Spent yesterday in the garage and managed to get some jobs off the list that keeps growing.
After getting the 6 to 8 lug adapters for the 60 back from machining I found them to be a little tight on the hub so I made the hole a little bigger and they fit mint now. That done I dropped the tranny xmember on the 60 to check the frame end bushings since I had noticed a bit of play when we were taking the t case out. Yup, po didnt use sleeves between the bushings and bolts so there was a good amount of play. Looked through the tickle trunk of junk and found 2 steel sleeves that fit into the bushings nice n tight but the id was too small for the bolt to pass through. Dammit. Took em over to the drill press and just happened to have the right bit already in the chuck (the best bit in the whole history of drill bits btw), coated the bit in my new fancy drilling wax stuff and she bored right through the sleeve. Bolt fit perfect so I threw some paint at the cross member and called it good. The cross member is made out of 1"x2.5ish" solid stock so while it was out I ground it down where the exhaust passes over it and pinched one of the pipes to get more room between the two. It was just to say close enough before to get an annoying intermittent rattle at idle. While the paint was drying I made a new gasket for the front of the atlas and threw on the new shift linkage.
So then I texted 2 buddies to see if they could come over and help me bench the t case back up under the van figuring at least one of em would be willing. Turned out they both showed up and both happen to be mechanics so in a blur of activity the case was back in (had 3 guys so we were able to leave the shifters on and guide them through the floor), the drive shafts were bolted up along with the speedo cable, ground wire, and breather vent. Paint was semi dry on the xmember so that got put back on. Mint. All thats really left to do is tighten the shifter mount and install the skid plate with its shiny new bolts.
Awesomely productive day!
D
After getting the 6 to 8 lug adapters for the 60 back from machining I found them to be a little tight on the hub so I made the hole a little bigger and they fit mint now. That done I dropped the tranny xmember on the 60 to check the frame end bushings since I had noticed a bit of play when we were taking the t case out. Yup, po didnt use sleeves between the bushings and bolts so there was a good amount of play. Looked through the tickle trunk of junk and found 2 steel sleeves that fit into the bushings nice n tight but the id was too small for the bolt to pass through. Dammit. Took em over to the drill press and just happened to have the right bit already in the chuck (the best bit in the whole history of drill bits btw), coated the bit in my new fancy drilling wax stuff and she bored right through the sleeve. Bolt fit perfect so I threw some paint at the cross member and called it good. The cross member is made out of 1"x2.5ish" solid stock so while it was out I ground it down where the exhaust passes over it and pinched one of the pipes to get more room between the two. It was just to say close enough before to get an annoying intermittent rattle at idle. While the paint was drying I made a new gasket for the front of the atlas and threw on the new shift linkage.
So then I texted 2 buddies to see if they could come over and help me bench the t case back up under the van figuring at least one of em would be willing. Turned out they both showed up and both happen to be mechanics so in a blur of activity the case was back in (had 3 guys so we were able to leave the shifters on and guide them through the floor), the drive shafts were bolted up along with the speedo cable, ground wire, and breather vent. Paint was semi dry on the xmember so that got put back on. Mint. All thats really left to do is tighten the shifter mount and install the skid plate with its shiny new bolts.
Awesomely productive day!
D
