The thigs you find in old truck parts...

[The Fireman]

Thanks to Hobert62 I was able to get the rear end swaped out in my B42 sooner than I expected, whe robert ofered up an axle if I could get it before winter I couldnt say no. I spent yesterday swaping the hogs heads over geting rid of my 7.85's in favor of a set of 4.60's.

When I drained the oil out of the new rear end I found a brokemn bolt laying in the bottom of the housing, after close examination it looks like a left over from a previous failure and since everything looks and feals good I was full steam ahead for the swap.

I used my cherry picker in combination with my lift to get my old hogshead out of the truck. fortunatly my deck boards shrunk enough to get a strap between them so I could lower it on to the waiting lift then swing it out from under the truck. Now ive been driving this truck all summer, something like 100-200 miles not much I know but when I found the entire end of a broken axle laying in the housing against the ring gear I was shocked to say the least. I cant believe this didnt get caught up in the gears and leave me stranded on the side of the road with 5 gallons of gear oil all over the place guess its a good thing I tore it down now I know its cleaned out good.

At any rate after a good cleaning and a little work I got the new gears in and the axle filled back up, the only hickup I had was the drive shaft needed to be shortened 4 inches, droped that off at the shop this morning and will be back on the road monday.

Thank you to everyone who helped me figure lout that the diff would fit and a big thank you to Hobert, I really appriciate your offer of the axle out of your B67.

[Hobert62]

Glad it's coming together. Sounds like there was buried treasures in both housings. What was the difference that the driveshaft needed shortened? Was it because my yoke was bolted to a flange?

[The Fireman]

I think so that seemed to be the only difference but when I got under there im nont so sure the driveshaft wasnt to long to begin with as I only had an inch of travel on the slide. by taking 4" out that will give me 3" of travel once its all coupled together so much more room for the susspension to travel. It will also still fit if I had to go back to the other rear end for some reason down the road since the drive shaft has 5" of slide on the slip yoke. I know I'm looking forward to going for a spin monday with her.

[j hancock]

Good Deal! Now you have to watch out for speeding tickets.

[Vladislav]

Congrats on the deal done, those "under the surface" surprizes are better kept off.

As for the drive shaft I would prefere to keep as long of it's length as possible.

I mean as longer the spline mesh area is as less chances to get it loose together with bouncing.

[The Fireman]

I hear ya there I was shocked to find the broken axle in there, as to the drive shaft I'm not to concerend there as the splines start 5" after a section with no splines, the seal on the end prevents the splines from sliping out when I measured it so I'll still have 2-2.5" of traven before the splines are at the seal, as stiff as the old girl is I doubt it will ever move much more than an inch in either direction. the bigest load I've had on her yet only squated the springs 1/2"

[The Fireman]

had a sucsesful test drive today after picking up the driveshaft this morning, this truck is an absolute blast to drive now. Had it up to 62 and she still had more to go. I even managed to split a few gears, with the low gears I had I just left the aux in high but now starting off in low and working up through was much more enjoyable.

Some new tires next spring and I'll have myself a lumber hauler that will turn some heads and keep up with traffic.

[Hobert62]

That's great. Glad it worked out. Now i Hope to see the mack on your next trip to central pa.

[The Fireman]

Once I get the new tires on her I dont see any reason why I wouldnt be able to make a longer road trip with the old girl, the steering is surprisingly tight for an old truck, I'm not gonna lie I was a bit nervous as I pushed past 45mph and on towards 60 I kept expecting some wobble or drifting but she tracks straight as an arrow so I'm quite happy with that.

[Hobert62]

It is surprising how they handle. You saw the back roads I live on, and I also was surprised how nice mine drove around here @50-55 when I first brought it home.

[b615rich]

Amazing that was I there all along, but maybe it bounced off the ring gear a few times but was too big to get caught up in anything. Scary, huh. Nice to see you were able to get it all together and congrats on the new higher speed!

[The Fireman]

Thanks, I think the only thing that saved the whole rear end was the fact that its a double reduction so the teeth werent facing the broken stub to throw it around it just kinda rolled around in the bottom...still scary to think that I've driven her a couple hundred miles like that over the 4 years that I've had the truck, makes me wonder about the engine and trans but those are a project for a later date. I'm considering in a few years buying an engine and trans, rebuilding them and installing it in the truck but time will tell on that one. for the foreseeable future I'm going to run what I've got with some new tires in the spring and just have fun.