JohnD1956 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I have seen many automatics where the tires that would be locked in park will rotate once the weight of the car is off the wheels. I don't know why but I have seen that many times. Thinking about the drive shaft locked in the coupler, I imagine the shaft must have twisted and the splines of the shaft and coupler are now meshed instead of aligned. If you remove the torque ball retainer, can you get something on the universal in front of the coupler and then maybe use a stiltson wrench to try and twist the drive shaft back and forth to realign the splines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadmaster75 Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 JohnI'm giong to try that next time I summon up the courage to approach the old girl up on the lift......I've already got the torque ball retainer off, so prying the inner one shouldreveal the shoulders of the Ujoint/coupler enough that I can get some leverage on it and twist the shaft in the opposite direction to try to free it...I'll report in this weekend..Thanks to All...PS I can't believe that this torque tube deal has caused so much trouble.I used to drag race 55/58 Buick Specials against Chevys in the early 60's.Never had a Ujoint or torque tube issue all those passes down the 1/4 mile.And, incidentally ..... I won some trophies as a result of beating CHevys back then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadmaster75 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 News from the Front.....! Sorry for the ling winded update, but I did promise to chronicle this episode in detail..so here goes!Well, Lads.... here's the latest.With only the long part of the torque tube and the inner shaft attached, I was able to carefully pull apart the outer and inner retainer for the torque ball and move it rearward to visually inspect the coupler where the splined shaft enters and the U-joint.The GOOD NEWS is that the trans is not damaged from all the pulling. It now slips into park easily. Had a friend rotate the shaft from the rear, slowly. No damage externally to the coupler and the U-joint has no play or noise at all.Final assessment -The original problem was the disintegrated yoke and U-joint on the REARdrive shaft coupler. (I have now replaced all of that with new parts, including the EXPENSIVE drive shaft bearing that is fitted to the rear of the torque tube. Attached this assembly with the rolled pin.)We now believe that that catastrophic failure of that joint has probably caused that front splined end to be "torqued" very tightly, perhaps even with some "slurring" of the splines in the forward end. However, there is no slop or play on that joint right now and it rotates silently.I believe that continued aggressive, rearwardslamming of that shaft with jacks, slide hammers, and come-alongs will only end up damaging a perfectly fine, operational Flight Pitch Dynaflow. I do not want to go there!!The cost of repairing or replacing that trans is paramount in my decision to now button the whole thing up (having rebuilt/replaced the rear shorty shaft)and drive the car out & see how it works. At worst the joint fails (breaks) and I can then easily extract it! I have all the parts ready at hand to fix it if it does. They are bought and paid for and will be a cheap fix compared to repairing a damaged Flight Pitch Dynaflow.At best, it just works and I dodge a bullet! In the mean time I will try to finda Flight Pitch trans to part out for it's tail shaft and torque ball assembly....just in case they are needed in the future. Or, I'll happily buy these from someone if they have them.By the way ...... You can, indeed, remove the entire rear axle off the end of the torque tube to access that rear U-Joint section. It was pretty easy. THe shop manual procedure as written is only ONE way to get this job done.With a 4 post lift and a trans jack you can unbolt it free of the chassis slide it rearward out of the way, and reconnect it fairly easily. I used the same pins made from 3 1/2 inch bolts intended to be used for the forward torque ball end as alignment pins for the rear torque tube section. With entire rear axle assembly (HEAVY!!) on the trans jack, I actually mated the two sections by myself yesterday. Now I need to replace the springs, shocks, etc and re-install the brake lines, bleed them, put 1 1/2 gallons of trans fluid back in the Flight Pitch and see what happens!! I'll let the group know the outcome....Wish me Luck!!!!mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadmaster75 Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Guys,I am pleased to report that the plan I articulated in my last post has worked.I drove the car for the first time in 8 months on Sunday afternoon. All clunks, grinds, and bad noises were GONE! I drove the car over ten milesat speeds up to 80 without drama.....!Here's how it went down:I replaced the entire rear drive shaft assembly ( the short shaft on the pinion, the U-joint, driveshaft bearing, etc).Then, CAREFULLY aligned the rear axle assembly and mated the two, aboarda tall, rolling trans jack positioned precisely under the car. Since the forward spline never did cooperate by sliding out... I was apprehensive. So,1.) No new seal to the forward torque tube2.) No new torque tube to torque ball gasket was possible3.) No new Inner torque ball retainer +shims were possible.The whole forward section had to back together as original......However, I did apply black RTV liberally to the mating surfaces ofthe ball joint and torque tube; and used new grade 8 bolts to mate themfirmly.So, the final assessment is that.... if you ever bust a rear U-joint or drive shaft.... AND, THE FORWARD SPLINED SHAFT WILL NOT SLIDE OUT FROM THE TRANS;there is hope! The rear end CAN be removed and slid out of the way to make repairs.Hopefully, I can enjoy a full summer season of cruising in my 58 Roadmaster, now.THanks to ALL for their kind thoughts, suggestions, and support....moral, technical and otherwise!THis is a great group!mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smartin Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buick5563 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Way ta go Mike!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I guess it's safe to say, What ever floats the boat. Hope you have 100K+ trouble free miles.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadmaster75 Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 Thanks, Guys!A footnote....In my zeal to test drive the car, I did not bleed the brakes very well...Luckily I live out in the sticks and could take a LONG time to stop...!A 58 Roadmaster 75 tends to coast quite a distance from 70-80...!mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadmaster75 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 I forgot to mention one last area in this project......springs.There was some dialog on spring replacement early in this thread.I had ordered a set of new springs from Eaton in Detroit.They offered both "standard" or "heavy Duty" replacement coils formy 58 - 75...I chose the "standard" spring rate. I did not want the car to lookraised from stock height; which I have seen on lots of restored50s cars.I can report that these standard rate springs went in perfectly fine with the stock retainers, and settled immediately into the proper ride height after my 10 mile jaunt. Great ride!The old springs were shot and I had several spacers in them to get them to proper height; and the ride was squishy...Very pleased with the results......mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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