Betty's "I want to be a mule" progress log thread

Turdle · September 6, 2014

CDW6212R said:
Great, so what is the length of that F150 shaft, short and long lengths?

I will report this when I get it back together.

Joe in NY said:
Are you sure that 302W block is no good? I have seen people really overheat iron blocks and they dont care... When a 351W overheats in a boat the first usual sign is that the temp gauge goes from 150*where it should be to over 200*, then the wet exhaust hoses give out from extreme dry exhaust temps melting them... Get back to normal and the motor runs just as it did before...

You must have missed the pictures of a burned piston and parts of it in the combustion chamber. Look at post 668

Back to the drive shaft.

After a thorough degrease and rinse I baked the driveshaft parts at 450 for about an hour 15 minutes. Basically until they quit smoking. Then I spent about 1 hour 15 minutes blasting them with crushed garnet. I used some duct tape to mask off the splined areas before blasting, to keep them free of sand. The front yoke has a bit of a "rust ring" but I needed to cap it so there ya have it--

From this

to this

I am going to sleep on a color choice, kinda pooped. I have some Titanium Metallic to use up, I am kinda swayed to that. Hmmm, titanium drive shaft. I like the sound of that.

vroomzoomboom · September 6, 2014

my vote, clear coat it and leave it as it sits

CDW6212R · September 6, 2014

What's the titanium color you have look like, is it kind of a gold tint?

Turdle · September 6, 2014

vroomzoomboom said:
my vote, clear coat it and leave it as it sits

When clear is applied over blasted metal it kills the glimmer and sort of "yellows" it . I do have a silver color which look very close to blasted metal though, with clear over it.

CDW6212R said:
What's the titanium color you have look like, is it kind of a gold tint?

It kinda looks like this

MrQ · September 6, 2014

oooh...shiny

Turdle · September 6, 2014

CDW6212R said:
Great, so what is the length of that F150 shaft, short and long lengths?

I can compress it to 32.5" from rear flange face to u joint center. At least 36" extended

It went together very nicely. Gonna take a break and then throw it in for a road test! Aint it sexy!!

Note!!!

Parallel phasing. Ooops, I had the double cardan shaft cross phased. Should be parallel according to [MENTION=87244]gmanpaint[/MENTION] 's 2 trucks.

So, if this single joint shaft doesn't feel good i have yet another thing to try

Turdle · September 6, 2014

Success!!

F150 drive shaft in and she drives smooth as silk. I probably shouldn't say this but she finally hit 80 MPH shake free! Woot!

Testing 4X4 tonight I think.

Edit. My driveway has a bit of slope. When the angle finder was attached to the front diff it read straight up, off the transfer case flange was about 3 degrees. However there is also some sideways angle going on, I think this makes up for that.

delexploder · September 6, 2014

Awesome

gmanpaint · September 6, 2014

3* difference is within tolerance. :thumbsup:

CDW6212R · September 6, 2014

Excellent, and the finished drive shaft looks great.

So the installed length is very close to 34" then, and the end joints should be as pictured there, called parallel?

Thanks Jon, and I came home from the Pull A Part today seeing a 96 302 intact still, and a 97 Town Car with memory seat/mirrors. I need to get back there to work on those two. Night,

Turdle · September 10, 2014

Driveshaft was an issue

Well, now that the double cardan , CV, or whatever it is called is out of the truck, there is no more binding in 4wd, and, the 4wd does not "pop out" .

[MENTION=53464]dkchrist[/MENTION] was able to replace the axle shaft in the problematic axle assembly from last year so I plan on swapping it back in. The 300k mile unit I am using now makes a little noise.

On a side note-
I hitched a 6000 lb load to the back of Betty and drove her on a 30 mile round trip to the dump. On the way back home the scangauge said the coolant temp was 204 degrees. I hope this is in the normal range. The idiot gauge was still right in the middle, not even near the hot side.

Rick · September 10, 2014

204 doesn't sound too hot to me... :dunno:

MrQ · September 10, 2014

204 is a little hot. Generally it stays around 180-190 without a load. The engine was probably still cooling off from the tow.

mr cribb · September 10, 2014

My opinion is as long as it doesn't go over 210 you're good.

Most of the stock thermostats were 190 to 195 temp.

MrQ · September 10, 2014

In my sohc its a 180 'stat. I heard that was standard, but mine has hit the high 190's on a hot day. Its a much bigger issue with OHV due to the headgasket ussues.

CDW6212R · September 10, 2014

Turdle said:
Well, now that the double cardan , CV, or whatever it is called is out of the truck, there is no more binding in 4wd, and, the 4wd does not "pop out" .

[MENTION=53464]dkchrist[/MENTION] was able to replace the axle shaft in the problematic axle assembly from last year so I plan on swapping it back in. The 300k mile unit I am using now makes a little noise.

