Ford 9" Rear Disassembly

[Mr. Fixit]

I am in the midst of disassembling the rear and as you can see from the photos, I have not yet completely removed the cast housing. All of the nuts have been removed and I easily and gently pryed it loose to get about a 1/2" space between the housing and the cover. Now it seems to be springy and won't easily move any further. Am I missing a step? Is there something more to loosten or remove before this will come apart?

Thanks,

[attachment=4404:IMG_2238 (Large).JPG]
[attachment=4405:IMG_2239 (Large).JPG]
[attachment=4406:IMG_2240 (Large).JPG]

 

[PaulR]

Steve,
I know this may be a silly question, did you pull both axles out far enough? I have put mine together and taken it apart several times with quite easily. Both axles were removed at the time.

PaulR

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Steve,
I know this may be a silly question, did you pull both axles out far enough? I have put mine together and taken it apart several times with quite easily. Both axles were removed at the time.

PaulR

Paul,

This is not at all a silly question. I have never done this before and was unable to find any step by step process. I was assuming that I would need to remove something from the inside in order to pull the axles. How is this accomplished?

Thanks,

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Steve,
I know this may be a silly question, did you pull both axles out far enough? I have put mine together and taken it apart several times with quite easily. Both axles were removed at the time.

PaulR

Okay, now that I understood how it goes together, I made a simple slide hammer and easily removed the axles and the cover. Thank you for the assistance. My ultimate goal is to clean up, sandblast, prime and paint the entire rear end. Any harm in removing the gears from the third member as an assembly? Do you know if I will need to shim anything after, or will everything go back together exactly as it came apart with no further work needed?

Thanks again..

 

[putz]

Okay, now that I understood how it goes together, I made a simple slide hammer and easily removed the axles and the cover. Thank you for the assistance. My ultimate goal is to clean up, sandblast, prime and paint the entire rear end. Any harm in removing the gears from the third member as an assembly? Do you know if I will need to shim anything after, or will everything go back together exactly as it came apart with no further work needed?

Thanks again..

If assembly is taken apart there is a process of shimming and a new crush sleeve in the pinion to get all the right settings on the tooth depth and drag.

 

[der Spieler]

After you sandblast it use a Hotsy to get it good and clean. The high pressure wash with the super hot water will clean out any grease deposits that will be left behind after sandblasting. These deposits will trap sand particles. When I sandblasted mine I just used a garden hose to wash it out. I didn't get all of the sand out and when the rear end heated up the new lube loosened all of the grease deposits and released the trapped sand. A couple of months later I had to rebuild everything replacing the gears and all of the bearings. I wasn't cheap.

 

[Mr. Fixit]

If assembly is taken apart there is a process of shimming and a new crush sleeve in the pinion to get all the right settings on the tooth depth and drag.

Hey Putz, long time no chat. How are things going?

Based upon your comments, I have cleaned all of the mating surfaces, covered them with duct tape, trimmed with a razor blade and completely taped off the gear assembly so that I can sand blast with minimum intrusion. I will also use a degreaser like simple green and then pressure clean everything just to be sure that I get all of the sand away.

Thanks for the advise..

 

[Mr. Fixit]

After you sandblast it use a Hotsy to get it good and clean. The high pressure wash with the super hot water will clean out any grease deposits that will be left behind after sandblasting. These deposits will trap sand particles. When I sandblasted mine I just used a garden hose to wash it out. I didn't get all of the sand out and when the rear end heated up the new lube loosened all of the grease deposits and released the trapped sand. A couple of months later I had to rebuild everything replacing the gears and all of the bearings. I wasn't cheap.

Ouch!

Thanks for the advise. I was planning to use a biodegradable degreaser and then pressure clean as you have suggested. Thanks for the help.

I suppose that it is best to reassemble everything prior to primer and paint, or would you suggest preparing all of the parts separately (housing, third member, backing plates, etc) and then reassembling??

 

[RPM]

If you are just going to paint the rear axle assembly an not powder coat it or chrome. I think you would be better of with it all assembled, and just tape up the vent hole. A lot less chance of sand getting in the gear oil.

I too took a rear end completely apart and had it cleaned then powder coated. Washed it out what I thought was really good when I got it back. Put all new bearings in it and about 3 months later a carrier bearing failed. Probably from some sand that was left in the housing.

 

[Ted Brown]

RPM/Ron is correct when saying not to get ANY sand inside, I myself would not even sand blast it, just do a super job of cleaning and final wash with enamel reducer, if it is already apart (third member out) tape up the bottom gear section and paint it (hope you have already run the car 1000 miles to make sure you are not needing any changes) I made a plate to bolt over the open center section and plates with hooks for the axle openings to hang for painting of the housing... any sand is a disaster waiting to happen for sure!!!

 

[Mr. Fixit]

If you are just going to paint the rear axle assembly an not powder coat it or chrome. I think you would be better of with it all assembled, and just tape up the vent hole. A lot less chance of sand getting in the gear oil.

