torque tube removal

[Bob C]

Scott, There should be a bolt and washer that holds the u-joint on to the coupling shaft.
It looks like the cover for the u-joint on the front side of the cross member was put in from the back side
so you will have to pull the rear end out so you can get to the nut on the coupling shaft.

Bob

[Brian T]

Bob,
Looking at the service bulletins of the coupler it does show the cover is on the back side of the x – member, so the axle does need to come out, it looked to me that the cover was just stuck to the x-member on the front side.

[Drew Mashburn]

Scott:

Bob C. wrote to you that a bolt and washer are holding the U-joint to the coupling shaft. I'm 99.9% positive that he's correct. That's why your U-joint moved on the splines, then came to an abrupt halt. The bolt and washer are in the end of the coupling shaft. Unless there's some old mechanic's trick that I'm not aware of, I believe that you're going to have to pull the engine and tranny,or unhitch the rear axel assembly and pull it backwards, to do what you're attempting to accomplish. Enclosed drivelines are fun, huh?!??

Give it heck!
-- Drew

[scl009]

Oh man guys, when I read these last few posts I started hysterically laughing to myself.
I hope I didn't beat anything too senseless, and I hope the AA's are forgiving, I don't want her to be mad at me.
I'm gonna give it another go over the weekend.

I was kind of afraid to remove the rear end, I wanted to do the project in chuncks, that way I minimize the parts left over on the workbench after I "completely reassemble" it.

thanks for the help guys.

[scl009]

ok guys rear axle off, but now I can't quite figure out how to undo the rear u joint. looks like there is some sort of wire holding the pins in the u joint arms. Any suggestions for that.

I can't take a pic until later tonight, but I'd like to go back out and try and get this done for the weekend.

Scott

[Bob C]

Scott, You don't need to take the u-joint apart. Look in the splined hole that the drive shaft slipped into. You should see a bolt in there, take it out and the u-joint should slip off the coupling shaft. The attached picture is a 28-29 but should give you and idea of how it goes.
Bob

[scl009]

Thanks for all the help guys, I got it done last night and learned alot this weekend.

#1 Its surprising to me that all that is holding the rear axle on was four incredibly rusty bolts
#2 The drive shaft isn't actually attached to the ujoint, but the front coupling shaft is
#3 My chassis is in worse condition than I thought
A) both of my rear springs are gonna need some major work, one has cracked the frame pulling away from it and the other may need a new leaf or two and new bolts all around.
B) my passenger side, rear chassis link? is rusted through and is going to need to be replaced. (I'll post a pic of what I'm talking about). Can these be bought from suppliers or do I need to start looking for somebody thats parting out a chassis?
C) Just basically found a lot more rust than I thought was there

[Neil Wilson]

The part which you ask (what is this for?) is on the left radius rod and is the bracket for attaching the brake rod return springs for '30/'31 AA's. The right rear radius rod is what you indicate you need to replace. These are not being reproduced. So, you will need to find a used one.

If you can't find what you need, you can e-mail me. I will then look at the rear radius rods which I have and take some pictures for you.

[spectria]

Thanks for all the help guys, I got it done last night and learned alot this weekend.

#1 Its surprising to me that all that is holding the rear axle on was four incredibly rusty bolts
#2 The drive shaft isn't actually attached to the ujoint, but the front coupling shaft is
#3 My chassis is in worse condition than I thought
A) both of my rear springs are gonna need some major work, one has cracked the frame pulling away from it and the other may need a new leaf or two and new bolts all around.
B) my passenger side, rear chassis link? is rusted through and is going to need to be replaced. (I'll post a pic of what I'm talking about). Can these be bought from suppliers or do I need to start looking for somebody thats parting out a chassis?
C) Just basically found a lot more rust than I thought was there

chassislink with comment about Grinding wheel!!!.jpg (21.47 KiB) Viewed 4905 times

[scl009]

actually I've found that these work much better

[spectria]

Yessssss! Those are in my toolbox...