Carrier Assembly; Helpful hints, tricks and traps

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

ASSEMBLY ORDER.
If you have completely gutted your hull, the first things to go back in are the gear change parts along the floor and the bottom (between the bed rails) radiator shroud. (it bolts to the floor)
It would be wise to lube/anti-seize where you can.
I Put my cross tube in first, but probably the gear change should be first.
The British service book says to leave the roller brackets loose on the inside of the hull and put the shaft in. This makes access to the nuts more difficult. Remember there are 4 holes that hold the leather boot frame on the out side.
The book says to grease the roller assemblies and pack the leather boots with grease (having tie wired the boots into place with a single piece of wire, each side)
Once the cross tube is in, I then put my cam plate (already fitted up on its mounting plate) in. There is little clearance between the big nut and the cross tube. This may need to be relieved.
I assembled the cam plate rollers in last. We are then required to adjust the clearance (rollers to cam plate, )to 0.001".
I then installed the two steering rods from the cam plate forward. It is awkward to get the lock nuts on the bottom.

I just finished these items 2 minutes ago, and my order was slightly different.
1: cam assy first (never mind, make it last). These are a bugger....I like to get it done first
2: Shift assy and linkage and pillow block. Done before the roller and steering cross shaft, it allows you to get the bolts in in case you need to bring it up a bit.
3: Hull rollers and brackets. I had mine completely assembled in their bracket. Cross shaft will go through just fine EXCEPT: cross shaft must go in from right to left so you can work it around the steering plate center nut. If you try to come in from the left side of the carrier, it will jam up against the nut with nowhere to go.
4: Steering rollers and blocks: Note that the blocks are paired and are bore aligned. Mixing the pairs, or even reversing the top from the bottom, will make the alignment bad, and may not allow the blocks to clamp properly or the adjusters to turn in their holes. Same goes for the block holding the transmission shift linkage bearing. It will be bore aligned and only go together one way properly. With these kinds of blocks, one does well to stamp or pin-punch them prior to removal. I recall snapping a ferret mounting block because I mixed caps.
Edited to add: This will re-enforce Lynn's order: I ended up having to remove my cross shaft to get the roller blocks in place. There is insufficient room to install them from the bottom with the cam plate in place. Oh well, two steps forward and one step back.

5: And this is a big one: try and restore your carrier before you turn 50 and the arthritis sets in.