bkahler

No, last ditch is to file the tips of the pin down until they are flush with the hub. Mine are ever so slightly recessed so the fan doesn't contact them when it's slid off.

Just went out and looked at my fan and water pump, funny I never noticed the pin before! Like everyone has said, just start wiggling and it will come off.

That's interesting, my fan doesn't have a pin holding it in place. This may sound dumb but did you check the other side to see if the pin shows there as well? Have you tried wiggling the fan to see if it would move any?

If I was to remove the four bolts (pointed to with red arrows) would the ring gear assembly lift away and if so, would I be able to just set the ring gear assembly back in place and torque the four bolts to the appropriate specs? I don't like whiny rear ends either! If for whatever reason this set turns out to be unusable I'll just swap to a Cherokee diff and be done with it. Not my preferred course of action but at some point I need to move forward. Thanks! Brad

Surprisingly, I was actually able to turn the pinion with one hand this evening. It still took a little bit of effort to get it to turn but nothing like it was previously. I've laid it sideways in the bath now and will flop it over tomorrow night. I might just repeat that for Wednesday and Thursday as well and then spend some time during the day Friday hosing it down with the garden hose and then give it the WD40 treatment to displace the water. The picture doesn't show it very well but the top three teeth in this photo show what I believe is white lithium grease. About eight or nine teeth all in a row had this paste on them. Since it was easier to rotate after it's been sitting in the Evapo-rust bath I'm hoping that the reason it was difficult to turn was due to hardened grease in the bearings and teeth. If what I've read is true the gear ratio is stamped on the side of the ring gear. Assuming that is true then I believe this verifies that I have a 3.73 diff, which is what I was led to believe. With luck I'll have it washed down Friday and up on the work bench for a detailed inspection. With the improvement I found this evening for the moment I'm cautiously optimistic that the diff will be ok. Brad

Just to probably close out this thread I did receive the dust shield today and it does indeed fit my Spicer 16 spline, 1-1/4" diameter yoke! One more item crossed off my list Brad

Well, you're certainly making due with the tools that you have I'm looking forward to seeing that new windshield installed.

Ken this is the path I've been taking. Thanks for your earlier the tip on using Evapo-rust. I'd never used it before and am beyond impressed with how well it cleaned some small metal pieces I had sat in the pan with the pumpkin. I've got several different styles of dial indicators so that won't be a problem. I'll have to see what I can come up with as far as spanner. If nothing else I'm sure I could fabricate something that will work. Thanks! Brad

What I was asking is whether it could be broken down into sub assemblies. For example, is the ring gear/bearing assembly something that can be removed with a couple of bolts or does it come apart in pieces. I didn't say anything about replacing bearings or gears.

Just goes to show you I've got a lot to learn about this diff and diffs in general. Is it possible to remove the ring gear assembly in such a way that all I would have to do is bolt it back in place? Same for the pinion nut, can I remove it and then replace it without affecting anything? Depending on weather this week I might try and hose it down one night after work. Otherwise that will have to wait until Friday. I'm going to continue to rotate it around in the Evapo-rust bath to get as much coverage as I can. The pinion seal was new and a speedi-sleeve was also installed during the rebuild. Since the rebuild 20 years ago the diff was never placed into service. I haven't tried to rotate the pinion since I set it in the bath but might try to do so tonight to see if anything has changed. Thanks, Brad

Better your suffering than my suffering! Artistic body work, which is what I would consider what you're doing, is something that I just don't have the knack for. I can cut, weld, grind with the best of them but not like what you've been doing

Answered my own question. So worst case is I can buy and installation kit. Or.....maybe not. What size of differential is installed in the B3B trucks? I had assumed it was the 8-3/4 with 1-3/8 pinion but now I'm not so sure! What search term(s) would I use while trying to find appropriate shims, etc? Thanks! Brad

I'm not sure where things stand just yet. I still have the pumpkin soaking in Evapo-rust. I've removed all the little parts and the pumpkin is now laying on it's side. I ran my gloved fingers inside the splined openings where the axles slide and it got covered in a gooey greasy substance. What I'm wondering is if the grease they used when setting it up 20 years ago solidified making it stiff to turn. I found the receipt for the rebuild and it lists all new bearings so it was completely disassembled and put back together again. I'm fairly confident the shop that did the work did it right. They had always done good work int the past. They are friends of the family and had always been honest and above board with their work. If I have to add shims to the pinion is there a source available for them?

My guess is you probably won't find it! This does bring up a good point. Since I don't have the two floorboards installed yet I probably should cover the opening with plastic. That might make it easier to find stuff that I drop.

Yesterday morning I finished cleaning and greasing the wiper motor and managed to get it bolted in place under the dash. The job took about 45 minutes longer than expected because I dropped one of the screws with lock washer and it took me about 20 minutes to find the screw. I carefully set the screw aside and resumed looking for the lock washer. Finally found it after about 15 more minutes of tearing the garage apart. I then spent another 10 minutes trying to find the screw that I had safely set aside......? Getting old sucks sometimes...... I also got the wiper pivots fastened in place. Just waiting on some 1/4" nylon washers before I can install the actuator arms. Next up under the dash after the actuator arms is going to be the cowl vent. The gasket is already glued in place so it's just a matter of piecing it all together. Brad

Impressive work ? I'm really enjoying this!

Some days you make progress and some days you don't. Looks like today was a day when you did Looks like you're still fighting the steering wheel.

Learn something new everyday, I was not aware there was a floor shift 3-speed! I assume it was a spur gear non-syncro type, correct? Thanks for the info! Brad

Mark, has a good point about not mucking up the sheet metal on the A pillar. In the attached pictures you can see where the hinge bar slides into a pocket. You might want to start spraying the hinge bolts with PB Blaster also. It would suck if those bolts stripped or broke. Brad

I saw your modification post previously while searching for various things. Back in the days when I was canvasing junkyards for parts I managed to salvage enough of the J clips and acme screws to replace all of mine. A couple from one truck, a few from another and eventually I had enough Thanks! Brad

Correct, mine is a 4-speed. I didn't think the 3-speed transmissions had any protrusions above the floor panels so what would the gasket be sealing? At some point I saved this picture from somewhere and it shows foam, probably similar to your approach. Brad

That's kinda what I figured but it sure seems like it's going to need a whole lot of compression to get it to sit low enough. I guess maybe I should start compressing it now so it will be down far enough when I'm actually ready to put the floor plates in! Thanks, Brad

When you remove the bolts from the hinges take note as to whether or not the bolt heads are thinner than normal. I haven't verified that on mine yet but while browsing DCM's site the other day I noticed they sell new hinge bolts with low profile heads. Anyway, something to be aware of when you bag up the parts Brad

On my B3B the rivets are on the doors only and yes, they are rivets. The top hinge on the A pillar has a nut plate welded on the inside of the cab and the hinge arm bolts to the nut plate. The bottom hinge actually uses the hinge itself as a nut plate and is captured between two sections of sheet metal on the A-pillar.

I've got a question about the gasket between the transmission and the floor cover plate. I bought the gasket from Roberts and it's advertised as going between the transmission and the floor cover. The gasket itself is somewhat pliable but it's going to take some pressure and possibly some carving of the inner diameter to get it to fit. Anyone used this gasket before and made it work?