1958 Tourer Rear Axle and Diff Removal

[Stewart291TMM]

Hi All,

An update for those of you not yet fed up with all of my questions

I’m taking my rear axle to a shotblasting company who have recommended vapour blasting to remover all of the dirt and rust. I’ve stripped the axle down to leave just the housing and really pleased with how the entire rear brakes, hubs and various other bits all came off without too much of a challenge.
I used a basic hub puller and socket set to get the hubs and bearings off and it all worked really well.

I’m going to clean the diff but not sure if taking it apart and cleaning gives any real benefit over a simply clean with something like brake cleaner, still researching this so if anyone has any thoughts I’d welcome them.

Thanks for stopping by, the strip down continues!

[philthehill]

Whilst you are going to have the axle casing vapour blasted I would advise anyone against having the bare axle casing grit blasted. If you must have the axle casing grit blasted the axle casing must be tightly sealed to stop any grit getting inside the axle casing.
I am in the process of replacing my axle casing and bought a very good used axle casing that unknown to me and previous to my purchase had been grit blasted.
No problem there BUT the internal side of the axle casing is not just straight and has several pockets were the grit can get trapped and was trapped. If that trapped grit gets free and out into the main part of the casing the diff and bearings will soon wear out.
As a result of the trapped grit I had to go and purchase a second axle which had not been grit blasted.
To make matters worse the grit inside the axle casing had been painted over with what appears to be an epoxy paint which held the grit together and to the axle casing making the removal of the pocketed grit a near impossibility.

[svenedin]

I was at at a combined (two branches) of the MMOC yesterday. About 18 cars and lots of spare parts and tools. That diff looks very nice! Sawa lovely flat top (side valve)

[Stewart291TMM]

Hi Everyone,
It’s been awhile but busy time of year for me so no complaints.
I thought I would update my post as there’s been some progress!
I finally found some time to get the rear axle and diff over to the shot blasters. Collected last week and today gave it a degrease and two coats of Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80.
Very happy with the results for a first time attempt.
I’m assuming the diff is cast aluminium? Anyway, I didn’t treat that with the H80 and now thinking I need to remove the plate that connects to the prop shaft to treat that as it looks like steel.
Thanks for following the thread
Stewart

[Stewart291TMM]

Also, as a follow up, I would like to treat the universal Joint Flange and, I'm guessing, the dust cover as they look like steel that is flash rusting.

If I remove the Pinion Nut am I going to find bits falling out that I really don't want to have falling out, or will it all stay put long enough for me to treat and paint the exposed bits?

Thanks in advance.
Stewart

[philthehill]

I would advise against undoing and removing the diff flange and nut as when refitting the flange and nut you could end up messing up the pre-load on the pinion bearings. I would just treat and paint with the flange in place.

[Stewart291TMM]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for that reply. I’ll do as you say and just go with a careful hydrate 80 session with a small brush

Stewart