The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1938 complete axle rebuild & Oakey bushing

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

Glen - It sounds like this was quite an endeavor to get your axle and torque tube rebuild done.

Did you by chance take any pictures??? (Where's the emoji of someone begging when you need one - LOL)

Even some end results pics, along with pics of your truck since we've never seen it before would be a wonderful addition to Stovebolt.

Dan: Yes, quite a project, started it in mid January, finished up on May 1. I don't have any in progress pictures, I might could get some end result ones. Jim Carter has my truck on his site, i think it's January 2020, he lifted the story from "Vintage Truck" magazine fall of 2019. I will try to get some axle pictures and post them.
Thanks for your interest,
Glen