Captain Obvious

Yeah, that's what I did as well. Chalked it up as a learning experience. And now that you mention it... I don't remember if I damaged mine taking the old caps out, or putting the new ones in. Vague fuzzy memory now seems to think I did the exact same thing you did and bent the ears putting the new ones in. Cheap aftermarket parts with some fraction of a thousandth off is all it takes.

If you don't drive your car in wet or salted roads, you'll probably be OK. Let's hope so!!

zKars, I honestly can't tell if you had sarcasm font on here or not. Are you saying that there really truly may not have been metal shavings? Or are you saying "You weren't here when I drilled the durn thing. I know what I saw, and you can kiss my old hairy arse if you don't believe me!"

If you're buying a commercially available tool, I absolutely agree. But that wasn't my point. My point is that the people who are making and selling these tools are kidding themselves (and their customers). I've worked on pins like you and wheeezie and no puller device was going to get that sucker out of there. No way, no how. Heat, oil, and more pressure was the only way. The unbreakable beefiest puller would have just pulled the nub off. And if the pin is NOT stuck so bad that heat, oil, and more pressure is the only way, then you don't need a puller at all. A couple washers, a couple nuts, and some taps on a nut on the other end will get it out. That's my theory and I'm stickin to it!

I've done it. I bent the yoke pressing the U-joint caps out. Had to get a replacement yoke. This was many moons ago and the part was still available new from Datsun. Memory is quite fuzzy, but I believe somewhere in a box around here somewhere... somewhere... There is a brace I made to prevent that from happening again. Strengthening spacer that fits between the ears. Once every couple years it turns up. One of those things you hold in your hand and ask yourself "What did I make this for again?"

There has been discussion about spindle pin pulling devices in the past and my belief is that if the pin can be pulled with a device like that, then it really wasn't that stuck in the first place. I don't think it is possible to design a spindle pin pulling device that will work on all of them. At some point if you just make the tool even beefier, you'll simply pull the threaded end off the pin.

And SKILL. Don't forget about that part. That's the missing ingredient that would be standing in MY way.

I was working on this at the end of last season. I tried all the previously mentioned over the counter options and wasn't satisfied, so I took matters into my own hands. I found something better. Something that nobody else has tried before. Something that doesn't light-up when the light hits it at the right (wrong?) angle like all the previous suggestions.

I suspect the amount of force to pull those parts apart cold is pretty high, but I agree... I'd fasten to the pinion housing as well. Send me a rack and I'll pull it apart for ya. Haha!!

I doubt it. If you only bubbled out a drop or two, you should still have 95% of the original material still in there. I'd run it. I wouldn't do it again on the next rack though.

Thanks for the autopsy! I've been dying to know. After seeing the grooves in the gearbox and the tube, and after hearing how loose the two pieces fit together now that they have been disassembled once... I stand by my original analysis!! I think those two parts were aligned on a jig and then "glued" together with that plastic material to lock them in place. They were designed to be a little sloppy so the correct position could be achieved, and then locked into place with the plastic. I don't think there were any metal pins. I think it was all plastic injected under pressure into that groove until it came out the other side.

Good. A POR-15 burr is a lot easier to take off than rust throughout the hole. Glad it was that easy. And I'm not surprised that the pin slid a little less easy after you had lubed it. That lube is pretty viscous and has significant shear required to move it. Makes sense. As long as it's clean and moves finger smooth, you should be good to go there. And don't torque the crap out of the tapered retaining bolt. All it needs to do is keep the pin from rotating while you torque the nuts on the ends of the spindle pins. Many people over-torque that tapered lock for no reason. It just doesn't need it. And I wouldn't worry too much about getting all the grease off the threads before the thread lock. Especially if they are deformed thread nuts. I've been known to both lightly grease and thread lock nuts sometimes. But I've got a screw loose, so maybe you shouldn't follow that example. As for the stub axle nuts... When I did my rear bearings, I switched over to the new deformed thread version and did not use the original peened over style. I did not re-torque mine, and have not had any ill effects. In theory, I don't think re-torqueing would do anything. It's not like the tapered bearings on the front where you actually control bearing pre-load with the nut. In the back, you're tightening against the "distance piece" and there's no motion or bedding in between anything there. I'm not sure what re-torqueing would accomplish. No deformable material like a gasket, no bedding in of the bearing balls, and nothing that should be changing length. Just very tightly held against the distance piece. Bummer. Where did it bend? My PO messed up mine pretty bad too. So bad that I ended up replacing all four corners on my 77.

