I'm back and I'm thankful this thread still exists. We were at a car show the other day and before we even got registered my wife said she wanted to buy a truck. We don't need another truck and I haven't touched this one so I figured I should start back on the one we have. So I decided to pick up where I left off.
The rear end was torn down with the intention of replacing the pinion seal and that was it until now. The third member sat in the barn and got a little rusty, the drums and differential cover are MIA, and the housing sat under a tree behind my storage building. While cleaning this all up in the effort to use it, I had to relearn what the axle is. It is of course an Eaton HO52. I hated that I had left it in pieces until I learned that parts are unavailable without effort and a good bit of luck. I had thought I'd swap backing plates with a newer 14 bolt to get things moving faster, but there was no guarantee the third member would last. I decided any money spent on the old axle was wasted money and that swapping a 14 bolt in was the correct and permanent option. I got one yesterday. The drums were frozen to the shoes so I knocked them off today and cleaned the axle up. I think I'm going to sandblast it and POR15 it or something so I didn't get carried away cleaning. I popped the cover and all is well inside. In case this doesn't go as quickly as I hope, I reassembled everything minus anything brake related so nothing will rust or be lost.
The leaf springs need new shackles to hold the pack together, new centering bolts, U bolts, bushings and spring pins, etc. I'll tackle that first because I can't put a new axle in without springs to mount it to. Honestly they probably need replacing but at $400 each that will wait until the truck is at least pasture drivable. Then I'll figure the pinion angle and replace the spring perches. I have a loose plan and hopefully have a pasture truck in the summer of next year. Hopefully.
I'll be lurking around and updating the thread as progress happens. For now, have some pictures of the new axle. It's not pretty, but it was free.
