The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1952 Chevrolet 3100 Project

10/16/20:: Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to resolve the rear axle issue. I haven’t had any luck in finding any axles in good shape, so I’ve been exploring my options. I found that some Buick’s use the same bearing that my ‘52 3100 use but in addition they use an inner sleeve that gets pressed on to the axle. I ordered two of these sleeves and I’m working on machining the axles to accept those sleeves. I’m optimistic that this sleeve will work on our axles. There is another thread on this same subject that explains all of the details. LINK

The pictures show the before and after. I’m optimistic only because the sleeve was barely long enough to cover the area that both the bearing and the grease seal area the ride on, making locating the sleeve difficult. I’m pretty sure I have the location correct, but I won’t be sure until I reinstall the axles.

I also picked up my engine block today and ended up leaving the head for them to look at. Two of the pistons had evidence that an exhaust valve had made contact with the piston at one time. They popped the suspect valves out and found no issues. While I was there, they performed a leak down test and found a few valves were leaking, so I left it with them so they could clean, magnaflux and regrind the valve and seats. At this point, all I see is $$$ flying out the window! With all of this work I’ve been doing, hopefully will finally put the mechanical issues to bed! Only time will tell.