tpiroc

I'm hoping to NOT get in trouble considering the rear-end I'm inquiring about isn't in a 3rd Gen. Anyway, I finally tore some assphault in my 50 Chevy pickup since I got it, when I came home from the first test drive, I noticed it was leaving a pretty fair trail of gear oil. Once I parked the truck, two puddles started to form. I'm having a hard time understanding where and why it's coming out; hopefully you'll see what I mean by these pictures:




I'm also curious about what kind of rear end it has; any guesses?



How do I check the gear oil level? I'm coming up empty handed! Thanks for the help, I appreciate any feedback.

82Z28NAZ

to me, what it looks like someone welded those blocks on and perhaps burned through the axle tubes???? hard to tell

tpiroc

Yeah, there is some ghetto home brewed jobbers on there, but my friend drove it for a while before hand about 2 years ago and never had this leak problem. It hasn't been driven for about 2 years though, just moved and pushed around the shop.

82Z28NAZ

perhaps this could have caused it to tear at a stressed area near the weld

tpiroc

Ooh, keen observation. I may just have to unbolt it to thouroughly inspect, because that's no place for fluid to secrete

RB83L69

Yup, cracked welds.

I believe I'd get another housing. That's going to be pretty tough to fix, with the way it's rigged.

I'd suspect your friend just ran it with the gear lube real low. Once it leaks enough that the level is about ½" below the axle tubes, it'll mostly quit gushing fluid, it'll just become a seep instead.

tpiroc

The thing is I didn't abuse it too bad out on the street, it's got no bed and could break them loose very easily, and I never got on it enough to do that. When my friend had it he did some LONG 30-75ft peg-leg roasts with it, he'd even drop the clutch in 4th to get it to spin and it would like mad. So I haven't subjected it to that kind of abuse, and it never leaked when he had it. However I suppose that may have weakened it big time and the aftermath was left on me when taking a quick stroll around town.

tpiroc

Basically I found out that the rear end is out of a mid 60's truck, that had the leaf springs going above it, to flop the axle, the crummy leaf pads were welded on. Since the whole dang thang is cast, it takes some skill to weld onto unless the entire thing is heated up real well in what's basically a large oven. Anyway, I need to yank the rearend out and patch it up at this point, which may be difficult seeing as the tear spot may be impossible to get to without removing the crummy leaf pads, making a larger mess. Otherwise I'm cruisin' for any 'ol rear end that's DIRT cheap just to put the booger on the road again. I checked the level and it was about 2.5 to 3 inches below the plug hole, so it wasn't just a matter of being over-filled.