LOL - no problem my friend!

 

 

It rained all weekend here. Lots more rain in the next week too. At this rate, I'll never get my 5 lug swap done, lol.

Good luck over there too, Bear.

 

Good Morning Guys: Ah is the snow and cold upsetting the Bear? LOL. Sorry, but the weather here has changed to warmer temps, bright blue skies, but a small 5=7 mph wind daily. Cuts down on any painting of things, but the weather should clear my yard this week, hopefully. A bit of mixed clouds and sun today, but it's looking like it might be a nice day after all. I figure, 3 more days of this, and I can get everything out of it's hiding places, including the wheels for Whitey.

I took the door off the shed yesterday and raised it 1.5 inches and now it clears the flooring, on one side. I have to weld the hanger on Blue's tailpipe. I may do that tomorrow. My right knee is so sore and swollen today. I stepped into a hole yesterday and I'm paying for it today. My big feet don't know where to walk. It's too bad, because I have a load of things, I found to do, from the winter.

I was looking at the first set of rotors, calipers and booster Friday, picked up from an Expy from last fall. I saw one of the caliper piston boots was torn. When he pulled them for me, he stuck a screw driver into the hole to spread the pads, and nicked the boot. I ordered new boot kits for both sides, since they are so cheap. Those aren't the easier to get both pistons out of without some kind of difficulty. One always pops first, and then getting the other side out is difficult. The first side, took me about 20 minutes to get the 2nd piston out. The other side, I worked out a way to get them almost together. I took my caliper tool that pushes in the pistons, and put it in place. I backed it out a bit and hit the air. They came out slowly while I turned the know to let the piston come out. It worked very well. I'll definitely remember that when I do that again. Cut it down to less than 5 minutes to get them out. Anyways, I just watched the mailman bring my parts already. Ordered Friday, and here today. I have to say, I've had great luck dealing with RockAuto and ordering the brands I like to use the most. It's too bad that my knee is so sore, otherwise I would have these back together already. LOL

 

 

Carlson brake parts, Ohio company, are doing what Wagner, Raybestos and Bendix did. They are going Chinese too now. Forever they were US only. I got my parts in today. All the rubber caliper seals and the slide boots were still US made as well as the metal hardware. The bleeder screws, banjo bolts, slide bolts and slides came from China. Interesting. Company sub name has changed to International, so that should be a give away, eh?

 

I just went and got new calipers for the Mustang at NAPA tonight. Their Eclipse calipers are AWESOME. They come coated, and really seem/feel like high quality.

 

The diff fluid for the front end. What would you use ? I know you can cross synthetic with most conventional formulations, but there's info out there that contradicts causing a little confusion. Like say the transfer case. The T-case along with the trans (E4OD) and Power steering ran the same Synless Mercon formulation (per 98 owners manual), but all that changed....for good reason. The Mercon formulation was seriously lacking in longevity and if you attempted to use it in a trans that had some miles behind it, it wouldn't work (do to the lack of modifiers and older clutch discs). Well, that was why Ford TSB' ed the E4OD/4R100 recommended formulation anyway. Hell, my old 98's trans has so many miles on it, Merc V wouln't even work in it after the 200,000 mile mark lol.

A lot has changed since the original owners manual...much better formulations. Regardless, I guess I can run Synthetic in the front diff, as long as they're backwards compatible with conventional formulations. Guess it was the "for LS differentials" description on the 75/90 bottles vs LS AND Conventional. The front dif is an open design as your aware.
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So, a little warmer today, - removed the skid plate, wheel and actuator cover on the truck. The actuator is fine, the plastic cover popped off (I'm referring the plastic housing on the actuator itself). No damage, popped it back together and it snapped shut. But that axle tube is broken completely all the way around. Shouldn't have to unbolt it from the diff. Once I separate the trans axle (only on the broken housing side), it should pull right away from the diff. Just have to do it carefully, otherwise it may fall apart inside the diff (just like the rear diffs will if you move it around too much, thrust washers push out of place).

 

Well today it was decent enough, and my leg was only a 5 on the pain scale, so I went ahead and painted the calipers and brackets. After the painting, I went ahead and used the oven for an hour at 200. It really makes the paint lock on the metal. Now tomorrow I'll put in the pistons and seals and the boots for the slides. I like how they turned out. Now if they hold up, but they should, since brakes are hidden behind the wheels. lol I have Ford logo decals I will put on each outer center, so on the truck it should be visible, like the Mustang has.

 

It's most likely fine if your sure about the gap. Sounds about perfect to me in fact.

Anytime after 150,000 miles. At 165,000 miles mine was completely shot, but I most likley have the heavier transmission (E4OD/4R100, -yours 4r70w correct). The bushing material was just gone, -all that remained was a rubber flap which was forced into mount.

Although a thorough check requires removing the cross-member, your not there yet. You checked the first thing, mount gap. Also visually check the orange dampening bushing material that ties the exhaust Y (via welded factory hanger) to the plate that sits above the mount. This is the hanger bushing/dampener, sits just above the Y's crossover pipe. There's a substantial amount of downward pressure on the hanger damper when the mount is getting close to metal on metal or wearing thin. So much so, the hanger post that's sandwiched inside the orange dampening material deforms the material all around the post side. Hard to get a visual, but should be able to see good enough for a determination if concerned.

Three components take the brunt of repercussions or get hit occur when the mount wear out. What and which goes first remains to be a mystery.

1. The plate above the bushing (not part of) fatigues and cracks. That's pretty much a given if the trans mount bushing it's metal to metal, but it's an easy weld repair. The plate usually cracks from a combination of pressure, heavy drive-line vibration and side to side trans/t-case movement on the cross-member. A bad mount looses necessary torque for keeping the trans/transfer in place.

2. The Trans or T-case tail shaft seal is compromised, begins to leak. Not a bad leak, minor leak and only when driven usually.

3. The most common is the rear manifold studs shear or snap off. This occurs on the passenger side in most cases, but not all. I've seen the drivers side snap as well, it's just not as common. Regardless, the manifold studs are the dead end for drive line vibrations being transferred through a bad trans mount. Add in a little downward pressure on the Y from loss of bushing material and trans/t-case movement from being loose on the cross-member, somethings going to give. Since the exhaust Y is tied to the transmissions right at the top of the bushing, it moves with the trans.

Next time you pull up to one of these sitting at the light with a manifold leak, now you know why, -in most cases anyway. There's a lot of those running around here lol.

Hope I conquered your curiosity Bear. I believe a new uncompressed bushing is only about a 1/2" gap...might be 5/8.