Water Distribution Tube - OMT

[woodie49]

I know this has been covered on the forum before, but I am trying to pull my water distribution tube while I have the radiator out.

I pulled the raditor to have it recored and decided to pull the rest of the stuff off the block to detail everything. The last thing to do is replace the water distribution tube. The car always tended to run a little hot, but I am in So Cal, so everything is hot in the summertime.

As expected, the tube is not just jumping out of the car.

I saw a neat jig on the forum that Jim Yergin used, but I do not see how the jig into the tube. My tube is flush with the block, so I really don't see how the puller was attached to it.

Also, when I pulled my manifold, most of the stubs remained in the block, including the one closest to the firewall. I think this goes through to the water jacket. Does it hold the tube in in any way?

[Niel Hoback]

No, they don't hit the tube. At least, they're not supposed to! I might help to get them out though, you could get some penetrating oil in the holes and hope it gets to the tube.

[TodFitch]

Yesterday I heard a variation on how to get the water distribution tube out. The fellow had some sort of vibrating tool (not clear to me what) that he attached to his puller and was able to get his out that way.

[Powerhouse]

the studs shouldn't make a difference. they don't come close at all.

I heated mine up with a propane torch a few times in between spraying pb blaster, dw 40..whatever it was. I then gave it some tugs and used a vice grip to sort of bend it and twist it a bit...it came out rather easily after all that.

[Jim Yergin]

I saw a neat jig on the forum that Jim Yergin used, but I do not see how the jig into the tube. My tube is flush with the block, so I really don't see how the puller was attached to it.

What I did was squeeze the ends of the tube together then drilled a hole through it (had to drill at an angle because the tube is flush with the block) and ran a wire through the hole and through the hole I drilled in the end of the threaded rod. Hope that makes sense. Worked well for me.

Jim Yergin

[40phil41]

There is already an elongated whole in the tube at the 12:00 position about 1/2 in. inside. I made up a slide hammer with heavy steel rod and hooked the end into the whole in the tube.

Phil

[Andydodge]

I finally got mine out by using a pair of the largest screw drivers inserted into the hole at an angle against each side of the tube and by pushing the screwdrivers back into the tube and "wedging" it out.........the use of various expletives, discussions of the water tubes parentage and things that you intend to do to it once it is out all help...........well they did help me........good luck with the mongrel thing.........see I still harbor evil thoughts even 12mths after dealing with the son of a thousand fathers................lol...........andyd

[woodie49]

Andydodge,

Did you put the screw drivers between the tube and the block, collasping the tube? This seems to me to be the best place to start.

[Harvey Tank]

it took me two days to get my tube out.

look in the technical tips on how to remove the tube. it says to use lots of penitrating oil. then take a peice of 1/8 x1/2 flat bar make it like a chicle on one end and drive it down between tube and the block, colapsing the tub. this is what I had to do to get mine out. work on it. it will come out. good luck.

Let us knowthe outcome.

[Jim Saraceno]

I had the block stripped down, used heat, penetrating oil and a slide hammer with some bar stock with a notch in it.

With all the oil, heat, beating and all, I bet it took me about a month before the tube came out.

I know that was unusually difficult but just be aware, that will happen from time to time.

On the other hand, I've never had a bolt shear off and I can get my rear brake drums off quite easily with my cheap Chinese drum puller so I guess it evens out in the end.

[martybose]

When we tried to pull the tube out of my 230, it broke in half. My mechanic actually drilled and tapped a big hole in the back of the block, pulled the offending pieces out, then made a threaded plug to close up the block!

Not recommended!

Marty

[Andydodge]

Woodie, yep, use the screwdrivers wedged against the tube on either side and push the end of the screwdriver so that its blade jams hard into each side of the tube, .........I'd used oil, WD40 by the bucket, made up a hook for a slide hammer to fit in a hole drilled in the side of the tube and still it wouldn't move....the screwdriver trick did work.........lol..........andyd.

[JoelOkie]

When we tried to pull the tube out of my 230, it broke in half. My mechanic actually drilled and tapped a big hole in the back of the block, pulled the offending pieces out, then made a threaded plug to close up the block!

