[DeTomaso] Rear upright removal, photo gallery

Sun Jun 29 17:04:39 EDT 2008

Asa

Clean the bronze bushings and the shaft that slides inside.  Then slide in 
the shaft and determine if there is any side to side rocking or play.  If 
there is, the bushing needs to be replaced.  I've bought my bushings in the 
past from Quella.

I could not encourage you more to drill the upright dead center from the 
bottom.  Grease will fill the open orifices and eventually exit around the 
outside washers bathing the entire assembly in grease.  With the air 
removed, condensation will not attack the metals preventing their seizure 
them in the future.

JT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Asa Jay Laughton" <asajay at asajay.com>
To: <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 1:11 AM
Subject: [DeTomaso] Rear upright removal, photo gallery

> In the continuing saga of living vicariously through others, we bring
> you the disassembly of the rear end in Pantera 5533.
>
> http://www.teampanteraracing.com/gallery2/v/asajay/rear_susp/
>
>
> After removing the brake calipers and wiring them up out of the way, I
> first removed the coil-over shocks.  Then the upper ball joint was
> hammered loose.  The sway bar brackets were taken off and the a-arms
> removed.  Before removing the lower a-arm completely though, I did
> disassemble the lower shaft assembly in the upright.
>
> So, what so folks have been going through to remove the shaft, was -not-
> what I was met with.  When I first took the ball joint loose, I found
> the upright pivoted on the shaft sufficiently to allow it plenty of
> travel.  In fact, the passenger side shaft seemed almost loose, the
> upright moving freely for over 90 degrees.
>
> Once out, the shafts appeared to be in great shape, the inner sleeves
> looked a bit more worn and in fact on one, it looked like some of the
> bronze (or is it brass?  It looked like bronze to me) bushing inside the
> upright had stuck to the sleeve.  See this photo:
> http://www.teampanteraracing.com/gallery2/v/asajay/rear_susp/P6280043.JPG.html
>
> See the bronze looking stuff on the left?  That part didn't clean off as
> well and seemed to be pretty well stuck to the sleeve.  This worries me
> a little bit.  What I need an answer to is if this bushing is
> available.  If so, I should probably go to the trouble of replacing
> them.  Otherwise the shafts and sleeves look pretty good.  See the other
> photos.  Any suggestions?  Should I get kits from a vendor to replace
> them all or just lube it all up and re-install?
>
> The last thing that gives me some worry, although I could not get any
> movement out of the axles while on the car, once out and spinning them
> freely on the bench, I get a little metal on metal sound.  It's very
> smooth, like someone dragging a piece of tin across the rotor and only
> happens in one position of the circumference.  It does not sound like a
> bearing but you can never quite tell.  Using my poor man's stethoscope,
> I listened at the hub, the disk, the upright and the bearing race (or
> seal), and it definitely sounded like it was coming from the bearing
> assembly.  However, the axle on that upright moves very smoothly through
> the entire travel, in fact, a quick flick of the wrist puts the assembly
> in motion for a good six or seven revolutions before it drags to a stop.
>
> The passenger side was a bit different.  This time, I could hear what
> sounded like the "clack-clack" of bearings striking each other on the
> first couple of turns, and then the sound when away (redistribution of
> grease?).  Wait a little while, turn the axle again and it would
> "clack-clack" for a couple turns and go away.  This upright however
> would only spin for one and a half revolutions before stopping, i.e.
> lots of drag on this one.
>
> So, I guess I'm going to be removing axles.  <sigh>
> I could use some good pointers on how to do this.  The Northwest Pantera
> chapter was kind enough to send me the spanner, so I at least have
> that.  Thanks go to John Maffeo for loaning me the spanner.  How do I
> hold the entire assembly, to keep it from turning, while I try and
> muscle off the axle nut?  How many people does this normally take.  Do I
> need an overdose of gamma radiation before taking on this challenge? 
> <sigh>
>
> In other news, I now need to get a party together to pull the ZF.  It's
> a good time to do it and I just got a good set of seals and gaskets from
> Marino so I can stop some of the leaks I have before I go racing.  Funny
> how they don't like leaks on the racetrack
> :)
>
> My new brake hoses arrived as well as the caliper rebuild kits.  As for
> the axle bearings, I better start checking the deTomaso database entries.
>
> Overall it was a good day, things came apart very nicely and I was
> thrilled to not have frozen shafts.
>
> I'll see you guys tomorrow.
> Asa Jay
>
> <boy I can sure see how one thing leads to another and pretty soon a guy
> (or girl) has their Pantera all apart and waiting to go back together
> over the course of several years.  as others will attest to, one of my
> primary goals in driving this Pantera was to never have it down for
> maintenance more than a weekend.  Well, this latest adventure is taking
> a whole lot longer than that..
>
> Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
>
> & Shelley Marie
> Spokane, WA
>
> 1973 Pantera L 5533
> [ASASCAT]
>
> ******************************
> http://www.asajay.com
> http://www.351c.info
>
>
>
>
> John Taphorn wrote:
>> I recently helped an individual overseas by obtaining keys locally for 
>> his Pantera and sending them to him.
>>
>> The quest ended up tougher than I expected.  To make a long story short, 
>> my local supplier had thrown out his older inventory of keys that I 
>> assumed he still had.  This included over 90 Pantera keys!!!
>>
>> We were able to track down replacements; however, I had to purchase 10 of 
>> each blank even though we required only three sets.
>>
>> Thus, I have seven sets of Pantera keys for sale.  Each includes the 
>> ignition and door/decklid.  The sets are for sale for $5 plus shipping.
>>
>> First come, first served.  E-mail me if you would like a set or more.
>>
>> Thanks
>> JT
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>>
>> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>>
>> DeTomaso mailing list
>> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
>> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>>
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso 