Thirty years ago when I did the initial restoration I knew the rear axle was in rough shape, but didn't have the time or $ to fix it. I didn't drive it many miles but about two years ago it was making a "grunt-grunt" noise that went away when pushing in the clutch and coasting. So last winter I posted here for a used rear axle, didn't have any luck. However I found one about 100 miles from me through another source, it turned out to be in good shape so here's how it went, and I'll post in abreviated form: My truck sat so long that moisture rusted the gears & bearings / recently searched for just a Ring & Pinion set, but did not realize the ring gear is RIVETED to the "case" / the axle I found near me had .010" backlash and an excellent wear pattern / disassembled it for the R&P, the pinion gear must be removed from the drive shaft in order to replace the bearings, and then put back together / sourced all NOS bearings, cluster gears, and other internal parts / put all that into the replacement torque tube-differential carrier and got the backlash to .007" (new specs are .004"-.006") / cleaned the inside of my original axle housing, chased the threads for the cover plate and the mounting studs, replaced outer axle bearings & seals / removed the front bushing of torque tube and installed an NORS Oakey bushing / mated the replacement torque tube-differential carrier to my original axle housing (both pieces were previously cleaned & painted / installed an NORS U-Joint, checked the fit into the Oakey bushing before installing the bushing so there would be no surprises upon final installation / and I figured during all this it would be a good time to replace all four leaf springs with new which were also cleaned & repainted ahead of time. I was limited in my search for a replacement gears due to the ring gear being riveted. 1935-1939 trucks used the same R&P and were riveted; the differential "case" has the ring gear riveted to it; the torque tube-differential carrier is the same for '37 and '38 trucks. So there can be some mix and match of those parts, however I lucked out finding a '38 axle so the torque tube part was exactly the same. I know some of you reading this, if you got this far are probably thinking why not just clean up the replacement axle and use it, part way through this ordeal I thought that too, however we all have our ways of doing things.
Thanks, Glen 1938 half ton pickup
