How To: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car US Ordnance number 7373

[John Mackie]

Darryl over the years i have had to remove many pinion yokes. as yet i have not had to go past the tool attatched to the yoke with 2 bolts.
if you have to resort to heat you have to use a lot of heat and get the yoke hot quickly before the heat conducts to the pinion. a hit with a heavy hammer on the puller bolt IF IT IS YOURS may help.
best of luck with the great project.
I WOULD REMOVE THE BALL BEARING AS IT MAY SHATTER AND FLY.
John.

[Big D]

Hi John,

How's it going? Thanks for the reply. Yes, the manual says the puller is the way to remove it so it has got me a bit beat.

I took the axle housing to my mechanic today. He took one look at it and said that he didn't think that a puller would do it with it having a tapered shaft and a rusted keyway. He also said that he didn't think a press would have done it either (as I had set it up).

He thought lots of heat fast onto the yoke and then smacking the yoke with a big hammer would be the way to do it. He isn't sure about the pinion shaft until he has a look but he thought that it is likely to be very tight around the spigot where it fits into the axle housing. We'll see how good he is.....

Interestingly, I started work on the rear axle late today. This axle looks a lot better and the differential turns freely and the threaded torque rods undid fairly easily. This axle had a leaking seal on the pinion shaft and with all the oil and grease all over the yoke and into the keyway, I thought it looked promising for removal. One short blow with a cold chisel on the nut securing the yoke undid the nut, so it was looking good at that stage.

I then put my 6" puller on the yoke and worked it up. As I'd done with the other yoke, I gave the puller a smack with a hammer but all I was able to achieve this time was a broken puller! Ha!

I'll have a look at other options and in the meantime, see what the mechanic comes back with.

[Big D]

Hi all,

I have now stripped the second axle. The differential looks in much better shape in this one. I believe that after a good clean up, the bearings on this one will be fine. I'll get it blasted as well and fit new axle seals and a pinion shaft seal.

Work has just resumed again on the hull. The ring gear is complete and bolted inside the hull, and some of the plating is being fitted now. The ability to do full repairs to both sides of the hull lower channels is now apparent.

[Big D]

More hull photos...

[Big D]

The last couple...

[Petr Brezina]

Nice job!

[motto]

Darryl, The pinion installation appears to be the same as on the Studebaker US6. I have some spare yokes should you need one.
As regards removal, I would definitely recommend applying a puller to the yoke then supporting one side of the parallel section of the yoke with a steel block whilst striking the opposite side with a heavy hammer. So as not to bruise the yoke place a flat steel bar against the side you are striking. Support it well and strike it hard. If at first nothing happens rotate the yoke 90 degrees and try again. I've never known this method to fail to release a tapered fitting.

Dave