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From: Born and Raised in South Detroit (Windsor) Ontario
differential cushion
Trying to replace the rubber cushion on the front of the rear end on a '66. The nut walks about 1/2 way down then I can feel the head spinning and the nut will go no farther. What is the secret to keep the head from rotating? Threads are all good no excessive corrosion, all ideas appreciated.
Thanks
Ric
If the bolt does not have a hex head, then it is the wrong bolt. It is difficult to hold the hex head from turning unless you have a magic tool that I have never heard of. Normally one needs to remove the drive shaft and that will give you easy access to use an offset wrench to hold the hex nut in place while you tighten it from below.
Here is a picture of the correct bolt/washer/nut set for the front snubber cushion set up in front of the rear differential. Good Luck with it. C.J.
Richard - Last pinion snubber I replaced was about a year ago and recall using a 'stubby' wrench on the hex head of the bolt. Not a helluva lot of room to work up there, you'll be working blind, basically.
The snubber on my 65 L78 Roadster had been replaced since new, not sure when but suspect easily 25-30 years ago...because they put the bolt up from the bottom.
Not that it matters much, the clamping is the same and no interference but check out how good the lower bushing appeared and then look at all the parts laid out after removal.
Mike T - Prescott AZ
MikeT, doesn't the bolt install with the nut on the bottom? The bolt in the picture looks like the bolt is install from the bottom with the nut on top.
Yes indeed and that's what I mentioned at the end of second line of my reply. But since there are no moving parts to interfere with that incorrect installation, the bolt coming up from the bottom didn't harm anything.
By the way, it's just my guess that what I removed was not the original GM bushing installation but when you see the condition of it, you'd think it has been in place since the mid 60's and if so, then maybe
a line worker flipped it back then and not later on. Either way, it was toast and needed replacement.
Mike T - Prescott AZ
The nut is down. Like Mike had said, I used a ???7/16" ??? closed end bent wrench on my snubber. I think!!! That was a job that I am still trying to forget!
I also ratcheted down my snubber to my lift to give me about a 1/2" extra clearance to get at the bolt head.
The reason why the picture showing the bolt head down is because of the issues with dropping it correctly down from the top!! That is why I used a rachet strap to pull the snubber bracket down.. It will flex!
Big bushing is on the bottom, small bushing on top...... Have fun!!
Bolt installation trick: Put the bolt through the upper bushing prior to angling it down through the snubber hole.....
From: Born and Raised in South Detroit (Windsor) Ontario
Morning........Thank you for all the replies, yes the previous owner obviously had changed the bolt/washer configuration and with a little patience and ingenuity I was able to remove the nut. The 2 pics will explain why I thought that it was not a hex head bolt.......
Ric - Dan and Doug beat me to it...that's one odd fastener. I wonder how they were able to snug it up with the hex head basically buried into the top washer...if I'm seeing it correctly?
Surprisingly, the small bushing doesn't look that bad.
Mike T - Prescott AZ
From: Born and Raised in South Detroit (Windsor) Ontario
The small and large cushions are in really good condition considering I have owned this car over 40 yrs, and I did not change them during my ownership. The hex head dug into both the washer and the sleeve the small cushion slides onto, now I will need to hunt for the correct bolt and other parts to replace this mess. Good thing winter is coming lots of time to search.
Ric
The small and large cushions are in really good condition considering I have owned this car over 40 yrs, and I did not change them during my ownership. The hex head dug into both the washer and the sleeve the small cushion slides onto, now I will need to hunt for the correct bolt and other parts to replace this mess. Good thing winter is coming lots of time to search.
Ric
differential cushion