Not recommended!

Marty

I went a few rounds with one that didn't come out whole also a few years ago. I ended up getting the pieces in the back by making a fishing tool by welding a big ragged threaded, sharp pointed screw to the end of a 32" long 1/4" pencil rod, and welded a T handle on the other end......stab around till it hit something, screw it into a piece, then jerk it out.

I replaced one in another vehicle last year, and to my surprise (given the earlier experience), it pretty much slid right out. Joel

[woodie49]

What I did was squeeze the ends of the tube together then drilled a hole through it (had to drill at an angle because the tube is flush with the block) and ran a wire through the hole and through the hole I drilled in the end of the threaded rod. Hope that makes sense. Worked well for me.

Jim Yergin

I played with this (WDT) a bit last night, enough to know it is not going to jump right out. I think I am going to give the home-made jig a try. I see how you hooked up to the tube. It looks like the rods screw into the block. I assume this puts a lot of strain on the block at the water pump holes; is there any chance that this could strip them? I think after I screw the rods in I will use a couple big washers at the block and run bolt down to tighten them against the block. That might spread the strain. Maybe this area is pretty strong and I am crazy to worry about it?

[louie the fly]

I just consider myself lucky then. I struggled with mine for an hour or so. Next day I mad a hook for my slide hammer. Hooked it in the hole at the top and gave it a good whack. Out it came. In fact, it came that easy I nearly wore it in the family jewels! Wasn't ready for it...

I've heard of people knocking a bit of 20 x 3 flat bar down the sides of it to free the crud up, but I didn't need to do that.

[Young Ed]

I think after I screw the rods in I will use a couple big washers at the block and run bolt down to tighten them against the block. That might spread the strain. Maybe this area is pretty strong and I am crazy to worry about it?

Those bolt holes are quite deep as long as you thread the bolt in a ways you will be ok. There's about an inch of thread depth per hole.

[woodie49]

It took about 6 hours last night, but I got this sucker out.

I had sprayed as much penetrating oil into the front and down the back heater hose outlet (I figured this probably eventually gets to the tube area) as I thought reasonable over the past couple days. At the time, I doubted this really made much difference because I did not think it was getting far enough into the block.

I started by using a homemade jig similar to one I saw on this site. My engine is still in the car, so I made my jig smaller. I figured once I got the thing loose, it would come out fairly easily. That was wrong. At the start, and at various times throughout this job, I took a flat, long piece of metal stock and pounded it between the block and the tube on both sides of the tube, and I took a very long screw driver down the center of the tube to try to break the rust bond.

On the first attempt, my jog mostly just tore through the front of the tube, and I began to think I was in for real trouble. But, I did note that the tube had moved forward a very small amount, much less than a quarter inch.

There was little to grab on because the front of the tube sort of fell apart under the strain of the jig, but I got a decent grip with vice grips and was able to move it a bit forward leveraging against the hole. The problem was still that the tube would withstand only a little stress and them break off , but I was getting some forward movement. Fortunately, I have a pair of long nose vice grips that are really good. I ended up using these to bite down into almost two inches of tube, and then used a prybar against the vice grip to lever the tube forward. It took easily a couple hours to get the tube moved out an inch or so. The next 1/2 inch was faster. By that time, I had enough meat on the tube to support a new drill hole without pulling the tube apart, so I had another go with the jig, which slowly, pulled a couple more inches out. Now I felt good. I then worked with vice grips and a prybar until I got the tube about eight inches out, then it came out the rest of the way with little effort.

I feel pretty fortunate because with the front of the tube so deteriorated, the bond to the motor was probably not very strong, or I would have had to do major surgery to get it out. As it was , it was just a matter of time and some degree of patience. Since I was seeing some movement, even minor, early on, I felt pretty good that it was going to come out OK. I was a little surprised that I had to pull a whole lot out before it started to come out fairly easlily.

