Jeremy's 753

Today is paint day around here, everything is ready except for another unexpected problem in the rearend.  Jeremy and I have been talking about a little play in the rear axles for a few days and he decided we should go in there.  It didn't become real noticeable until the rear seals were out.  I'm glad we did, it would have been a lot worse had we waited.  One rear outer bearing is pretty bad, the other isn't far behind it, and the bearing for the brake shaft is stuck and has been getting ready to start eating up that shaft.  

I also decided the one part I've had the most trouble with had to come off or I wouldn't be happy.  I've never seen an engine pulley so stubborn but it seems I am more stubborn.  I figured this morning if I damaged it so be it, I have lots more of them here...

Time for a little lunch then the paintathon can begin. 

 

Dry times were a little slow, humidity was a little high, and I didn't have enough carts free to paint on but most of it is done.  All that's left is the fuel tank, rearend after it's fixed, and the wheels.  All in all a good paint day. 

 

Paint makes everything look better. Looking good.

Yesterday was most of the day finishing up at UK with the dentist, and today I think I spent 90% of the day on the phone...  It's part of work and getting more things done or things to do but days like today drive me a little nuts because I don't get the things I wanted to do done.  

Every time I would get started on something the phone would ring...  Anyway, all that got done today was unwrapping everything, getting the engine on the turn table and getting started on it, and putting the battery box on the frame.  I really need to concentrate on the rearend that I had planned on doing today so it can get painted and back on the frame.  Then the motor can go on so it will balance on the forklift, then I can go like the wind. 

I'll get the rearend going tomorrow morning and if the phone starts going nuts again it will be taken off the hook. 

 

I just called and left Jeremy a message saying "don't panic" lol. 

I know I wasn't supposed to take so much apart and clean everything but it's just the way I am, and the way I have to do things to sleep at night.  But don't panic or worry, I will take care of all of the extra labor because it was my choice to do this.  I do feel good about it now and I know it will last so it was worth it to me. 

This post is just cleaning, checking everything, and replacing bearings.

This post is just reassembly.  It's late again so I'll seal it up, put the case together and paint it on Monday.  Everything is clean, lubed and works smooth as new.  

 

Motor is on the frame, transmission is painted and on the frame as well.  All of the covers and few other things are put on the engine, stud kit is in the rear hubs.  Another good day. 

I even took a little time to make some new "tools" for covering shafts while painting rearends.  I'll put that in the next post.

 

Something else I've always wanted to try is making something to slide over shafts to keep paint out of the seal bores, off the bearings, and not have to try to tape the axle back into the seal inset.  Since I was in transmission mode from pressing in bearings I got an idea...  

I only made 1 of the 1" tools and moved it around the axles and brake shaft while painting to see how it worked.  It worked perfectly so I need to make another for the axle, a shorter one for the brake shaft, and shorten up the one for the input shaft.  I'll put this in the home made tool section as well later on when I get the rest of the tools made.

You can see in the 8th pic there's not a spec of paint on the axle, new bearing, or the freshly cleaned bore from when the rearend was apart.  Of course minus my red dots I like so much. 

A little carb cleaner in the drain before the paint dries and they clean up really easy and are ready for the next job.

It's well worth making all the tools for these as a huge painting time saver.  As much as I'm always trying to improve the work I do it will also be a little thing to make every job a little bit better.  Win wins are always a good thing. 

 

A few pics of what was done on the engine today.

A few too many pics on this page, if you don't see them all you can still click where they would be and they still work.  Something else to work on later...