Very nice tool. I did mine by hand. Wont do that again.

 

I'm surprised nobody caught my mistake...this group is normally pretty good about catching things like this! I forgot to put in the semi-oval shaped retainer...I've attached a couple of pictures of what it should look like. I had it all together and thought I was done when I saw it laying on the bench.

It was REALLY nice to have the tool for disassembling and assembling...that made it a 10 minute job.

Rich

 

PM sent...thanks Doc!

Rich

 

HOLY CRAP BATMAN!!! That is the best job I have seen in a long time.

 

humm kinda reminds me of my own when i did them ... but i painted mine red sorry i don't have any before pictures for mine though

 

Nice job, dj55b! I'm not a big fan of painting the parking brake boot red. but if you are, that's what counts! Isn't it kewl taking crap and making it look (and work) good?

Rich

 

this goes on my to do list.....

 

Absolutely ... Ya i started out by inteding on not painting any of the rubber black but i got some on there and instead of trying to take it off i just sprayed them along with it. They feel like brand new now and even look like so. When i sand blasted mine, I just used a thin layer of grease to cover the exposed metal to preventing from rusting while I was doing the rest. and then just washed them out and hot air dried them when i was done with them all before painting them.

 

I didn't have any trouble with the calipers rusting before I could paint them because I did them one at a time and painted as soon as I was done withthe sandblasting. I used Serwin-Williams self-etching primer and Plasti-Kote brake caliper paint. The rear axle housing was another story. It rusted immediately after sandblasting...it took me 3 weeks to do the sandblating because my compressor isn't big enough and I spent more time waiting for it to catch up than I did actually sandblasting. So when I got done it was all rusted again, but at least it was just one layer of rust. Then I painted it with POR-15 (thanks to 7aull for that suggestion!). It came out looking quite nice...I'll post pictures soon.

Rich

 

I finally finished sandblasting the axle housing for the rear end I'm swapping in, and got it painted this weekend. I used POR-15 and I think it came out quite nice. It's not the same texture and smoothness you'll get with a spray paint, but it's awfully good for being brushed...certainly good enough for suspension pieces.

Here's a shot of the rear axle right afer I had removed it from the donor car.


And here is a shot of my makeshift sandblasting booth...it's really easy to set up and tear down, and works quite well. I figure I'm losing less than 5% of the blasting media. And a shot of the axle housing after power washing and before sandblasting.



These pictures show the setup I used for painting. Originally I was not going to remove the axles, but decided I might as well do it right and get everything cleaned and painted properly, and also replace the outer bearings in the process. Once I had done that I decided that I might as well remove the center section as well, and then I could run a conduit through the housing and support the ends with a couple of ladders. This made painting very easy. I included a couple of before pictures (after the proper prep work, including Marine Clean to remove all grease and oil, and Metal Ready to convert the rust and prepare the metal for the POR-15).





And here are a couple of closeup shots of the round center section showing the smooth texture you get with the POR-15, even when brushing it on.



And a shot of the finished housing.


I painted the center section today and will post more pictures when I have everything complete...hopefully next weekend.

Rich

 

I'm getting close to getting the rear end restoration complete. I got the new bearings pressed onto the axles, then installed the center section and the axles into the housing. I also installed the brakes on the right side. I messed up the rebuild on the left caliper. When I installed the piston, it went in really hard. I kept thinking "that can't be right", so I went up to AutoZone and borrowed the tool again and took it apart. Sure enough, I had scrunched the seal, so I'm glad I found out now. Besides that, all that's left is to sandblast and paint one of the brake rotors and I'll be ready to slide the rear end back into place.

Rich

 

I just got done helping redo a Ford 9", and I think we should have used POR15. We went through and bead blasted, Primed, filled smoothed, primed again smoothed some more and then painted.

 

Here's the final installment for this thread. The rear end is on the car. I'm still waiting for a caliper rebuild kit for the left side, so it isn't on the road yet, but it should be ready by the weekend. I'm really disappointed in RockAuto.com. The reason I ordered the rebuild kit from them is because they have always been so prompt getting things to me...but I've been waiting over a week this time. Plus, they sent me the wrong center brake hose so I had to get that from BlackDragonAuto.com.

Sorry about the bad pictures...it's pretty tough to get decent pictures underneath without a lift.

Rich

 

Nice job Rich. I missed the earlier pics, now I see why you asked about the install. You do love restoring stuff, and the detail work. You even have the oem screws holding the rotors on.

 

Oh wow! very nice job Rich!
Patience and hard work always pays off. That looks absolutelly fabulous. You just inspired me to start on my GSLE rear end.

 

i too love the sandblaster. i used it almost every day in my auto shop class.

 

Lookin good!!

 

Yup thats definatly my next project, I need to buy myself a sand blaster. How long did this whole project take you. Since i'm waiting for my new fuel pump to come in I might as well make something productive out of my time.

 

It took me roughly 2 months...I started on Memorial Day. But a lot of that time (about 3 weeks) was spent sandblasting the axle housing. If I had a larger compressor I think I could have cut that down to less than a week, so the whole project would have gone quicker. As soon as I get the caliper rebuild kit and get it installed and the brakes bled, I'll be back on the road...finally!

Rich

 

I was working at a chrome plating place yesterday, and used their sandblaster ... They must of had the Rotary of sand blasters, it would take everything out in a single pass, I had to hold the thing with 2 hands and leaned forward when the thing went on. That thing was insane. I'm going to try to talk to them about sandblasting it in there. Cause honestly i think that i can probably do the whole rear end in an hour or so.

 

I used a wire brush mounted in a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder to clean up my spare rear end. It took a couple of days to complete (maybe 6 hours total) and worked out pretty well. The brush really tore through the rust and polished the metal up nicely. It probably isn't as thorough as sand blasting, but since I lack that equipment I had to make due with what I had. I was going to leave it like that, but after seeing your pictures I am going to grab some Por15 and "do it right". Very nice work man, definitely something to aspire to...