This spring I removed the 3 speed from my '50 3100 to reseal everything. It all went well but it seems as though I've developed a vibration going down the road at 35-50 mph. If I had to guess I would say it is coming from the torque tube/rear of the trans but I'm not sure what to even check. I used two gaskets on the torque ball collar as determined from the procedure in the factory service manual. I can think of 3 possibilities...
I lifted my torque tube upwards quite a bit to get the trans out (I removed it from the bottom as a previous owner riveted the floor access shut) and it didn't come to rest at the same angle. Is there any procedure to align the torque tube to the rear of the trans? I just had it propped up with a 2x4 and lowered it down by hand to reinstall. the rear bushings are original but it seemed to go up and down willingly.
The U-joint bolts were torqued to spec and lock tabs in place, but there did seem to be some side to side play in the joint when assembled. At the time I thought this to be normal as it was tight in the saddles and there didn't seem to be anything that would keep it from being able to move laterally aside from the torque tube itself.
The bell housing and likely front engine mounts are original and liquefied. The rear has been rebuilt with new rubber and is quite tight to get into place. This would seem like a no brainer but I drove the truck all last year this way and it went down the road nice and smooth. I plan to switch the body over to a new chassis and drivetrain this winter that I'm currently building so I'm trying to keep the amount of replacement parts I put into this one to a minimum.
Any thoughts? I'm really hoping to at least get an idea of what to look for before I go tearing into this thing again now that the snow is melted!
