disassembly of front axles

Hi! My u-joints are now back into the car! Whee! I was concerned about some stiffness or binding in one of my joints. I examined all the balls carefully and could not see any "galling?" I did notice they seemed to hang up on the inner cage. I ordered new balls from my friendly bearing supply house. The new ones had a mirror finish on all the balls and i figured they were .003 smaller in diameter. I tried them out and I did not notice any more play than before (very little total!) but they no longer bind in any direction! I was told bearings wear out, they don't wear in! I am very pleased with the entire set-up and hope to see how they drive in a few months. As you may have figured ball bearing balls are like hot-dogs and buns, I needed 6 and they come in packages of 5! Therefore I have some extras, if you haven't found the missing ball, let me know and I'll send you one or whatever. Ric.

Tom_Parkinson wrote: Thank you for the article. As I inherited my 36-renumbered-as-37 Westchester Cord already totally disassembled, I read your response from the bottom up. Only thing is, the U-joint ball that I am supposed to find under a cabinet in m garage isn't there... :rolleyes:

Serious thanks for taking the time and effort to put the procedure in writing. It is much appreciated.

-Tom

Thank you for the article. As I inherited my 36-renumbered-as-37 Westchester Cord already totally disassembled, I read your response from the bottom up. Only thing is, the U-joint ball that I am supposed to find under a cabinet in m garage isn't there... :rolleyes:

Serious thanks for taking the time and effort to put the procedure in writing. It is much appreciated.

-Tom

Hi Ric,
Thank you for taking the time in writig the instructions;a lot to digest.
Currently hung up, as I had to move the cars from where they were stored and worked on. The best laid plans of mice and men. Currently the car to be restored is outside and the doner car is in a portable garage.
I hope to get both under cover before snow. The engine,tranny and other drive parts are either in my basement or garage. No one said this was going to be easy.
Thanks again.
Ray Bolduc

Hi! I have just finished working on mine so maybe I can help. My only authority for what I have done is 55 years of experience, and much discussion with Joe Knapp in the early 60s. I have Rzeppa 6 ball joints as made new by Detroit Gear Grind in the early 60s. I received them as a gift in exchange for my original set of u-joints as they wanted a set that they could be certain had travelled at least 100,000 miles. Detroit Gear Grind were tooling up to make new ones for Ford in Europe. They had a crazy idea that front wheel drive may be practical. In spite of all the advertisements out there pointing out how FWD is both unsafe, impractical, and useless for going up hills! Of course it couldn't possibly succeed! When I told my friends that GM was thinking of using FWD I was laughed out of the discussion. I guess my friends were right, just look in the wrecking yards, most of the cars there are FWD, few are RWD. Oh well.
Removing the 1 7/16' nut is always fun. I bought a 1/2' drive socket and long breaker bar from Snap-On as the dedicated wrench for that purpose. It is very easy when the car is sitting on its wheels and your 5' jack handle slides neatly over the breaker bar. I believe they should be tight and I find standing on the end will break the nut loose!
If things are the way they should be, I believe you should now need a wheel puller to remove the front hub from the bearing. I have a made up puller that works very well. Most of the time I find that I can just grab the drum and pull it off. So much for having a press fit into the wheel bearing!
I then remove the pin that holds the outer drive shaft to the inner drive shaft. Then remove the lower king pin, and then the upper king pin. The lower is no problem, locking device on nut is straightened, jam nut removed, lower pin easily threads out. Upper pin may still have the oil reservoir in position. Remove, remove locking nut, then you need a wedge or perhaps a tool to lift the top pin. It is a taper pin that is usually very tight. Sometimes I put a pipe wrench on it and try to rotate it before wedging it out.
Now you will be able to remove the "spindle body" that holds the u-joint, wheel bearing as a unit. If you have followed my instructions so far you will then realize that IO forgot to tell you to remove the stearing linkage connection so you can walk away with the unit. You won't get far if you haven't already removed the brake hose too!
Early cars have a large brass castellated nut containing a leather seal that is held in place by a locking device. I think it is 10/32 screw and bracket. Nut should not be brutally tight! I use an old flat tire iron across several teeth to wind this nut off. Now you will be able to remove the bell housing which is a major dust shield enclosing the grease for the u-joint.
Later cars have four large balls around a centre one. I am not familiar with working on them, although I have the remains of them on the shelf. They also have a fancier seal held on the spindle body by 4 screws.
You should now be able to gently pull the u-joint from the housing. Much black grease!
They are a joy to clean in the parts washer. Undoing 3 flat head screws releases the long drive shaft from the u-joint. I knock the retaining washer on the spline a 1/4 turn to remove it, but I can't remember if it is necessary. You should now have a heavy u-joint end that is a nice size to work with.
Wash as much gook as you can out of it, set it on a towel on your lap, and then prepare for a lovely evening of fun. With very little force you will be able to turn and rotate the various pieces so that one ball will fall out, roll across the floor, under the cabinet that is too heavy to move. When you finally recover it, play some more and you will eventually have all the balls out! The inner race way, and spacer will also come gently out without force too. These and the forging can now all be thoroughly cleaned up. I use brake cleaner because we are playing with a precision bearing. To re-assemble reverse the process! (You did make notes!) It is much like a Chinese wooden puzzle. The sense of achievment at the conclusion is so magnificent! The crud that is hidden in the unreachable recesses when assembled will make you warm and toasty all over because it is now gone.
One nice touch. The fancy tapered leather seal in the brass nut can be replaced with a large o-ring. I still haven't figured out why all the seals can't keep heavy oil in place, like I believe they were originally designed for.
I didn't mention how to remove the wheel bearing from the spindle body. While apart remember the front hub breaks right at the wheel bearing. A most unpleasant experience when it happens on a crowded highway at speed! I am hoping to have my hubs x-rayed or something before the car goes back on the road. Ric.

Hi Bob,

I've gotten as far as removing the hubs with a three point puller. Took me longer to drive to the Cord than to remove the hubs. The brakes are exposed but current have a cob web factory in both assemblies. Plan to remove the brakes and axles this week. If you have any questions on the puller, please call me at 413-655-8689 ,evenings.
Keep your sense of humor.
CORDially,
Ray Bolduc

Hi Ray ,
I started to do a Front Brake job and found one castle nut in good condition, the other was beat up and sloppy in a 1 7/16 socket.
Then I too found the cross sectional Lockeed drawing, studied the
complex CV drive system and decided to hold off on the brake job
until after Labor Day . Would be nice to have some inputs........ do new
castle nuts exist on the club inventory or perhaps off the shelf ???
Should the removal of a stubborn castle nut be down in a certain
fashion????????? tire on the ground to hold hub or applied brake
pressure with a helper? Is using a 1/2" impact to much torque?

Is there a trick to removing the brake drum itself once the castle nut
is removed, by hand or do you need a puller?

Hope we get some feedback............

Best regards,
Bob

Hi to all,
I started "surgery" on the axles but stopped. Soaking down the castle nut with BP blaster for a few days. From the books that I have, this looks like a complex assembly. All I have is a side view drawing, is there a exploded drawing anywhere or better yet a shop manual? Does anyone have an input?
Thanks,
Ray Bolduc