My 1966 8" rear axle developed a leak, and it appeared to be the pinion seal. I've never worked on a rear end before (get your mind out of the gutters, will ya???) and I heard horror stories about pre-load and gear whine. I read up on everything, and get a seal from a local parts store, and asked AZPete to come over and help out. We marked everything very carefully, and took it apart. Found no washer under the pinion bolt nor a dust cover. We decided not to add those items, as we did not have the tools to check pre-load, instead going by marks on the nut and pinion to get everything back in place. Got the seal out and compared it to the one I purchased: they didn't match...not even close. So...off to the parts store and get it replaced. I bought some more 80W90, cause the rear oil was getting pretty black after 10k miles or so. Sucked out the oil, checked the vent to make sure it wasn't plugged, put the new seal in, and was ready to add oil.
I decided to check to see if I can just fill it up from the bottle, so I took the bottle tip into the hole, and it looked like all but an ounce or two would go in. I go back to the work bench to cut the tip off, and Pete says where's the cap? Cap? What cap? Oh crap...did it fall into the rear housing? We tried everything in our bag of tricks to see if the cap was there, but couldn't be sure. So...out comes the pumpkin. First, though, we had to pull the axles. I had never pulled the axles since I bought the car (1998), and Pete doesn't like the sound of them. Crap. We call around, and only Pep Boys would press new bearings on, but we would have to wait 2 hours. Screw that...
Out comes the pumpkin, and we tear the gasket. Lo and behold, there's the cap, just sitting as pretty as you please in the bottom of the housing. We then go to three different parts stores looking for rear axle seals, bearings, and the pumpkin gasket. No one had any of them in stock (but one store did that the pinion seal in stock...go figure!). We have a pretty good NAPA store in town, so I'll take the axles in and they can order all of the stuff in time by next weekend when we'll put everything back together.
Meanwhile, the wifey is screaming at me to fix a dryer that's making a racket. What the F do I know about dryers? Pete does, and we took it apart, finding a bushing for the drum that is worn. Wifey will be ordering that part shortly.
I hate it when a plan doesn't come together and you pull a real Doofus.
I decided to check to see if I can just fill it up from the bottle, so I took the bottle tip into the hole, and it looked like all but an ounce or two would go in. I go back to the work bench to cut the tip off, and Pete says where's the cap? Cap? What cap? Oh crap...did it fall into the rear housing? We tried everything in our bag of tricks to see if the cap was there, but couldn't be sure. So...out comes the pumpkin. First, though, we had to pull the axles. I had never pulled the axles since I bought the car (1998), and Pete doesn't like the sound of them. Crap. We call around, and only Pep Boys would press new bearings on, but we would have to wait 2 hours. Screw that...
Out comes the pumpkin, and we tear the gasket. Lo and behold, there's the cap, just sitting as pretty as you please in the bottom of the housing. We then go to three different parts stores looking for rear axle seals, bearings, and the pumpkin gasket. No one had any of them in stock (but one store did that the pinion seal in stock...go figure!). We have a pretty good NAPA store in town, so I'll take the axles in and they can order all of the stuff in time by next weekend when we'll put everything back together.
Meanwhile, the wifey is screaming at me to fix a dryer that's making a racket. What the F do I know about dryers? Pete does, and we took it apart, finding a bushing for the drum that is worn. Wifey will be ordering that part shortly.
I hate it when a plan doesn't come together and you pull a real Doofus.
