Gear Box Surprise Inside (Part 2)

From: Breeden (freebirds@erols.com)
Date: Tue Jul 11 2000 - 16:04:11 PDT


Hey all - hope everybody enjoyed Part 1. Forgot to mention that the truck
we're working on is a Kaiser M35A2 with winch. A couple of people have
asked some questions on Part 1. One was does the weight have to be on the
vehicle when checking the pittman arm and the answer is yes - don't jack it
up. Another asked if the gear box was apart yet - yes, it is now, don't
worry - I'll get to it and give the full story. Tonight I'm going to
explain how to get the bad boy out of the truck. Didn't have any clue how
to do it - but with the help of the MV List postings and some trial and
error - this is how it went.

Truck was parked between 2 trees - which came in handy. Disconnected front
motor mounts, front radiator support, and right rear engine mount. On a
winch truck, you must remove the bolts at either end of the winch shaft.
Drained radiator but did not disconnect from engine. Removed the rear
engine lifting eye. Had a problem with the steering wheel - couldn't get it
to let go off of the shaft. So I loosened the steering column bolt on
dashboard so steering column could move freely, took steering wheel nut and
loosened until it was flush with the threads of the steering column. Still
wouldn't come off. Took a scissors jack that you would use with your car, a
piece of 1x4, and placed the 1x4 on the dashboard with the base of the jack
against it, opened the jack up and put pressure on the bottom of the
steering wheel. Placed a brass drift on top of the nut and hit it with a
hammer. The steering wheel pops right off with no damage.

Not sure if the floorboard sheet metal needs to be removed or not - mine was
already out. On a Sprague unit, you may wish to remove the cylinder that
goes between the transmission and transfer case so as not to bend it.
There's a piece of cardboard on the firewall around the steering column -
you need to remove this so as not to tear it. Removed the nut off of the
pittman arm (I think it was a 1 7/16" if I remember right), used a one-piece
pittman arm puller, cranked down on to it, pittman arm wouldn't let go.
Took a hammer and hit the pittman arm hard on the rounded top , cranked down
again on the puller and hit the pittman arm again and it popped off.
Disconnected the accelerator linkage rod and on my truck the fuel line was
in the way, so I had to remove it. Took a normal car engine hoist, hooked
it onto the front lifting eye of the engine, lifted up on the engine until
the valve cover was just about to touch the firewall in the rear. The
radiator will lift up with the engine. Removed the driveshaft for the
winch. Took a floor jack and a block of wood, jacked up on the bell housing
to get the weight off of the rear engine support where the right rear bolt
was removed. Took a come-along, hooked it to a tree on the passenger side
of the truck with the other end of the come-along hooked to the front
lifting eye of the engine (same one where the engine hoist is hooked),
pulled the engine as far right as possible (I thought I was going to pull
the truck over pulling on the engine that much, but she finally moved!),
then removed the front motor supporting cross member. Had to unplug the
horn button wire where it comes out of the steering gear box. Removed the
bolts holding the gear box in. With a few twists and turns the gear box
comes down and will clear the front going underneath the winch.

Out she is! Sounds like a lot, but really it's a pretty easy job. Take out
the time spent standing there scratching my head in confusion and it was
about a 3 hour job to get it out. I didn't mention some small parts being
removed, such as horn button, turn signal switch, etc., because they're
pretty self-explanatory. Feel free to e-mail with any questions - would be
more than glad to help.

Part 3 tomorrow night - surprise inside the box for sure!



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