The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Help with pinion shaft coupling

Hi all,
I am working on changing the ring and pinion on a '40 1 1/2 ton rear end and having a tough time getting the drive/prop shaft seperated from the pinion shaft coupling. Of course the service manual shows a "special" tool to do this. Has anyone found another way ? I have tried using a bearing splitter and heat but cannot get the force needed.
Thanks,
David

I've been caught talking to myself before....hard to believe that I'm the first one to tackle this job. A 1/2" plate notched over the shaft and threaded for two bolts to push against a bearing splitter against the pinion bearing nut is not enough. Even had the whole thing out in the cold for a few hours and then a quick heat with two torches. Plenty of Kroil too. Two weeks of frustration ! On to changing the bearings in the transmission while the machine shop modifies a clamp on collar to try and grab ahold of the prop shaft.

Hy dmart, I did some reading up seeing as how nobody else chimed in. I've never done this job myself, you can whack me if and when you meet me for asking the next question, did you remove the rivets??? Other than that the smaller ones I've taken apart came apart fairly easily.

I'm not sure what you are trying to do. Are you trying to remove the yoke from the pinion shaft? If that's what you are trying to do, I would hang the whole thing from a bearing splitter and put it in a hydraulic press. I put a nut on the threads flush with the end of the pinion shaft to prevent mushrooming the end. They can be pretty tough after 70 years of rust.

3B,
Thanks for that. I did remove the rivets. Had to press them out. Finally got the pinion shaft out of the coupling. The notched plate with a couple of bolts and a lot of force finally worked. Now I don't see how to get the pinion bearing off the shaft ? Guess a new bearing would solve that but $180.00 to get one of them is pricey. The transmission teardown and assemble went really nice. Making progress...