MTFCA Forum

Call me crazy but I think she's TOAST. The differential bolts have more steps carved in them than a stair master, 3 of the six thrust pins sheared off and a broken axel gear tooth.........so much for just swapping thrust washers. On the bright side, the Hyatt bearings are perfect and there's only half a thou wear in the axel shaft bearing surfaces. But the thing that really grinds on me is that when I split it, I came to realize that it had been split at least once semi recently. Why you ask? Because there was one bronze thrust washer AND one flipping Babbitt. I fully understand doing things on a budget but if someone went through the trouble to split the darn thing once why didn't they spend the extra money ( probably no more than $7 at the time) and replace BOTH of the freekin things? Some things never cease to amaze me. I don't think much of the differential housing can be salvaged from this one so it will eventually be fully rebuilt.

Why do it right when you can be a cheapskate ?

Reminds me of a cheap bas$#@d that I rented some shop space from years ago.

He had an old beater Corvair (early one) with a battered and tweaked body. Not
one panel on the car was the same color. One day he came by all excited because
he got a new paint job on it. Do you think he straightened the reshuffled nose or
beat out any dents ? Not a chance.

Some peoples' kids, ... I tell ya !

Wow...what a mess.

To think that someone would go to all the trouble to remove and split a housing, then replace ONE thrust washer and leave a babbitt washer in place is something I can't wrap my head around.

I tend to go with all new parts replacing anything that is questionable. BUT, I knew several people back in the day who would try to make anything work even if it were worn. This is a great lesson on the importance of checking the rear axle, the only way to know for sure. If the OP had just driven the car it could have been a disaster for him, and others.

Then their may be those who would say that Henry used babbit, so...

The least expensive way to do any repair is to do it right the first time. There's always time to do it over...

Whoever worked on it probably didn’t remove the axle from the vehicle, just the housing on that side. Maybe couldn’t get the other wheel off. Maybe even couldn’t figure out how to get the axle out from under the car... Not to mention at the time it was replaced it might have been way more important to buy the family a weeks worth of turnips instead of a second thrust washer...

Remember, back in the day, a T didn’t get much respect. They probably weren’t thinking about preserving a priceless treasure, just getting a few more miles down the road.

IMO, do the job once and do the best job you can, replacing any parts that are the least bit suspect - unless you enjoy doing the job multiple times!

I agree with both Adam and Tim............T 's got VERY little respect back in ye olde days, despite their excellent service. As mentioned, it's entirely possible that a previous owner pulled half the housing and thought he found the source of that "noise" almost immediately. Overjoyed with his luck, he replaced the part and tootled on down the road, satisfied with the job. Unknown to him, there was a ticking time bomb waiting for another owner.......

The rear end of my T was just a little bit worse than that when I opened it up. Call me a masochist but I actually enjoyed rebuilding it. I think from mine I ended up keeping the housing, axles, Hyatt bearings, and replacing everything else.

Pretty normal fellow T'er here brought me a rear end think only thing we are going to use is
Housing torque tube driveshaft and radiouse rods possinly brake levers they have wear but are serviceable
Although i told him now the time replace them