Rufus: The rear end finally gets installed.

(09/09/2008) It's been forever since I did any work on Rufus. Lots of reasons, but not enough room to explain them here. The good news is that, with the invaluable help from a friend, Larry Krol, the rear end is finally bolted back in. At least the shackles are bolted up and there are wheels on the rear axle. The help Larry provided came in the form of a spring spreader of his own design and fabrication. And he built it based on my measurements, given to him over the phone (since he lives in Illinois) and then shipped it to me. It worked like a charm right out of the box. I'll take up the narrative from where it ended over a year ago.

(07/12/2007) Here's the rear axle with the brake work completed and resting on a floor jack.

At a friend's suggestion (my good friend Ken Boyd, who died from lung cancer earlier in the year; I got to where he lived [Needles, CA] a week late for his funeral. I didn't know he'd died.) I made a brace from 2x4s and sharpened the ends to fit near the spring eyes. The problem with the wooden brace was that it collapsed slightly at the sharpened ends and allowed the spring to collapse just enough that no amount of pushing and tugging would let me connect up the second shackle.

(09/08/2008) Fast forward a little more than a year. The spreader that Larry made without seeing the the situation (although he's built many hot rods) is in place under the wooden brace. Note the step in the spreader to clear the rear end banjo.

After turning the Acme nut on the threaded rod to expand the overall width of the spreader, I was able to move the wooden brace out with a few gentle taps of a hammer.

I took a lot of photos to document how this went, so that Larry can see how well his device worked. The spring eye and the shackle eye on the axle are getting closer.

I did a dumb thing and put the other end in upside-down. The chamfered end should have been on top for spring clearance. It turns out that it wasn't a problem.

(09/09/2008) After going on a tool run to get a 1 1/4" wrench to turn the Acme nut, I cranked it out farther and farther until they almost saw things eye-to-eye.

There. The shackle slid into the eyes perfectly.

I put the end plate on and tightened it up a bit. It ain't goin nowhere now.

So there it sits in my messy garage, waiting for me to bolt up the front of the torque tube and install the new brake rods and clevises.

Next Page: The rear end REALLY gets installed.

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