Quick Change Axle - Quick-Change Artist

The race usually plops onto the floor. Try it on gutted ball joints too.

This particular gear case came with a front plate that converts the axle to open-drive operation. Since there's no lash setting on this plate, it installs with a simple gasket.

Shrink the pinion bearings and quill-shaft bearings in the freezer and expand the gear case in a 250-to-300-degree oven.

Make sure yours is cleaner than a skeeter's you know what 'cause chicken ala Lubriplate gets served with humble pie.

Re-heating the case in the oven is verbot on account of the grease. So Bill broke out the Georgia Bluenose and warmed up the front bearing boss before dropping in the quill shaft and front lower-shaft bearing.

A word of warning: beating on vintage cast-aluminum is an invitation to crack it, especially if it's the pinion support in a quick-change. If the races don't fall into place, tap them gently with a drift. If gentle persuasion doesn't work, drive them out and check the tolerances.

Reassemble the gear carrier to Ford torque specs. Some manufacturers caution against synthetics for break-in as they can interfere with the break-in process. Once broken-in, though, nothing is better than synthetic.

The pinion support bearing goes in first, followed by the pinion, its rear bearing, the retaining nut, and lock place. Tap the rearmost quill-shaft bearing in place before installing the pinion thrust collar. Safety wire or blue thread locker on the collar bolts is a good idea.

Assemble the bare gear case with the carrier, shafts and bells, but with a single .010-inch bell gasket. With a person on each side of the axle, rotate the shafts in the same direction. Add or subtract gaskets to set a very light drag. Manuals offer precise methods, but this homespun way is surprisingly accurate.

Bolt the bells to the axle with the same gasket thickness used to obtain the bearing pre-load and measure the ring-to-pinion lash. Move the gaskets from side-to-side to achieve the correct lash setting (the range is .003-inch to .008-inch and this one settled easily on .007-inch).

With the ring-to-pinion lash set, the axle construction is technically complete and ready for spur gears. They're available in near countless combinations for any driving situation.

A torque bar spans the area between a high point on the axle and the forward end of the link. It turns one of the links into a truss, which can handle a lot more torque than a simple radius rod.