The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Torque tube seal

Hello,

How does the U joint in a three speed get lubricated when the tranny is in operation?
What if the gear lube starts to pool up in the ball socket area? Will it run down the torque tube and fill the differential somehow?

BIG LIFTER

>How does the U joint in a three speed get lubricated when the tranny is in operation?

Seepage past rear of tranny (yoke bushing).

>What if the gear lube starts to pool up in the ball socket area? Will it run down the torque tube and fill the differential somehow?

Yes, in theory, that could happen.

Oil flows from out of tranny case and into Ujoint bell. There it lubricates the ujoint and the U-joint bushing, also known as the "okie" bushing. There is a seal at the back of the okie bushing that prevents oil from running down prop shaft into rear axle. That is one way to tell if your seal or okie bushing is shot, if your tranny keeps losing oil w/o external leaks, and suddenly your rear axle seals are leaking oil on the rear tires.

BTW, the okie bushing is a real cast-iron bee-atch to replace, requires a special tool and lots of patience. Personally I think the okie bushing is an alien plot to keep the mechanically inclined busy during the invasion. Make sure to screw your tinfoil beanie on when doing Ujoint work, and watch out for those little guys with glowing radioactive quarts of gear lube.

Yessss,

Indeed, it is a strange matter -removing this nasty okie bushing. It is an elusive part that has burroved itself down the torque tube. The field quide tells us of a dowl pin, which by the way, does not exist on this particular torque tube. I fear complete dissasembly and the fabrication of a special bushing driver. darn those martians...

BIG LIFTER

BIG LIFTER,

I think that many people leave the original torque tube driveshaft seal/bushing in place when the Okie Bushing (the replacement bushing's name - a cheap shot at us poor folks) is installed. I think I bought an Okie Bushing from Jim Carter and he included a piece of pipe to hit against the Okie Bushing during installation. He also says the original bushing/seal should be removed before installing an Okie Bushing (see the link below).

If an Okie Bushing has already been installed, then you might have a bigger problem removing it.

http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/00849.2.6661066506319932020

Tim

When installing an okie bushing, yes, the original bushing needs to be removed. There is a special puller for this job made by Vintage Auto Parts, and available from them or some other vendors. It is like $35, which is kind of high considering you will only use it once. What I did was purchase it, use it, and then sold it on the stovebolt swap meet page for $25. That way I only rented it for $10. There is a seal also down in there, but it is left behind, the okie bushing pushes it further down and it does not cause any problem. As for the dowel, it will pop out as you extract the original bushing, it does not need to be removed prior to using the puller.

The Filling Station will rent you the pulling tool for like $10 and they sell a replacement for the bushing. (www.fillingstation.com)

The dowl on top of the torque tube that holds in the original bushing can be hard to detect but should be there. It gets drilled out. I replaced my bushing in an afternoon.

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Now, this okie bushing has more to do with holding the ujoint yoke firm than fluid running down the tube. If Big Lifter's original problem is fluid down the tube, then I'd look *first* at the bushing in the rear of the tranny. That's a lot easier to replace. And that's the bushing that's designed to seep and lube the ujoint. If it is worn out, the okie bushing (which is also designed to be lubed from the seepage) won't hold back the fluid.

The okie bushing in my '54 sedan had a rubber seal at the rear end of the bushing. I had to be careful not the cut the seal on the prop shaft splines as I was installing it. And the stock bushing didn't have a roll or dowel pin in my sedan. My 54 sedan manual refers to both a torque tube with and without the retaining pin.

chip

Well, thanks for the info everyone.

I'm thinking about changing up the pinion and ring gear before putting the truck on the road. I'm hoping to get some better cruising action for those barren nothern highways. Making a puller shouldn't be a problem. I've got lathe access.

Oh yeah...

BIG LIFTER

Chiphead, you're right I remember that seal on the back now.

BL - Does that northern upgrade include skis? BTW - Vintage Truck magazine had an interesting article on ring and pinion upgrades a couple of issues ago - Wheels and Speed vol 11 no 4 - www.vintagetruckmagazine.com