1978 Grand Marquis

[Brown_Muscle]

Holy cow with those gears... how did that happen?

[Grand1]

Peeled out on a country road, luckily by my house, but unluckly en route to get headers made for it last year. At first, I thought it was my flywheel as the sound was intense. Looks like a spider gear or other bearing went kaput and the ring gear shows the after effects. Third member will be here in about three weeks....went with a 3.5 with REM finished bearings for a total of $660 delivered....gonna rock my old axle input shafts.

[Grand1]

The 3.5 third member came. Axle shafts are in the process of getting the big bearings installed....rear rotors it will have.

[Grand1]

Ceramic "gray ice" headers from Ford Powertrain Applications are in. Only source as there is no perfab out there. Really, really nice. Has my name and birthday on em, never seen that before. The Bomber will breathe. Time to get to work!

[Arquemann]

Can't wait until you get it together and ripping down the road. With pics and video preferably
I've really wanted a barge for quite long, the bigger the better and with a souped up big block drawing two black lines on command.

[Grand1]

Thats the plan man...

So being a complete virgin on axles, when doing a perfunctory inspection, on the inside of my axle tubes there seems to be jagged pieces of metal (on both sides) where the rubber part of the seal would rest? What is this...maybe just manufacturing imperfections? Doesn't look like it would impede ta seal.

[Tiggie]

The actual sealing part of the seal is closer to the center of the tubes, so you should be in good shape there as long as the seal can get in there straight.

Awesome looking headers. Barges need love too.

[Grand1]

Luckily I had a freind that let me borrow his air bumper jacket, no way in hell the pig was gonna go in, without the extra hieght. Lube locker gasket gave me more problems then the pig was kinda wavey and didn't sit flat....hopefully the pig smashed it flat. Axle seals and 3.15 new bearings installed.

Now when I spin both axle shafts, the yoke doesn't move....but when I move the yoke, the wheels spin. Is that because the car is jacked and the wheels aren't on the ground?

[Grand1]

So have been researching this and I still don't understand....so when I spin my the axle shaft the yoke doesn't move....but when I spin the yoke by hand, the axle shafts rotate. Any suggestions?

[Giraffe]

So have been researching this and I still don't understand....so when I spin my the axle shaft the yoke doesn't move....but when I spin the yoke by hand, the axle shafts rotate. Any suggestions?

Sounds like typical open differential operation. Spinning one side at a time won't cause the other side or the yoke to spin on an open differential.

[Grand1]

Thanks, just still learning alot about a rear end...thought it might be a planetary gear doing its thing.

[Grand1]

So looking up the brake conversion, yikes what a thing to do. My axle flanges are around 6.75 inchs and I have a 5x5 bolt pattern. So yes, I could get those machined down to the 6 1/4 inch and the center down to 2.73 inch needed for the hat for this bracket kit....another problem is the rotor. Most brake conversion kits want a 11.25 inch rotor with a 5×4.5 bolt pattern. I can find a 11.5 inch 5x5 rotor, and then have it machined down to 11.25?

Really thinking about putting drums back on it...but didnt have the backing plate/ gasket installed back on the axle shafts

[DerekTheGreat]

Drums are just peachy. I think your car has big ass ole drums on it too, so when done and done right, they should stop the thing well with a good pedal feel. Drums just get a bad rap due to being out of adjustment or some other small deal. You're not autocrossing it so fade isn't going to be an issue.

[Grand1]

Well, took your advice Derek. Drums it is. New rear brake hose....was able to flare line without redoing the whole line. New brake lines to each drum. New KYB monotubes. New Ujoint...it is a 1330 big bearing the two sets of bearings, they dont have the same diameter. Axle fluid in. About to fire it up.

[Grand1]

BTW, this tool on Amazon saved my ass for flaring an existing line....highly recommended and its like $40.