A Busy Week

I was able to spend a lot of time on the car this week, though it doesn't necessarily show it.

The first task was to install the brake caliper backing plates to the rear end housing. Seemed straight forward enough. However...

The plates came with two sets of bolts, neither of which would work properly. One set was already on the plates from the manufacturer, but were completely different from the install manual. The other set followed Hurricane's manual, but did not quite fit through the holes. And neither one had the correctly threaded nuts that were needed, a fine thread. In the end, after my first guidance from the other builders in the Hurricane Owners Forum, I opened up the holes a little bit and bought the right nuts at Napa.

The next step was to install the rear axles. Step one was to silicone the spacers in place and to apply some grease to the bearing. Having neither, it was off to the new Lowe's out in Arnold with a $10 coupon. Every little bit of savings helps. This was probably the high point of the week.

Back home, it was time to put the new goodies to use. I had bought some RTV silicone before in a toothpaste type tube that basically exploded the first time I tried to use it on the third member (differential) a few weeks ago. This time, I bought a bigger cylindrical tube that I can use in my caulk gun. Works much better. Too bad I have no idea how much to use. Guessing seems okay.

Next was the grease gun. I followed the directions for loading the grease tube into the gun, almost to a tee. Exactly to a tee would have been better. I neglected to tighten the screw that holds the lid down, so when I released the plunger, the grease blew right through that hole creating a giant, stinky, sloppy mess before I could re-engage the plunger in the safe position. It was almost fun to watch, just not to clean up afterwards.

From there, I got everything glued and lubed up and tried to install the axles.



No luck. The axles did not seem to fit. Ended up being another huge mess. The previous work of fitting the backing plates went by the wayside. Several hours were spent cursing and wondering if I even had the right parts. Eventually, I went to Harbor Freight to buy a bigger hammer. That seems to be a pretty good answer to a lot of problems.

Anyway, this morning, after two hours, and one broken ratchet wrench, I did manage to get the passenger side axle installed properly. Here is a picture (taken with new AA batteries, also from Lowe's)...

The driver side still is a huge problem. Just does not seem to be fitting. Here is a picture of the splined end of the axle shaft and another of the interior of the housing shaft looking at the third member.


It seems that I am about 5/8ths of an inch from getting it all the way in. I do get in far enough to engage the teeth enough to turn the axle with the drive shaft. But the bearing is not even close to being all the way into the housing. It will leak like crazy if I were to leave it like this. More pounding needs to be done, I guess. Anyway, I am going to leave it like this and take a few days off for R&R.