The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Need suggestions, tips to pull pumpkin from a HO72

Not familiar with that end of the truck. Have located a donor and if the center can be pulled using common hand tools, I would rather do that. Otherwise, I guess i'll remove the whole axle from the springs and scrap the housing when I get home.
What special tools are needed to pull the pumpkin? Leaving early tomorrow.

No special tools. Remove the axles, I think it is a 3/4" socket needed for the axle flange bolts. A breaker bar may be helpful.
Remove the drive shaft from the yoke, then remove the bolts that hold the pumpkin to the housing, a long extension will be helpful for this part. That should be it...keep in mind that thing is heavy.

Thank you Steve.
Is it just the exterior bolts(10?) on the front of the housing that holds it all in place,after the driveshaft is dropped and the axles are backed out?

You will want to remove the rear cover to get all the spider gears and other carrier parts that you will need. If I were you, I'd take the whole axle. Can't hurt to have extra parts!! Plus if you hate the smell of old gear oil like I do, this will allow you to dismantle the rear in a place that is easily cleaned!

No need to remove the cover, all the internal parts come out with the 3rd member inone very heavy peice. Only real reasons to remove the cover would be to inspect the innards before removal and to drain the fliud out.

Put small boxes inside a large box & let it fall on them. Going back you will need to fasten it down to a jack.

Made the trip this morning,got the center section only.It was easy using the sellers air tools. I expected leaf springs, but it had coils.
What is the best method for cleaning it up? It has caked on dirt/oil/ outside.

Start at the local coin car wash if you can get away with it. Soak the whole thing down with lots of the tire cleaner/engine degreaser, let it sit awhile, and then hose it down with the high-pressure soap solution. If the car wash owner hasn't called the cops by then, do a final rinse with high-pressure clean water, then beat feet! Some car wash places get pretty testy about degreasing parts!

If you soak it down with a full can of spray oven cleaner first, then wait 30 minutes, the degreasing process will go a lot faster.
Jerry

I believe for certain years, one of the search criteria is automatic with coil springs.

I use a scraper and some sort of solvent on my cleanups. For motors I use a strong paint brush cleaner. Yours will be a little trickier because you don't want to get any of that on the inside.

Getting solvent, or even hot, soapy water on the inside won't hurt a thing. Just be sure to spray it liberally with water-displacing oil (WD-40) afterwards.
Jerry

Thanks for the cleaning tips guys. I have a Landa hot water pressure unit, so maybe I'll blast it tomorrow and W-D it real good, then set it in the good ol' sun.

To help everyone out in their search for these rare creatures how about pictures of the numbers on the side of the ring gear or post the numbers here.Thanks Jerry

Cleaning the exterior of the center section today. It fits well on a 5 gallon bucket,keeping the outside dirt outside. The ring gear has GM 10-41 and 1970 on the inside where the bolts screw thru.