Oil Seal R&R on my Dart - taking her back to the shop

[Blainethemono]

So I finally had the U-joint & rear oil seal on my Dart replaced last week. Completely solved this irritating lil squeak I had going on while driving & an annoying drip... 1 more task out of the way. I had the mechanic drop the rear cover to drain & add fresh gear oil. Ask him to take some pictures.....for the record. While downloading them to my hard drive, I noticed some thing odd.... so its going back to the shop.

 

[Killer6]

So I finally had the U-joint & rear oil seal on my Dart replaced last week. Completely solved this irritating lil squeak I had going on while driving & an annoying drip... 1 more task out of the way. I had the mechanic drop the rear cover to drain & add fresh gear oil. Ask him to take some pictures.....for the record. While downloading them to my hard drive, I noticed some thing odd.... so its going back to the shop.

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Holy Jeebuzz, please tell Me they tightened that & torqued it to spec before buttoning that up,

 

[4spdragtop]

THAT might be the "squeak" lol. Glad it was caught!

 

[RustyRatRod]

Are you saying they worked on it, took those pictures and didn't bother to check to see if the bolt was broken or tighten it if it was not?

 

[Blainethemono]

Holy Jeebuzz, please tell Me they tightened that & torqued it to spec before buttoning that up,

He didnt see it, but I made him aware of it, so it will be fixed next week... My Dart must have been a Friday car...

 

[Blainethemono]

Are you saying they worked on it, took those pictures and didn't bother to check to see if the bolt was broken or tighten it if it was not?

Sadly yes, He was very apologetic about it though. The U-joint gave him some issues, so he may have been a bit rushed. He wont make the same mistake again.. He is a good mechanic, just not familiar with real old cars, but he & his 2 person shop are very eager to learn, so Im getting a break on labor. Im just super glad I looked closer at the pictures. Have no idea how long its been like that, could have been decades, the cover looks like it kept it from backing out further.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Sadly yes, He was very apologetic about it though. The U-joint gave him some issues, so he may have been a bit rushed. He wont make the same mistake again.. He is a good mechanic, just not familiar with real old cars, but he & his 2 person shop are very eager to learn, so Im getting a break on labor. Im just super glad I looked closer at the pictures. Have no idea how long its been like that, could have been decades, the cover looks like it kept it from backing out further.

Rest assured, it's backed out completely.

 

[Killer6]

Rest assured, it's backed out completely.

Lol!!! Yeah, gotta give props to the capscrew still holding it together solo,....

 

[RustyRatRod]

Lol!!! Yeah, gotta give props to the capscrew still holding it together solo,....

Well, it is JUST a 7 1/4 after all. Caint be a lot of stress there. LOL

 

[Blainethemono]

Rest assured, it's backed out completely.

 

[Blainethemono]

Well, the thick plottens.

Its a grade 8 which surprises me that it broke. Gotta love eBay though!! $20!! My mechanic thinks it was never properly torqued down from the get go, & has been broken for quite some time.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Well, the thick plottens.

Its a grade 8 which surprises me that it broke, but anybody have any info on where I can find one or offer a solid substitute? My mechanic thinks it was never properly torqued down from the get go, & has been broken for quite some time.

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He could well be right. Any good hardware store will have grade 8 bolts.

 

[Killer6]

My Ace Hardware has a real good selection that'd cover that.

 

[Blainethemono]

Kool! How long? Thread pitch? 1.25?

 

[Killer6]

Kool! How long? Thread pitch? 1.25?

1st, std. threads, no metric stuff on any of the Mopar/Dana stuff. I believe those are small, like 3/8" coarse pitch,..16 tpi, & torque spec is only 45 ft.lbs. length You'll have to match up.

 

[Blainethemono]

I decided to order the cap kit off of FleaBay... Nice to have some spare parts for posterities sake, & the price of admission wasnt to bad.

Im putting feelers out there, since Ive never done this before. Can I just R&R the entire cap, EZ out the broken stud, (crossing fingers), without disturbing/misaligning the axle, or ring & pinion?

 

[Blainethemono]

My thought process is: jacking the car up until the rear tires are carrying minimum load, so as not to put any undue stress on the axle when the cap is removed. The bolt break is only 1/4" deep, just over 2 thread turns, so I might be able to feed the broken stud out by turning a small flat screwdriver, or just go the reverse extraction bit route.

 

[Blainethemono]

Well here is an update.. Had to go in on Tuesday for a Heart ablation for my aFib. Feeling a lot stronger now, so on to the next step. Verified that the bold broke off within the cap, indicating there is about 1/2" of stud poking out above the surface, so hopefully it will be straight forward removing it & installing new bolt.

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