My old '65 C20's rear axle has seen better days. It's been reliable, has taken us all over the country, so I cannot complain. Looking at the shop manual last night, except for the bearing noise coming from the rear, the 1/4 turn of slop and the occasional popping of the no-spin is normal. Last weekend, I decided to take a quick look at the HO52 in the parts truck. I have not peered inside that differential yet, but the slop on it is maybe 1/64th of a turn. It is tight compared to the HO52 in the running truck. My thoughts are this, remove the 3rd member from the parts truck and swap it into the my running truck. What I do know about full floaters is the tires can stay on if there aren't center caps for the wheels.
Other than that, is it a fairly straightforward swap? What should I look for on the apparent good 3rd member? Do I check the bearing preload to verify it's assembled correctly? Should I paint on some prussian blue to check the gear contact? If everything checks out, the swap should be a lost low cost operation, some cans of brake kleen, a couple tubes of black or grey silicone, some gear oil and some additive. I have never done this kind of swap before. Is it that straightforward? Not going to say simple, every time I say the procedure is going to be simple, it is a long drawn-out ordeal.
Last edited by DoubleDingo; 04/29/2021 5:37 PM.
