update on Rich's build

[RICH MUISE]

  I got high beams, low beams,parking lights, turn signals, hazards, and all the corresponding dash indicator lights are functioning. Yeah!!! THANK YOU RON FRANCIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That finishes up the wiring except for hooking up the sunvisor lights at the panel, and rerouting/shortening the coil signal wires off the engine after I did the cop conversion.
I also checked on my 4th wheel that's been on backorder, and it is due in their warehouse in a week to 10 days, so looks like I should have a wheel waiting for me when I get back from Phoenix. I'll keep my fingers crossed in the meantime.

[RICH MUISE]

I think a change of plans. I found out my wife has been a little stressed with bills, so even though she had pulled some money out for me to get the rear end rebuilt and modified, I'm going to hold off for a while and instead have her pay off some of the stuff that's been building up. Happy wife, and all that, right? At any rate, the car was my daily driver for a year when I took it off the road, so the rear should be good for a few more miles. I'm thinking of just rebuilding the brakes, new bearings and seals, replacing the brake lines I had pulled off and running it like that for a while while everything else is getting broken in. The bonus to that is I can get it on the road alot sooner, and I had considered going that route anyway after I found out I could get my tires on/off without any hastle. Who knows...that extra time might let me find a differential that's already close to what I want.
Went to the DMV today. I found out in Texas inspections are not required for antique plates, just insurance (I'm waiting on some insurance quotes). So my plans are to register it as an antique so I can drive it legally to alignment and exhaust shops. After everything is done, I'll have it inspected and change the plates to classic car registration with no supposed driving restrictions. My friends mostly drive cars with the restrictive antique plates everywhere with no hassles from the police, but with my luck...

[lalessi1]

Sounds like a good plan. My projects slowed when my wife lost her job almost a year ago but she is working again. I think rear disc brakes are a cool thing but the reality is that they do a small part of the braking job anyway. Narrowing the rear for tire changing might be nice but it does seem expensive for what you get. Once you get to driving it for a while your priorities may change. Have fun! 

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich I kinda agree with Lynn.  A well balanced disc/drum will work for years, be safe and easy to maintain with over the counter parts.  The 57 Ford rear drums can be updated to self adjusters, new cylinders and really good shoes for under $100.  I forget what your ratio is, 3.56?  Perfect.  Also if the lube is up to snuff and none is running out and it is not making funny noises I do not think I would "fix" anything in the seal/bearing line.

IMHO rear disc are kinda like "it has a 9 inch" in every hot rod out there.  Never bust an 8" or the newer 8.8" because you can't hook up hard enough with street tires.  You'll most likely never get into a situation where having rear disc would be an advantage in normal to mildly hot street driving.  Just seams like the hottest/newest thing to have with no real gains for the cost.

Different story if you are building for resale vice a keeper.

[RICH MUISE]

Bill...My whole thing all along has been to narrow and change to discs only for easier tire changes. If that is confirmed after settling everything in that I don't have a tire change issue, then I'll forgo the narrowing and the discs. Getting the case narrowed around Amarillo by anyone reliable has turned out to be a major pita. I still would like to get the trac loc down the road though.
My rear seal is leaking quite a bit....I'm surprised there's still stuff in there to leak out. I've got the new springs on order, so the rear will be just about out at that point, so I figure a good time to do the seal and the taller yoke that I need for driveshaft engagement. Also a good clean and paint of the case.

What kind of issues might I run into replacing that seal and yoke? I have read the yoke has to be torqued to preload something in the pinion gear assembly??
I'm surprised at the recommendation to not replace the bearings. The reason?

[glen b henderson]

There is a crush sleeve between the inner and outer pinion bearings, as the pinion flange is torqued this sleeve is crushed to apply preload on the pinion bearings. Also the pinion seal for a 57 is getting hard to find and is pretty pricey. For the price of a seal and having someone properly adjust the preload, you can go to Pull A Part and get a complete later center section, just make sure that it has 28 spline axles. Plus the later carriers are stronger in the area of the pinion support bearing.

[hiball3985]

I agree with what Glen said, you just can't swap the yoke ( proper name is pinion flange ) yoke is the transmission end of the drive shaft 
I took one of my old 60's third members from a truck and had it rebuilt with new 3.89 gears, bearings and seal. Are you absolutely sure your third member is a 57? They were a one year only design with a large pinion seal.

[RICH MUISE]

Murphy's law I guess...nothing is ever easy. I have no reason to believe it's anything other than the original.
Plan B....refill the fluid after checking all the flange bolts to make sure nothing has just come lose, and test it out for a few hundred miles before I just rebuild or have modified as well.

[hiball3985]

One nice thing about the 57 housing even if it isn't the strongest is it has a drain plug, later models don't.

[Ford Blue blood]

As I told my daughter one time when she asked if she should have the oil leak fixed in her 157K mile Escape. 

How much is leaking? 

Leaves a slightly larger then a quarter spot over night she says. 

You can puy a butt load of oil for the first hour of labor to make the repair I tell her!!!!

[RICH MUISE]

Yep...lots of oil. BTW, if mine has a drain plug I haven't seen it yet. I'll check tommorrow.
I need to look for the breather bolt that I removed when I took off the old brake lines. Hope I still have it.
I got things in the works for insurance on the car...finally. Should have done that years ago, especially after the close call I had with the bad hail storm. Anyway, I went with Hagerty, and got all the forms filled out with the local agent, and he took a bunch of pics. Just for a comparative reference, I insured it for 45K (took a wild guess) with a 1K deductible and as a classic car with average 5K miles a year, travelers breakdown coverage, etc. $420. annual premium. a 500. deductible would have been 620.
On the 45K value...who the heck knows? It's not like Chevies where there are tons of previous sale records to compare. I'm too old to build another one, and 45K ain't gonna get a replacement built for it in a shop, not even close. The agent thinks I should have it appraised in case it needs to be higher.

[hiball3985]

When and if you get around to doing the rear end keep in mind that different years had different fill plug locations either on the third member or on the rear of the housing. With the right combination you can end up with no fill plug, ask me how I know  I made that mistake back in the 60's when I changed a third member for a different gear ratio  . Then had to pull an axle, jack the car up on one side and pour the oil down the axle tube...

[RICH MUISE]

I may be back to my plans of getting all the rear end mods done that I wanted. The local shop I had found that does big buck racing cars finally called with a price that's hard to ignore. I honestly thought he'd be on the high end of the bids I got, but  at 1980., he's just a few hundred more than Phoenix Differentials, which was the lowest, and 200 less than the Dallas shop.

[RICH MUISE]

I may be back to my plans of getting all the rear end mods done that I wanted. The local shop I had found that does big buck racing cars finally called with a price that's hard to ignore. I honestly thought he'd be on the high end of the bids I got, but  at 1980., he's just a few hundred more than Phoenix Differentials, which was the lowest, and 200 less than the Dallas shop.

sheeeeet....I go around in more circles than a one legged turtle.

[Jeff Norwell]

Rich.. looks awesome.. you gotta be proud.