First off, I ordered all the parts to fix my crap steering. Both innner and outer tie rod ends, pitman, and idler arms. Anything I should know other than make sure and put new ones on in as close to the original place as before?

Also, is there an easy way to measure my rear axle diameter? What is the diameter of the small axle versus the larger one?

Ok, thanks

-Ian

 

Quick sleazy way. Over an inch is big spline. Under an inch is small spline.

-billy

 

I'm all about the sleazy way lol. Thanks Billy.

 

a wise man once told me you could tell by looking at the flange where the driveshaft and rearend meet. if the bolts holding it together is threaded into the housing, its small axle. if the bolts go all the way through and theres a nut on the other side, it big axle.

 

Thats not always true aws140, if someone had to take the driveshaft off an early car and couldn't get the bolts out without breaking them, the logical way to bolt it back together is by drilling out the holes and using a nut and bolt with lock washers and plenty of loctite. Trust me, I know cause I had to do that.

 

a few good whacks with the hammer on the ear where the tie rods run up through will knock em loose. no heat or PB needed. it doesn't distort it at all, just shakes it up a bit

also if/when you drop your driveshaft, mark it and replace in the same position, or you might get the vibes.

 

IF the axles are asssembled in the rearend you may check the axle size by measuring the outer bearing housing just behind the caliper bracket. 2 7/8 inch diameter housing is for SMALL axles. 3 1/4 inch diameter housing is for large axles.

 

Right on. I hope I can just swap diffs and the have LSD and drum brakes cuz I honestly dont care about having the discs. If I do find out that I have the small axles, then I will make a deal with a forum member to get the third member from a small axle car.

Steering stuff gets done tomorrow. I went ahead and yanked out the motor/trans so I could clean them up and also the engine bay. I need to also take some pullies off and powdercoat them and also powdercoat a few other parts that have overspray on them from painting the car a year ago.