I hope your dad said that "tongue in cheek" I've seen U joints burned up with grease but never a joint with too much grease. I've always purged U joints till the old grease comes out the seals and then wipe away the excess grease. I've never had a seal pop nor have I had a U joint failure.

Burned up with grease is an old term for lack of grease

And if you go back like you were check that slip yoke length into the tranny.

 

Hey doublecanister,

It looks like you are thinking mostly of rebuilding your 3 speed or going the C4 route. IF you start thinking of the T5 route, here is a priceless resource: The Ultimate T-5 Swap Article. It tells you a whole lot about the different things to consider on going with a T5. I went the T5 route, but am still a long way from driving our F1, so I can't say if I am glad or not yet. Good luck!
Tyler

 

Over-greasing is supposedly the most frequent cause of U-joint failure, or was back when they put zerk fittings on them. If there is too much grease those little needles don't roll.

 

Never heard that one before. Maybe I had and had dismissed it as perhaps an old wives tale put out by the manufacturers when they wanted to cheapen their product? Looks like Spicer now says they should be greased, purged.
Spent a few years playing with large cargo helicopter gear boxes and rotor heads, courtesy of Uncle Sam. Rotor heads have lots of little and big needles in the bearings and they must be purged lubricated and frequently.

http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3299-2-DSSP.PDF

 

It may well be an old wives tale. I don't spare the grease myself. I can understand the concept of rollers not rolling if there's too much, but mostly on a joint that's already a little worn. Most "bad" joints I've replaced had dents in the cross that indicated the rollers weren't rolling at all.

 

Stay with the Flat motor and three speed. That's my two cents.

 

From drag racing experience with rear U-joint failure in order of frequency:1. Lack of lubrication. We always replaced "sealed" units with ones with grease fittings, greased to oozing. 2. Incorrect pinion angle. Pinon angle should be set to same angle as tranny output shaft with suspension at rest, the angles should be parallel but not in a direct line (see next). 3. Drive shaft installed in a direct line through tranny output shaft and pinion. Bearings will not rotate in this configuration. 4. Rear axle rotation due to hard launches causing spring wrap up. This will result in the rear end hopping. 5. Failure of the small u-bolts or cap bolts that secure u-joint caps to pinion, usually due to them loosening. 6. Drive shaft yoke bottoming. Drive shaft too long, yoke hanging up or jammed. 7. Trunion breaking due to hollow unit not being installed in compression, trunion too short to fit snugly in pinion seat, faulty unit. 8. Rollers not installed properly in caps. Wrong number of rollers, one that falls down into bottom of cap when cap is placed on trunion. If you were able to find the trunion and caps, a careful cleaning and inspection may help determine the cause.
My personal choice if the flatmotor runs well would be to put a T5 behind it. Probably not much more expensive than a good OEM 3 speed. The extra gear would make accelleration smoother, and the OD gear will make your motor and billfold a lot happier.

 

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the suggestions,

I like the idea of a T5, a 5 speed would be sweet! But, due to fundage,
(slight lack of that is) I'm going to chase the 3speed down and see if it's even worth repairing, and go from there.

Many thanks on the T5 info though, I could dern shure try to find one on my next junkyard visit.

Getting my transmission out of the truck myself without damage to it or me, is my next challange.

On top of that, it appears I have a different transmission, all the photos of a 51/52 transmission dont match what I have, my best guess from what I've learned so far is a 47-48' side loader 3speed.
Looks like it has 8 bolts that hold it to the belhousing. (instead of 4).

That makes me wonder with some of what Axracer stated about angles, drive shaft lenghts ect, could somthing be buggy here or was it all just really old and funky from sitting for 40 years and didn't like me driving it.

Is anyone out there good at transmission identification?
I can try to take some photos in the truck, not sure how good they'l turn out.

Looking at online photos, it's definatly not a 49-54 (top loader)
it looks like a 42-48 passenger car side loader 3speed.

anyways, stay tuned I'll get me some help and try to yerk that thing out soon. At least I got to get that part done.

T

 

Sweet Truck! Thanks for the info I like that.. Not sure I'm there yet funds wise but you did a top notch jop there!

Thanks for the suggestions too, much appreciated!

T

 

Your trans should have a "half-bellhousing" with about 8 bolts to a ring that bolts to the engine. If it is a 48-52 truck, it should look like below

 

Thank you! That pic looks exactly like what I have, man from all the literature I had and internet stuff it was making me think I had the wrong transmission!

And I do have a half belhousing it's bout apx 4 to 5 in wide I think (going from memory).

Thanks again Albuq F1

T

 

Hey Guys,

In mulling the "Fling" that my driveshaft had with my Transmission and the broken home it left,

I wonder if installing a drive shaft safty loop would be a good idea?

This could very well happen on anybodys' truck much less on mine again if
the rear u-joint fails again.

I'd hate to go thru this twice...

Just to keep the rear end of the drive shaft from flailing around and hopefully keep it from breaking a transmission in the future.

just thougt i'd ask. Suggestions?

Still no luck on removal yet, been working too much, going to attempt this weekend and go from there.

T

 

Driveshaft loops are installed just aft of the front U joint to support the driveshaft if a front U joint breaks so the vehicle won't pole vault on the driveshaft. The rear end of the driveshaft moves too much for a rear loop to be practical, plus you really wouldn't want to contain a whipping driveshaft it could do much more serious damage than just a broken tailshaft. Breaking the tailshaft is a pretty rare occurance, Unless the driveshaft is the wrong length there is probably a better chance of you getting hit by lightning than it happening again. When you fix it, replace the yoke as well, make sure it slides completely onto and bottoms on the tailshaft and give it a coat of chassis grease inside and out. When installing the driveshaft slide the driveshaft and front yoke completely on, then back it out 1/2 way. The rear U joint bearing caps should now just fit up to the rear axle yoke. If you need to re-adjust more than 1/2" in or out to bolt it up, the driveshaft is not the right length.

 

Here's a good place to learn how to measure for correct driveshaft length

Dennys Driveshaft How To Measure Correctly for driveshafts that fit right

 

I fully understand your "funding problem" as I have a tight budget too.

That said, I have planted several C-4's behind flatty's and the owners have loved the results. Its a mod that requires more man hours than money, C-4's can be plucked from U-pull-it places for 50 to 60 bucks.