Day 18 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (27th June 2015)

The last week has seen me collecting the best parts possible for the rear end and sorting them into useable, keep as a spare part, or bin it.

Early in the week I swapped a 29 torque tube and tailshaft with Steve from Bittern in return for the same parts for a 28. Steve also threw in a very good uni-joint bell.

These parts are in far better  condition than what I had, and an added bonus was the torque tube had zero rust under the remains of the black paint and zinc oxide primer.

So it was a very quick cleanup with a wire brush on the angel grinder.

Before

No rust here

Done and dusted

The other job that went well today was cleaning up the diff center that came with the other torque tube that I picked up from Bill Sides, a fellow member of the Dandenong Valley Historic Car Club.

The diff was rusted and locked up, and I had my doubts as to whether a few bits would be salvageable for the spares cupboard or straight to the scrap metal bin.

After  soaking in WD40, a few hard taps with a nylon hammer, followed by the 10 ton press, I had the whole thing stripped.

After two days in Rust Buster the end result is most parts of the diff are serviceable, and all it would need to be a functional unit would be to have a new shaft made for the spider gears.

The crown wheel and pinion are actually in better condition than the one used on the Red Chev from 1973 to 2007.

Below are a few before and after photos