While I continue to mull over the logo theme, it was time to get to work on making the bus more drivable.
Bruce and I have been talking since I bought the bus about migrating to a big nut trans. I've been storing one in my garage for the past 5 years so there was no time like the winter to get the project in gear. (pun intended)
After deconstruction, I took the center section out to Jim's in Columbiana and had it gone through. $500 later I got it back with some new innards.
This week Bruce put me on KP duty getting everything cleaned up. And bus rear axle clean up duty is the S&^% duty of S&^% duties.
But the axle tubes came out pretty clean.
So we were off and running. Well, Bruce was off and running. He instilled in me the premise that cleanliness is next to godliness. And I got the message.
Bruce wants things clean and he will spend more time on that portion of the project than on anything else. I won't go into explaining every picture, although I actually think I'm dangerous enough to try!
Seriously, I can't say enough about Bruce taking the time to do this, but also allowing me to participate (get in his way) so I can learn something.
We had one issue with a bad outer axle bearing, but Bruce had a backup. Some of the other original bearings were bad, so Bruce swapped them out. Someone in a prior life really butchered one of the RGB housings (probably trying to get a freeze plug out) but Bruce cleaned it up. (You may see that prior damage in some photos)
This was a great learning experience and I hope amateurs, like me, enjoy the photos. We took nearly 100, but I won't overkill at this point.
I will tell fellow amateurs like me that the takeaway from this is as follows:
You have to clean everything and when you're done cleaning everything, clean everything again. Then clean it again. Wire wheel, media blast, brush in kerosene tank, brake cleaner, compressed air dry, rinse and repeat.
If you do this, you'll learn about wear marks on the axle paddles and the fulcrum plates. Bruce swapped mine around to get a better surface. He taught me how to make sure the axle and fulcrum plates don't disengage when you're putting it together. You'll learn how to get the one piece (aren't they all one piece?) axle boots without the separation and screws onto the axle tubes using a little heat and persuasion. You'll also learn about the spacer and c-clip that goes "inside" the tranny hole (left and right) and then the plastic "hat" that goes over the opening before the axle tube goes on. You'll learn about the virtues of RTV silicone when mounting the axle tube to the transmission housing. On the other end you'll learn there are inner and outer axle bearings as well as inner and outer stub bearings. And the inner stub bearing has an internal nut that has to be torqued to 108 ft. lbs. and has a raised edge that has to be pinched. More c-clips will follow and the outer housing of the RGB case can be installed following the two dowel pins as a guide.
I wouldn't ever try this on my own. I'm very happy Bruce taught me what this is all about. I'll at least be able to listen to future rear axle discussions and have some idea of what is going on.
And for the record, the ONE overbright blurry picture is compliments of Bruce!
Let's see some pics!