I have a few pictures. The first is the jig in position at the start of the job, the second one is after using vice grips liberally to get enough tube exposed to allow drilling into something solid (probably three hours into the job), the next is the tube itself, including what solid pieces I could find of the front, most where too far gone to be even recognizable, and one with the new tube beside it. Actually, aside from the front, the tube is not that bad, still some blue paint on it from some rebuild at some time. When I pulled it out, it did have a nice coating of penetrating oil at the bottom of the tube for almost the entire length, so I now think that step did a LOT of good.

Finding out what others had to do to get this thing out really prepared me to do this job and this is one of the great things about this forum. If I had not known what to expect, I think I would be spending all next weekend pissed off, cussing the struggling to get this job done. It is SO good to have a group like this with the collective experience it has.

Now I assume that I just dig out what rust I can, clean as best I can and put the new tube in. I guess I use a drift to attach it to the block behind the water pump? Any prep I should do? I did note that the one I pulled had been painted same color as the engine. Does this help inhibit rust?

[Andydodge]

Woodie, welcome to the Water Tube Club.......lol.......well done.......are you gunna complete your pain & suffering by taking out the welch plugs?.........lol.........if you take them out then the best thing would be to hose out the water tube passage and welch plug gallerys which should clean out just about all the mud & crud.........ain't old cars fun?........lol............andyd

[woodie49]

Woodie, welcome to the Water Tube Club.......lol.......well done.......are you gunna complete your pain & suffering by taking out the welch plugs?.........lol.........if you take them out then the best thing would be to hose out the water tube passage and welch plug gallerys which should clean out just about all the mud & crud.........ain't old cars fun?........lol............andyd

I probably am, but it is messy work inside a garage. I might just clean out what I can, including the welch plugs, and reassemble without a thermostat. Try running some dish soap for a few miles as some have suggested here, and then backflush through the thermostat housing on the driveway. When I am done, I'll then replace the thermostat.

I have to admit, it does feel like a right of passage. Didn't break any knuckles, so it was kind of fun.

I figure with my new radiator, distribution tube and flushed out system, my Woodie should run nice and cool even here in So Cal!

[woodie49]

Tube just slides into place. No work with a drift required. It isn't going anyplace:)

Probably just an optical illusion because of the placement of the old and new, but the new one looks long.

Short engine tube should measure 23 1/4"

Hi Shel,

Nothing a few strokes with a hacksaw won't cure.

I think it is an illusion. My old tube is bent and the picture is straight down on the bend so you can't tell, and I am missing a couple inches from the front of the old tube that fell apart when I was extracting it.

But, I will put a tape measure to it tonight, just incase.

[1950 Special Deluxe]

Keep telling me the good stories, I need to work up the courage to check/change mine.

For now I am going with no news (over heating issues) is good news.

The more I read, the less scared I am.

That being said, I always am surprised whenever I start a small/easy(?) job.

Thanks again,

Neil

[Niel Hoback]

Well, Neil, listen to this from another Niel; My so and I went to a junk yard in Idaho where I saw what was left of a 49-52 Plymouth with its water pump already gone. I said I'd like to have that water tube, but I don't have the stuff to get it out. My son pulled his little Weatherman tool from his pocket and plucked the tube out like it was a ripe grape. I was so excited that I made him pose with it for pictures. Which I could find in here if I really wanted to.

My point is that sometimes everybody gets lucky, you may be next.

[woodie49]

Obviously the horror stories are scary. It does seem to me that if you recognize upfront that this could take some time and you get together tools and things to help out, it is something you will probably get done reasonably effectively.

I think once you pull the water pump, if it doesn't just pop out "like a ripe grape" definately pumping in a bunch of penetrating oil will help. If I were to do this again, I would get some very thin tubing to get oil as far back into the tube cavity as possible.

Also, the long metal stock you force down the sides of the tube should help break the bond to the block.

I think a homemade puller also is a must if you have problems. I am not handy, but in my case where I couldn't attach to the tube because the integrety of the metal was gone, I think I could still have fashioned a tool that would hook one of the further in holes in the top of the tube to provide something for the puller to grab on to.

I have to beleive that the really stubborn ones are very few and far between, so are the easy ones. The rest are doable with a lot of determination.

Of course, if you are having no overheating issues to begin with, why put yourself through it?

Someone here (maybe Don) keeps saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and that is probably good advice for a driver.