Greenhorn Questions

Greetings knowledgeable ensemble!

I've found the wonderful lists of fluids and checklists of things to do when picking up an MV, which will help me a lot. As someone who first got his knuckles greasy on a '68 Volvo sedan and hasn’t owned anything much bigger, I’ve got a few greenhorn questions for your input:

I'll be driving a little over 300 miles from Columbus to Roanoke and understand that pulling the rear interaxle driveshaft is about a twenty minute job that could help the fuel efficiency for a road trip. Right now my toolbox has just 1/4 and 1/2 inch drive sockets in it. <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_help.gif" alt="Help"> What tools/implements of destruction would I want for the task? Any hints on procedure?

A former delivery truck driver has told me that diesel has such a low vaporization point that it is considered acceptable to leave the engine running while fueling up. Before someone at a truck stop beans me with a tire iron, is this common practice at commercial fueling centers? We leave them running at the rescue squad when tanking up, but I don’t know what the "real world" practices are.

On the diesel topic, has anyone run biodiesel at any strength through their engines?

If VERY BAD THINGS happen on the way home, what type of wrecker do I need to ask for with an M109A3? (Please don't make me use this information!)

Lastly, where is the best place to mount my St. Christopher’s (Patron Saint of Travelers) medal in an M44 series cab?

Warmest regards (it got down to 23F this morning in Roanoke!),

a 1/2" socket and long breaker bar will work OK. BUT, these things are coated in 40 years of road grime. It's a LONG job on the driveshaft, I attempted it but quit after 10 minutes. My front shaft took an hour. It's a matter of undoing 8 bolts and nuts, but they're hard to get to, especially on the back shaft cause you have to climb under, then up into a little pocket where you can work. I instead pulled one of the rear axle shafts which does about the same thing, it frees up the bind between the two differentials. That's about a twenty minute job start to finish, but you'll need some sort of cover for the hole you leave, I used my front flange because I made desplined ones for up there.

I've never been stopped when refueling whith the engine running, truck stop or standard station with diesel. Somebody thinks they're gonna stop me I'll make 'em put a deposit down on my new turbo I'll need if I shut it off early <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_approve.gif" alt="Approve">

No biodiesel, but I'd like to try. The problem will be finding it locally

mounting spot for medal... hmmm... wow there really is no place so I'd just wear it! <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_big.gif" alt="Big Smile">

lucky my trip home was Nov 1, when it was still in the 30's at night. Then again you have a van enclosure to sleep in. Bring a propane heater

Lance gave you good advice on the rear axle instead of that driveshaft. I have driven some distance without any drive flanges on the front. I've done this on trucks that I have planned wheel bearing service on. Bad news if it rains though.

Lance, you have bio-diesel available up there, it's at one of those membership/cardlock type fuel stations. I'll ask my buddy up there where it was.

Originally posted by Dieselsmoke

Lance, you have bio-diesel available up there, it's at one of those membership/cardlock type fuel stations. I'll ask my buddy up there where it was.

Click to expand...

cool! will that work in my truck since it was converted to straight diesel?

MM,

I went to Biodiesel.org (http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/retailfuelingsites/default.shtm) and found a retailer that's in Sparks. I'll PM you the details. My nearest dealer is 109 miles away.

Now for more basic questions since I'm too lazy to dig through the manuals I have.

What's a flange in this case and how does it having a spline influence how it works? (Forgive me if I've got Desi Arnaz in my head saying, "Roocie, you've got some 'splining to do!")

Just pulling a single axle shaft and covering the hole helps? I won't have enough time/help for checking and matching wheel circumference and the like. I'll probably wind up just increasing the tire pressures to near near their max and rolling down the road.

Best regards,

the problem with the deuce is that it's two rear differentials are locked together, which is why you want to remove the interaxle shaft ideally, but that's easier said than done. The basic rule of a differential is that it is designed to allow one wheel to spin faster than the other when turning so you don't eat tires. A drawback of this design is that if an axle breaks (or is removed, or unlocked, etc.) power will follow the path of least resistance and the wheel with traction won't spin, also why you go nowhere on ice in a 2wd. So, when you remove one axle from the rear differential, the power will follow that path, and it will spin the gears inside without binding up.

The rear axles are a different setup than the front- on the front the wheels are coupled to a splined flange, and that splined flange hooks to the splined axle end, locking your axle to the wheel. On the rear, the entire axle bolts to the wheel hub. So, it can be removed, and a cover can be placed over the hub in its place with eight bolts. It so happens the front drive flange bolts to that exactly as a cover. I made desplined front flanges so that it wouldn't be spinning the front axles, which greatly reduces drag. It took several design changes and a lot of scrap, but they finally work now.

With the rear axle unlocked (mine's pulled)you'll have far less tire wear, and the beast will turn twice as easy. You'll also notice less wheel hop and better acceleration.

Aha! <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_idea.gif" alt="Idea">

Thanks. I think I get it now.


Now would the splines work/be set up differently in the sprag vs. air shift front end? If the axle is removed does it matter what type of flange cover is used as it won't be connected to anything? Just need to know in case my guy happens to have a spare I can use if I go through with this. I'm afraid I won't be building my own as I didn't get to do metal shop in my formative years.

I've asked Santa for earmuff hearing protectors, manuals and a heater kit (got one from South Carolina) and the UPS brown trucks are beginning to deliver things. This is starting to feel like Christmas when I was five!!!

Anxiously awaiting pick-up day,

both the airshift and sprag transfer equipped trucks use the same front differential setup- where the axle ends have splines that connect to a splined shaft. Since you won't be using desplined front flanges you won't need to worry, but the front splined flange fits perfectly on the rear differential wheel hub where you take the axle out (which on the rear is one piece). It doesn't interefere with anything.

Where you the theoretically could run with no flanges on the front, you can't do that on the rear since chances are the seals inside are old and leaky (I doubt you'd find one that isn't), allowing gear lube to be slung out all over the wheels.

And those earmuffs make life much better!

There are inner axle seals on the front that hold the gear lube in, there aren't any on the rear axles. The rear seals are solely for the packed bearings, so gear lube will escape without flanges or covers in place. If your inner tire sidewalls don't have lube streaks on them, then your seals are probably good.

Originally posted by MV Trucker

There are inner axle seals on the front that hold the gear lube in, there aren't any on the rear axles. The rear seals are solely for the packed bearings, so gear lube will escape without flanges or covers in place. If your inner tire sidewalls don't have lube streaks on them, then your seals are probably good.

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ahh! so that's why the fronts didn't leak any fluid out. Lucky my rear seals are OK for the time being though <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_big.gif" alt="Big Smile">