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1970 350/300 manual trans
My driver side gear yoke slips out about an inch from the carrier when I have the car raised on my lift. The passenger side does not.
Is this normal?
Well normal if the c-clip is missing from the yoke... which it shouldn't be, here's the clips and how they hold the yokes in
Best case, clip wasn't installed at some point
medium yoke wore and clip fell off laying in the rear somewhere
worse clip / end of yoke are in there doing damage but not enough to lock the rear up (yet)
The car has been sitting in my garage since I moved to Colorado in Oct 1995. I just recently started to work on getting it roadworthy. Working on the rear of the car, I have replaced the rear fuel hoses, the shocks, the shock mounts, the spring bushings and the strut rods with the adjustable ones.
I think while working on driver side, the clip may have come off.
I am going to unbolt the drive shaft and pull yoke and put a magnet in there and hopefully get the clip. If not, I will use my camera scope and see what it looks like inside.
I'm not totally convinced it'll go back in if anything moves at all. Then again the posi springs might / should hold the gear from moving and hold everything in place
Maybe Gary or one of the more knowledgeable guys will jump in and give their thoughts
M
Removed the driveshaft u-bolts at the yoke. Separated the driveshaft from the yoke. Pulled yoke right out without any resistance. Put in back in without any resistance. Stuck an extended magnet and picked up nothing. Put my extended camera and did not see anything out of the norm.
I rotated the passenger side wheel and it turned without hanging up which is what I would not expect if the clip had managed to wedge itself on a gear.
The only way for me to be sure that I have nothing that will in the future ruin my rear, is to remove it and take the back off. That will also allow me to replace the clip and the front seal which is leaking.
When you removed the axle did the end look like Mooser shows in his picture with the chamfered end?
Not a good idea sliding the axle in and out as it will wreck old seals. If the snap ring is in there it would either get chewed up in the gears or get thrown forward in the gear oil.
Since you're going through the car I would remove the diff, mount it on an engine stand, pull the cover and drain the old oil. I would at a minimum replace the axle and pinion seals but would look closer at the axles and check the posi case for cracks,. Check the torque on the ring gear bolts or better yet pull one at time, clean it and reinstall with Loctite #271.
I only pulled it out twice, once to see if it would go back in and the second time to clean the holes that the ubolts go in. The ubolt were pretty much seized in there. Plenty of PB Blaster and a little heat finally got them loose.
I believe they looked like the ones in Mooser's picture. Does have the groove for a clip.
Tomorrow I will take the rear out of the car and follow the directions you gave me.
Thanks.
One other note on axles sold today, new or rebuilt. Check them good. Someone sent me a set of brand new GM licensed HD axles. They were soft faced and if used as they were would have worn rapidly against the hardened posi cross shaft in about 5k miles.
How would I tell if it is a soft face ? I would be ordering from one of the supporting vendors.
The car has 93500 miles on it and everything is original except for the trans.
The rebuilt axles should be flat faced and those are hardened, the fitment from one to another is another story. The new axles have the center drill hole like the originals and should be hardened - unless they are trying to duplicate the junk GM used from 73-79, then they are dead on.
The only way to know is to test them on a Rockwell Hardness tester which most machine shops would have, what they charge to test them I can't say. I use a hardness file set which is very close to the measurements of the tester, close enough for vette work. I checked those new axle with my files and figures about 40 Rc and once tested on the tester were actually 38 RC- which is lousy.
I was looking at the yokes sold by various vendors, Corvette Central was the only one that in their description specifically mentioned the yoke to be hardened steel on their rebuilt yokes. Some of the other vendors, including supporting vendors , do not much info in their descriptions.
I will contact the vendors and specifically ask if their yokes are hardened steel
Thank you very much for the information you have supplied. It has made me a more knowledgeable consumer.
I only want to do this job once.
The vendors don't rebuild them, they just resell them. There are only a couple of sources, one being the main supplier to most. You are best served to check them from what ever source you use.
The vendors don't rebuild them, they just resell them. There are only a couple of sources, one being the main supplier to most. You are best served to check them from what ever source you use.
Is a Rockwell hardness of 59c good for a new stock type yoke? I went with big buck 17 spline and I see that summit racing is about the best deal these days.
These are really worth it for higher HP and never worry about them waring away.
Hi George
I was unaware Randy's was making vette axles. I didn't see any reference to hardness on them. That is a steep price for a 17 spline axle and one I have not seen to inspect. International axle are hardened and strong axles in that price range, typical vendor rebuilt axles are hardened and 1/2 that price you just have to make sure the slide on the splines freely, don't have stripped holes, or have the shields falling off. There is no mention of the face to snap ring dimension as well and this is one area that is all over the place and no one has them close to what GM did, sorry just isn't happening.
The cross shaft is a 60 Rc so I like to have the axle face slightly less yet will still wear long. At that price range and with power if it were my car, I would go to Tom's 30 spline, heat treat the face and find the good spiders and use those over 17's,
I just saw some ones yokes for $120 each and a hardness of 59 and was wondering if those were a good hardness. I had all 17 spline stuff. Tom's stage 7 posi unit and the big buck 17 spline yokes. so I've been in the 17 mode because of the yokes. I've never hurt the good yokes
Driver side driveshaft
