I have recently had a freeze plug leaking on the rear of the block on my 216 and have decided to remove transmission, clutch, flywheel and bell housing, but I’m struggling to get the gearbox out. With what limited knowledge I have, I’ve managed to push the UJ cover back as far as it would go and removed the UJ completely from the rear of the box output shaft. Removed all the retaining bolts and dropped the emergency brake support shaft. I’m at a loss of what to do now, as I don’t have a repair manual. The prop shaft does not drop out of the way to give any room to pull gearbox back? Your experience would be a God send, or any video evidence of anyone performing this task. Thanks in advance here in the UK trying to keep a great car on the road.
If I remember correctly, you have to move the rear axle back (disconnect it first) so that the torque tube is out of the way, else you have to remove the engine. Mike
You do not need to push the axle back. You split the U joint and drop thre front of the toque tube down CAREFULLY, unbolt the trans. from the fly wheel housing and slide the trans, back a few inches, The front shaft of the trans is stuck into the pilot bearing which is in the center of the crankshaft and runus through the preaure plate and chutch disc. It could be hung up on the clutch disv splines.
I’m struggling to get the torque tube to drop down as the axle is not moving and the shaft has not gone back far enough (no matter how hard I try to push it backwards with the tube nut slackened and tube cleaned off) to enable the torque tube section of the UJ to drop past the gearbox face. I think you can see in the photo that it just snags on the face. Am I missing something?
If I remember correctly, about 8 inch back from the UJ ball there is a screw ring. If you loosen the ring the ball and a little of the tube will slide back into the torque tube. Maybe then you can remove the rest of the UJ and drop the torque tube out of the way. I was looking for one of those parts in my stuff for a picture, but could not find one. Mike
The torqe tube has a bracket mounted on the axle housings with rubber bushing and the other half of the bracket U bolted to the springs. The brackets are not centered and in normal conditions forces down the front of the torque tube with a lot of pressue Are your rear wheels on the ground with weight on them or suspended above the ground?
Thanks for the reply. I have the car on axle stands to the chassis, so all four wheels are off the ground. I’ve spotted the mount with bushes on the axle.
As you can see, the wheels are suspended. I’ve marked the axle bracket you have mentioned Gene, I’m presuming these are the brackets you mentioned? Thank you.
If you slide the bell as far back as it will go and secure the driveshaft up to the floor you may get enough clearance to slide the gearbox back and down. I have never had these apart. Tony
Hi Tony, as I described earlier, I’ve moved the bell as far back as it will go. It’s not the bell that is in the way, the actual drive shaft will not go back far enough to allow that half of the universal joint half to drop past the back of the transmission housing (see photo). I think Gene has an idea it something to do with how the car is lifted off the ground which effects the rear axle position? The gearbox will be lifted out through the inside of the car, as I’ve removed the inspection cover and there is also a cross member under the gearbox which is riveted to the outer chassis rails so is fixed stopping the gearbox from dropping down. Oh the joys…..🙈
I went back and looked at the pictures again. The bell looks like it would allow the drive shaft to clear, but as you said the back half of the universal joint is interfering with the back of the transmission and will not allow the drive shaft to drop. Why can't you remove the back half of the universal from the drive shaft? I believe that it is bolted to the drive shaft. Remove the bolt and the back half of the universal should slide off. Mike
Thanks. Mike, the UJ front section (gearbox side) is the only part that bolts to the gearbox output shaft, the axle side just slides on the splines. I will try to slide the back half forward to see if it will come off the axle shaft splines. Gene, how can I get the Torque tube to drop down out of the way? Do I need to put the car on its rear wheels?
I do not know about the '38 but on my '40 I had the same problem. Over some 300,000 miles I have changed the U join 3 times. Each time I had to use a big "honking" screwdriver to pry the driveshaft back enough for it to clear the transmission and cross member. Pry from inside the car not under the car. The '40 has enough downward pressure to fall once it is clear of the rear of the transmission. Mine also hung up on the cross member and had to be pried back past it. Once I changed the U joint, I had to jack the driveshaft back up into place. It is too heavy to lift. All three times were with wheels on the ground.
Just an observation. There are pads on the rear axle where the spring clamp on. They are sorta a spacer between the axle housing and the spring mount. They can be installed two ways and this will move the rear axle a little forward or back. I remember having the rear axle out (a long time ago) and noticing this. Apparently someone prior to me turned these around, which moved the axle forward. If I remember correctly, it was only a matter of a 1/4 inch or so. I wonder if this could be your problem? Mike
Success 👏 managed to get the drive shaft out of the way….. For those of you who get into a similar predicament here’s how I achieved it. Supported the torque tube with a jack and bungee cord and then removed the nuts on the U-bolts which hold the axle to the rear leaf springs, with the wheels off the floor and chassis on axle stands. Once the bolts were released, I lifted the rear axle slightly so that the locating holes in the spring brackets were cleared of the pin bolt on the leaf spring (see picture of this pin marked in red). This then allowed me to move the axle backwards enough for the torque tube to clear the back of the gearbox and lower down out of the way. The axle locating holes allow the axle and wheels to align correctly and equal. Removing the gearbox tomorrow.
Gearbox, clutch, flywheel and bell housing off today. Lo and behold, the freeze plug (core plug) was leaking at the bottom. A few questions though. The disc has a No2 stamped on it, I’m presuming this means it’s 2” diameter? I purchased a new clutch kit for the car when I bought it many years ago, but looking at it, it looks totally different even though the diameter is correct. The small ball bearing that supports the front of the gearbox shaft? Anyone know the bearing number, as I can buy the equivalent over here in the UK as long as I have a size number to reference.