I too took a rear end completely apart and had it cleaned then powder coated. Washed it out what I thought was really good when I got it back. Put all new bearings in it and about 3 months later a carrier bearing failed. Probably from some sand that was left in the housing.

Thanks Ron, I plan to be very careful. I am bead blasting the smaller parts in a cabinet and the main housing with sand outside. I will wash everything with a pressure cleaner , blow dry and thrn reassemble prior to rime and paint. Any suggestions on the primer or paint? Will general rust inhibitive primer top coated with single stage urathane suffice?

 

[Mr. Fixit]

RPM/Ron is correct when saying not to get ANY sand inside, I myself would not even sand blast it, just do a super job of cleaning and final wash with enamel reducer, if it is already apart (third member out) tape up the bottom gear section and paint it (hope you have already run the car 1000 miles to make sure you are not needing any changes) I made a plate to bolt over the open center section and plates with hooks for the axle openings to hang for painting of the housing... any sand is a disaster waiting to happen for sure!!!

Thanks for the input, I have protected the bottom end of the third member by sealing it off in a small bucket with duct tape. Even so, I will wash everything woth degreaser a couple of times and blow dry prior to reassembly.

Thanks again...

 

[putz]

Hey Putz, long time no chat. How are things going?

Based upon your comments, I have cleaned all of the mating surfaces, covered them with duct tape, trimmed with a razor blade and completely taped off the gear assembly so that I can sand blast with minimum intrusion. I will also use a degreaser like simple green and then pressure clean everything just to be sure that I get all of the sand away.

Thanks for the advise..

Actually not good on the job hunt.

 

[one finger john]

If you are looking for the smoothing effect that sand blasting achieves then you will have to contend with loose sand afterwards. Perhaps a thorough hot tanking and then a pressure wash afterwards will do the trick. Do they do sonic cleaning on pieces as large as rear ends? If the rear gears a good, do not disassemble the third member. Thoroughly tape off and plastic bag the lubricated parts so only the outside portion of the third member is exposed. Also call rear end builders like Moser or Curry and see how they clean their rear axles after shortening or modification.

John

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Actually not good on the job hunt.

Sorry to hear that. I went through the the same thing last year after no work for 9 months. Actually, my T-Boy project was born out of that lack of work. It was that, or psycho therapy. I figured that the car project was cheaper in the end, continues to keep me busy and best of all, I have something to show for it. Keep your chin up, things will get better..

Regards..

 

[Mr. Fixit]

If you are looking for the smoothing effect that sand blasting achieves then you will have to contend with loose sand afterwards. Perhaps a thorough hot tanking and then a pressure wash afterwards will do the trick. Do they do sonic cleaning on pieces as large as rear ends? If the rear gears a good, do not disassemble the third member. Thoroughly tape off and plastic bag the lubricated parts so only the outside portion of the third member is exposed. Also call rear end builders like Moser or Curry and see how they clean their rear axles after shortening or modification.

John

John,

That sounds like a good plan too.

Thanks.

 

[bigfrank330]

Hi
I am with the group that say's DON'T SANDBLAST
I also did this and wiped out a set of gears because of residual sand stuck in the housing
It looked good but cost me a set of gears 1 year later
I suggest using a stiff wire wheel and then lots of BRAKE CLEAN to get the stubborn grease off
I used a screwdriver and small wire brush to get in the tight areas
My 2 cents
Frank

 

[akitagandy]

easy off Oven cleaner works well

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Hi
I am with the group that say's DON'T SANDBLAST
I also did this and wiped out a set of gears because of residual sand stuck in the housing
It looked good but cost me a set of gears 1 year later
I suggest using a stiff wire wheel and then lots of BRAKE CLEAN to get the stubborn grease off
I used a screwdriver and small wire brush to get in the tight areas
My 2 cents
Frank

Well, too late. I decided to blast the third member in my bead blast cabinet so I bagged and taped off the gears really well and then used aluminum oxide media to remove all of the paint. I then vacuumed the outer surfaces and carefuly removed all of the tape and plastic. I was shocked to see that a lot of blast media had gotten into the bearings and gear and had completely locked it up. I took a deep breath, wiped the tears away (lol) and submerged the entire third member into a solution of purple power degreaser and hot water to remove the grease. Then I took it outside and gave it a thorough pressure cleaning with a 4000 psi pressure cleaner which immediately got things moving freely again. Just to be safe, I continued with the pressure cleaner for 30 minutes just ot be sure. I then used compressed air to dry everything and applied a bit of wd-40 to the bearings ans she spins like a top.

It was an exciting evening to say the least, but all in all I am glad that I did blast it to get all the old chiped paint off and a clean workable surface. I will say however, if one doesnt have a good pressure cleaner or access to one, don't blast.

Thanks for your input..

 

[Mr. Fixit]

easy off Oven cleaner works well

That's great since it doesn't work well on ovens. lol