunk.......old car manual project.
Also see page 4-7 in the 1949-1953 shop manual

Did you find a pinion gear spacing tool. I have one I was going to list on eBay someday.

I have a home made one in the works, however, depending on the price, I may be interested. PM me

Got a hold of Chevs of the forties about the coupling pin. Their catalog on line lists the pin as a 3/16 diameter, that is a misprint. They just got 100 of them in, and they are 5/16. I am going to custom fit a larger pin in mine to tighten up the little bit of slop I have. Don't want any boulevard clunkin' going on. Timkin is no longer making the differential side bearings, were are left to deal with whoever has them left in stock. Filling station only had four left in stock, and I don't know if they are foreign made or not, but I got two. Perhaps some other company still makes them, I don't know.

I don't see any coil spring anywhere, Gene. Where would this spring have been?

The Kent-Moore bushing remover tool I scored on ebay, worked like a charm. The rear bushing pulled with no heating, no fuss. I will have to do a little modification per this service bulletin to finish pulling the front bushing. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/bulletins/51csn0503.html
There is nothing like having the correct tool for the job.

Three tools that were in my tool box, with a little modification, now re-purposed for chevy drive line use

http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r488/Boltergiest/tools%20002_zpseu60iiva.jpg