1928 Chevy 1/2 ton truck

[chistech]

I know I haven’t posted in a while but I’ve still been very busy. Had a 28 Chevy truck come in just before Christmas that needed some work. The rear was really crunching as the truck went down the road and the owner suspected the ring and pinion was broken as it was making the same sounds as it did the first time it broke the R&P! When I heard this my reaction was “what? They almost never break the R&P once never mind twice!” So the owner wanted the rear differential addressed and a general going through of the truck. The owner is only the third owner with his dad being the second and he purchased it from the original owner off a farm here in MA. 
 

So the truck came in and i immediately opened the rear diff cover to find both the ring and pinion missing teeth. So the hunt started for another complete 28 differential as I didn’t want to use what was on the truck fearing a possible problem in the housing. I was able to locate a rear in NH but the rainy weather prevented the owner from getting it out of his backyard until about March. So this gave me more than enough time to remove the complete rear with springs along with all the brake rods. What completely amazed me was that there was virtually NO cotter pins in any of the clevis pins or spring bolts! I easily pushed very worn clevis pins right out of the clevis with a pencil. The brake arm pivot holes alon with their respective clevis pins were badly worn out so new pins were ordered or made. The worn holes were reamed and bushings made up. 
 

      Spring shackles were found over tightened because no cotter pins were used in the castle nuts, bushings in the spring eyes were in some cases almost nonexistent, and spring bolts were badly wore. Cosmetically the owner has kept up with the truck and he believed who he had working on it was doing the same but only in the case of fluids it seems. The mechanics had no understanding of all the other mechanical areas that need attention as general maintenance. So all brake rods, bands, and shoes were removed, blasted, primed and painted. I found on one side of the rear, the linkage for the parking brake was put in incorrectly so the shoe never expanded properly when the parking brake lever was pulled. In actuality, the whole rear axle brake system was an accident waiting to happen!

 

I was able to pick up the original replacement rear in NH and quickly started tearing it down. My plan was to use only the third member and torque tube along with the factory set R&P assembly as if it’s original and not broken, there’s nothing better.  The pictures show the truck’s original banjo being stripped of all paint and grease to be painted along with the Ther associated parts finished.

 

[chistech]

The R&P on the replacement rear looked like brand new and after a thorough degreasing, a spin on the driveshaft end would yield at least a couple complete revolutions of the ring assembly. I was very happy with the parts. The torque tube itself was pitted enough where the sliding ball goes that it got sanded with Emory paper then JB weld was added to fill the pitting. You can’t use body filler for this because of the oil that would saturate the filler and soften it. The JB weld got smoothed and sanded the the ball tube was fitted for proper movement. Once all was good the tube got painted. The banjo got completely cleaned and degreased then primed and painted.

[chistech]

With Al the brake components blasted and painted the rear was assembled on the arms of my lift. This made working on the rear so much more easy. New bushings were pressed into the springs after they were stripped and painted. The rear differential was installed back into the truck along with all the rods and new pull back springs. Brakes were then adjusted per the manual. With the rear all finished and with ALL it’s cotter pins installed, I moved on to the front.

 

checking the front I only found a few missing cotter pins but the front end and all corresponding brake parts were all in good condition including the king pins. With the font all checked, I moved on to some general maintenance. It got an oil change, a vale adjustment, fluid check in the transmission, and I check the strength of the antifreeze.  An original type of ignition wire set had been installed but were never trimmed to proper lengths so I removed the excess wire. I found in numerous places where the long plug wires had been kinked and split causing arcing at the splits. I also removed the fan shroud because it had been bent and cracked on the drivers side which would allow it to rattle when the truck was running. I straightened the shroud, welded all the cracked area, blasted, primed, and painted it. I then reinstalled the shroud.

 

The A pillar on the drivers side needed attention. The top was broken free of the windshield header wood so either opening the door or the very large windshield would cause the A pillar to move almost 3/8” and cause issues. It seems who ever restored the body failed to use any mechanical fasteners at the pillar to windshield header joint. Adding a fastener now would mean going through the nicely painted outside metal. I opted for what I believe was a better fix. I was able to add two “L” shaped straps on the inside and bottom edges of the pillar and windshield header. Using a syringe I got glue deep into the crack the a strap was used to ratchet the pillar top into it’s proper location. The strap was then screwed into place with four  #10 x 1 1/4” wood screws.  The passenger door latch didn’t work right so the door was disassembled and the latch was rebuilt.

 

i addressed a speedometer issue and cleaned up the speedo cable. All the parking brake mechanism and handle was removed, blasted, primed, painted, reinstalled, then properly adjusted.

[chistech]

The trucks owner really like his truck to look good so I addressed some f those areas. All hubcaps and the radiator cap were sent out for polishing and new nickel. The headlight bucket rims were polished and the black painted areas redone. The glass got properly reset back into the rims with clips instead of small wedges of wood! The running board step plates were Removed and also polished up. The one thing that aggravated me some about the truck is the tailgate was being held closed with a couple shiny 3/8” SS bolts. While half the iron hardware was correct original type used on pickup tailgates, the bolts definitely weren’t. I forged some hooks out of 1/2” round stock and attached them to 3/16 long link chain. I had two canvas socks made up for the two chains to prevent rattling. This completed the trucks looks and the customer was called to come pick it up. When he took it for a ride he was amazed at how much better it was running and stopping. The new bright work really made him happy and he actually felt I didn’t charge him enough for all that I had done. I assured him the hours taken were correct and so was his bill. It’s a good feeling when another new customer goes out the door. 

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

You do do great work!  I really enjoy any of your posts. Mike

[chistech]

Thank you Mike. I just go about each car like it is my own doing thing that need to be done and this case, because I knew what the owner really likes, did a little extra bling. The owner texted me again today telling me how happy he is with everything. Satisfied customers and happy people is way more important than trophies any day.

[dalef62]

Did you ever look over the old parts to see what was causing the premature failures?

[chistech]

2 hours ago, dalef62 said:

Did you ever look over the old parts to see what was causing the premature failures?

I actually looked closely at the rear. Of course I don’t know what happened the first time the R&P failed but I believe I have an idea as to why the second set failed. First, I was told a NOS pinion was used with a used ring. Second I noticed the three pinion bearing forcing cone screws were out about 5/8” beyond their jam nuts when normally they’re about 3/16” out beyond the jam nuts. These three bolts have tapered pin ends which engage the tapered face of the pinion bearing forcing cone. With them out as far as they are that means one of two things, either the cone was put in backwards or the pinion bearing is not seated correctly.  Either way there’s an extremely good chance that the pinion bearing is not fully seated to its proper depth. So this means to set the ring as close to correct as possible they had to set the ring over on the spider carrier. This overall mis- alignment is probably what caused the second failure. 

Edited May 14 by chistech (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

A good piece of detective work Ted...I was going to ask the same question. It all illustrates how much of this work requires a lot of thought and a very firm grasp on how it is supposed to work.

 

The lack of cotter pins in all the clevis's is shocking...who would do that. I'll bet the only thing holding them together was the wear.😃

Edited May 14 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[chistech]

Joe, you’re absolutely right. The clevis pins were all worn and it was the grooves along with any sort of tension in the rods that was holding the pins in place. In many cases there was no tension at all so it was the grooves and any greasy grime holding them.