1968 Ford XL Repairing Whilst Keeping It Roadworthy : 74 28-spline Heavy vs Light duty
2023, November 14
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 36 - 37 - 38 - 39 - 40 - 41 - 42 - 43 - 44 - 45 - 46 - 47 - 48 - 49 - 50 - 51 - 52 - 53 - 54 - 55 - 56 - 57 - 58 - 59 - 60 - 61 - 62 - 63 - 64 - 65 - 66 - 67 - 68 - 69 - 70 - 71 - 72 - 73 - 74For those wondering about the differences between the 28 spline light duty (small bearing axle shaft) and 28 spline heavy duty (large bearing axle shaft) look no further. On the right is the light duty and the left the heavy duty 28 spline axle shafts. The light duty axle is a little skinnier in sections and uses the smaller bearing, also the retainer plate uses 3/8" T bolts whereas the heavy duty axle uses 1/2" T bolts for the flange.
This is the 1966 gal 500 parts car that's going to get the 1968 XL's old axle and new front brakes as well. I should be able to fix the parking brakes and the hydraulic service brakes that never worked since we bought it.
This is the turd axle that's coming out. This still had the whale oil derivative rear end oil Ford used when it was new and brother does it stink to high heaven. It's absolutely revolting inside this.
There's the small bearing light duty axle next to the heavy duty, both Ford 9". Pay no mind to the pinion support and flange on the 1966 axle. I stole the original pinion support out of this for my 1973 Caprice Classic convertible that received a brand new Moser Ford 9" and just installed a Versailles pinion support that was lying around. The small bearing/light duty Ford 9" does come with the small 1310 yoke whereas the heavy duty/large bearing Ford 9" comes with a 1330 yoke. The only way to tell these apart as they are very similar is look at the yoke and the size Cardan Joint (1310 vs 1330) and look at the T bolts holding the backing plates on. The smaller 3/8" T bolts are the light duty axle and 1/2" for the heavy duty axle. Other wise they are interchangeable as a whole. The pinion bump stop changed from 65/66 to '68. I'll have to use the original '65/'66 shield bump stop housing that bolts onto the pinion support.
It looks out of place in the parts car, but my intention is to get it to run and move on its own. This car was missing the 352 when we bought it, but still had the FX (lightest duty automatic) transmission still in it. The prop-shaft is different for that 352-FX-light duty Ford 9" than for the 390-C6-heavy duty Ford 9". I tossed the old FX transmission long ago as they are pretty much good for a door stop unless you have a more or less stock engine. This 1966 galaxie 500 now has a 390 and a C6 (spares) installed and with the heavy duty rear axle I can install a spare prop-shaft I have for this as well and the driveline will be complete.
Believe it or not those old crusty shocks actually still work and were pressurized. I almost fell over in disbelief. I dunno what brand they are but geeze did they build a quality long lasting shock.
I cleaned and lubed the parking brake cables and with an adjustment it has a solid parking brake now. That's a first.
Now for the front brakes. It's pretty bad.
The car has been abandoned since 1972. The grease is like really sticky nasty peanut butter and if those brake linings were any thinner, the bonding agent would be showing. The previous owner sure got his money worth out of these brakes.
The drums are pretty scored, grooved and rusty.
So here's all the front brake parts. Those wheel cylinders had aluminum pistons and were they corroded/welded to the cast iron housing. All junk.
Again, just looks kind of out of place on this parts car.
Every single hard line on the car was plugged with old coagulated brake fluid. It took heat, brake clean and compressed air to clean them all out. Those I reused, only the flex hoses were brand new.
All the drums were over the limit so no parts store would cut them, since this is a parts car I cut them on my lathe. I mean all it has to do is move around and stop on its own around here. It's not like it's going to be actually driven on public roads.
That really concludes this section on the 1968 XL axle, since the original one ended up on this car. As a side note one of the guys in our local car meet wanted the axle so I gave it too him. It saved me a trip taking it to the dump.
I hope you enjoyed.