On a side note-
I hitched a 6000 lb load to the back of Betty and drove her on a 30 mile round trip to the dump. On the way back home the scangauge said the coolant temp was 204 degrees. I hope this is in the normal range. The idiot gauge was still right in the middle, not even near the hot side.

That's no issue at all, not even enough to cook with. Let me know when you get it to 270 or 284, I've had my SOHC 4.0 hit those before.

traveler · September 10, 2014

I wouldn't arty about 204. That's not even boiling. Usually the factory thermostat is 195. Glad to hear u towed a 6000 lb load though. I'm hoping to get a camper next spring, been wondering how big I can go.

Sent from my H866C using Forum Runner

Turdle · September 10, 2014

traveler said:
I wouldn't arty about 204. That's not even boiling. Usually the factory thermostat is 195. Glad to hear u towed a 6000 lb load though. I'm hoping to get a camper next spring, been wondering how big I can go.

Sent from my H866C using Forum Runner

The trailer itself was a pig. 3000 lbs empty with an expanded metal rear gate that caused a lot of drag. I would not want to tow that much. IMO keep it less than 2500 lbs.

Today I replaced the rear U joints. This was a tad more difficult than the fronts.

Turdle · September 16, 2014

Ok, some things to report. Anyone reading this thread is a friend and I am happy to announce my very good buddy has acquired some very rugged property. We can go there to wheel and hang out. There is definitely some level 5 terrain there, several dry, loose rock creek beds with some waterfalls, 3 strip pit mines now filled with water, some overhangs carved by rivers of the past-and a real cool stone house which will have electricity. and of course plenty of room for camping. There is a 3-4 acre spot he keeps mowed and trimmed. It looks like a state park.

So,we had to test out ol gal. He invited us to go out along with my sister and brother in law. 5 of us in the mounty. This better work or we will have a time getting her outta here

We took a trip in and around some things in 4wd low range, and had no problems at all. Being night time and cutting up steep rocky terrain through the trees had my sister in law screaming from the back seat. She wanted to bail out but the child lock was on or something. Sheri was talking to her calmly, as we have gone through this kinda stuff before.
After going through the roughest stuff Sis in law was asking if her Mountaineer would go through. It was a great time!!
One hill was so steep, and was like tallus rock from the tailings of the strip mine, we threw a rock up onto something underneath. It sounded like a drive shaft snapped ( Jimmy said "there goes your drive shaft") but it was just a loose rock hitting a skid plate I guess.

After this we drove back home, about 25 miles and nothing unusual occured. It was a much needed shake down.

Today I removed the rear drive shaft to make more clearance for the u joint-gas tank shield area. Right after changing out the trans mount and supporting the t case it developed the sound of cards in bicycle spokes when turning right at speed. I intended to address it while I had the shaft out for u joints the other day but the joints gave me a hard time, I started hurting pretty bad, got tired and forgot to. It is taken care of now. Some trimming here and a few whacks with a hammer there and by golly there is some space in between.

Limited02 · September 17, 2014

Turdle said:
Ok, some things to report. Anyone reading this thread is a friend and I am happy to announce my very good buddy has acquired some very rugged property. We can go there to wheel and hang out. There is definitely some level 5 terrain there, several dry, loose rock creek beds with some waterfalls, 3 strip pit mines now filled with water, some overhangs carved by rivers of the past-and a real cool stone house which will have electricity. and of course plenty of room for camping. There is a 3-4 acre spot he keeps mowed and trimmed. It looks like a state park.

So,we had to test out ol gal. He invited us to go out along with my sister and brother in law. 5 of us in the mounty. This better work or we will have a time getting her outta here

We took a trip in and around some things in 4wd low range, and had no problems at all. Being night time and cutting up steep rocky terrain through the trees had my sister in law screaming from the back seat. She wanted to bail out but the child lock was on or something. Sheri was talking to her calmly, as we have gone through this kinda stuff before.
After going through the roughest stuff Sis in law was asking if her Mountaineer would go through. It was a great time!!
One hill was so steep, and was like tallus rock from the tailings of the strip mine, we threw a rock up onto something underneath. It sounded like a drive shaft snapped ( Jimmy said "there goes your drive shaft") but it was just a loose rock hitting a skid plate I guess.

After this we drove back home, about 25 miles and nothing unusual occured. It was a much needed shake down.

Today I removed the rear drive shaft to make more clearance for the u joint-gas tank shield area. Right after changing out the trans mount and supporting the t case it developed the sound of cards in bicycle spokes when turning right at speed. I intended to address it while I had the shaft out for u joints the other day but the joints gave me a hard time, I started hurting pretty bad, got tired and forgot to. It is taken care of now. Some trimming here and a few whacks with a hammer there and by golly there is some space in between.

AWESOME!!! Is this going to be a friends and family kind of place or more open to the public? I wouldn't mind taking my quads down and follow everyone around if that's okay. Also, it's 25 miles what direction from Humboldt?

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