The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Rear End Center Post Bolt Removal

Hello all,

1961 Apache 10 pickup, rear end with 10-bolt circular differential cover. Shop manual procedure for removing rear axles (doing bearing and seal replacement) says to remove the bolt holding the center post that keeps the spacer block in place,. I have a lot of tools but nothing that can handle how tight the space is where the bolt is. None of my wrenches have thin enough walls to grasp the bolt because of the shape of the housing around it, and my low-profile 1/2" socket (with a breaker bar instead of a ratchet head to make it as compact as possible) doesn't clear either. What in the heck do I use to get that bolt out??

Thanks,

GW

An old box end wrench. Like a blue point. Or snap on. Or grind some off
some new wrench.

Honestly. None of the new tools will work short of snap on.bjy some crappy new box end wrench and grind it thin.

Last summer I ran into the very same challenge and solved the problem with a chisel. Now before you freak out... read on... Use the sharp edge of the chisel to bite into the head of the bolt and angle it to turn the bolt out when you hit it with a hammer. This will crack it lose and then finger thread it out. Use the chisel to set it to tight when reinstalling it.
If you can look closely at the attached picture, you can see the chisel mark in the head of the bolt made previously.

Thanks for the replies. Now I hope to make you all laugh at my stupidity. At least I'm owning up to it! Thanks to Truckfarm72's recommendation, I dug out a very old Craftsman box-end wrench and it fit! But... the bolt was too long to remove, it was hitting the passenger-side bearing end cap. Scratching my head on how to get the darn center pin out. Decided to raise the truck off its rear wheels to see if that would relieve some pressure on the assembly. When the wheels came off the lift rails, I checked to see if I was right by rotating one of the wheels. Oh, by the way, I have the driveshaft disconnected. (I can hear the knowledgeable members starting to laugh). As soon as I rotated the wheel, the differential carrier started to rotate, putting the bolt right in front of me, free and away from any obstruction. The answer was in front of me the entire time. Five minutes later, all disassembled. The differential gears and the four bearings are in incredible condition, no discernible wear, great to know. Now convinced the 61,000 miles on the clock are real, no turnover.

Thanks to all,

GW