I'm in the east coast time zone, so my morning is a couple hours before your morning. So take your time... I won't be back until some time tonight probably. Drink the coffee before you step in front of the bandsaw. Don't need no mishaps!

No, and no. I would absolutely NOT use red Loctite on any of that suspension hardware. The "correct" hardware is all supposed to be the vibration resistant style and should not need any sort of thread locking compound at all. However... If you are: 1) uncomfortable relying on just the original distorted thread design, or 2) reusing stock hardware that has been reused a mystery number of times in the past, or 3) using aftermarket hardware that does not have a locking feature built into it then I would suggest you use either the blue medium or maybe even the purple low strength thread lock. You most certainly do NOT want red as it will require a torch to take things apart again in the future. And as for the spindle pin, it should NOT require a press to get the pin into the hole at the bottom of the strut housing. It should slip in nice and easy. Spin in the bore with two fingers, and fall out with gravity if you tilt the assy to the side. If you need a press to get the pin into place, then you have a burr kicked up inside somewhere, or you've still got rusty crap built up in the are and have more cleaning to do. My money is on rusty crap as my past experience indicates that a wire brush is not aggressive enough to remove the hard thin layer of surface rust that builds up in that hole. Chemical means or a more aggressive mechanical means would be in order. Long (sacrificial) round file for example. The hard cast iron will probably ruin the file, but consider it a donation to the cause.

Hahaha!!! So what's the result? WE WANT PICS!!!

I was going to suggest that about the bulge on the inside. I was wondering if you were just creating a dent by pounding with the drift punch. Band saw! Band saw! Band saw!

All the other years* are jealous in every way except collector value. I would drink that beer with pride, and the offer is the same from me at this end of the country!! I love my noise reducing weatherstrip along the top edge of my window trim!! * Except 78 which is basically identical with a few electrical differences. Haha!!

Thanks for the work to satisfy the OCD. I've got some questions... So, the gear box portion of the early steering racks are cast aluminum? I don't know when they changed it (suspect 74?), but by the time they got to 77, they were cast iron, not aluminum. Also, were there holes drilled all the way through the tube into the interior? Or were they blind drilled? Or maybe no drilling at all? It would be difficult to align pre-drilled holes in those two parts... If those are in pins pressed in, I would think they would assemble first and then drill. As for getting things back to where they started.... I agree with the suggestion about pushing them all the way through and starting over. If it took non-trivial hammer pounding to get the thing to protrude that much into the interior, I think you're going to have a very hard time getting in there and pushing it back out of the way again. I don't think using a tapered mandrel is going to work because of the geometry and the fact that the ID of the bushings is the smallest dimension. Man, I'm surprised you took a hammer to a unit you intend to use again... Brave man!

Nice progress. Make sure you lube the crap out of the spindle pins and bushings before you put it back together. Last thing you want is to have to deal with the immovable spindle pin problem in the future!

77's rule. Woot!

My check valve holds sometimes and other times it doesn't. And I do notice a difference in starting times. So that could be what's getting you too. Get into the habit of checking the fuel pressure gauge before you try to start it and see if you've got a correlation there.

Yeah, I was gonna say... The paint scheme looks great, but those bushings still look like they are trouble. Here's to hoping the new bushings are a better fit. And don't forget to address that big gap on the end by the steering box. It won't get any better if you try to install it the way you have it. I'm not sure if all the mfgrs have the same sharp internal corner or not.

I don't feel tardy.

My kids think the same thing about me.

Haha!!! I'm guessing he recently saw snow for the first (and maybe only) time in his life? How'd that go? Make him all rowdy?