The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rear end maintenance....(no seriously)

In an effort to learn as fast as I can, and avoid a newbie mistake like running 30 some miles on varnished fuel...

Do I need to worry about the rear gears on my '65 C30? Any kind of maintenance I should do before expecting to high tail it for hour long roadtrips?

Can my truck make hours long trips? (It has a later ~74 292 under the hood.) Or is this strictly a Lowes/Builder's Supply trip truck? (Which is fine, I just want to understand the truck.)

It has so far run along at 60 with just a bit of room left on the accelerator. It takes it a bit to get there (no tire burning here)...but she doesn't scream or shudder or anything.

I am assuming the tranny is original...it's a four speed with granny and has the PTO hooked up to the hydraulics.

Dave

Ya may wanna change out the fluids & see what they look like. the goop that came out of my diff did not look like oil, it looked like someone packed the rear end with chocolate frosting about 20 years ago & called it good. Nasty stuff!
Lots of moisture in there, but thankfully there was enough oil in it to coat everything & keep the corrosion down. I'm still betting the abilities of that stuuf as a lubricant weren't real good.
Generaly a good idea to change all the fluids in any vehicle you're new to, ya never know when the last time they were done.

Freq2002, has it right and you never know what you might find. I change the fluids in my cars and trucks when I get them. I did that on my 63 C20 when I got it. It had 80k on the speedo and 20K on a rebuilt 292. I made 2 or 3 trips from the San Francisco Bay to Las Vegas 530 miles one way with a cabover before the rebuilt cracked the block and I had oil in the water lasted another 5k till the thermostat stuck.

Larry

I would also make sure your seals dont leak, before you go on a long trip, I had cecked my rear oil and it was more like a paste, I dont think anyone had changed it since 66, Thats why I have to rebuild the rear end now. Its not in good shape at all, I dont want to see that happen if it can be helped. I would also make sure all the rubber is good like the wheel cylinders and brake lines. good luck!

Not totally relevant, but . . .

a friend is restoring a 41 Diamond T truck. His MANUAL instructs that the pumpkin (differential) is drained through a bolt hole at the bottom, and filled through a bolt hole at the top. In otherwords, unscrew on of the 12 or so bolts at the bottom, drain the oil, put bolt back, pull a bolt at top, fill from there, replace bolt.

Not sure why they even BOTHER putting a "drain plug" on it. The manual says the correct level is ABOVE THE PLUG, anyway. Weird.

Michael

Not really, Michael. To get the correct level you fill it with gear oil until it starts to slobber, then stick the plug back in. And when you recheck the level all you should have to do is loosen the plug until it almost comes out, and see the seepage. Then your level is correct.