I jacked up the van and put it on jack stands.
The next thing to do was to remove the rear driveline.
The driveline is only 15 inches long and drops about 3 inches between the transfer-case and the differential.
Since the drive-line is so short, the universal joints tend to make noise and wear out fast.
I took the the drive-line to a shop in town that builds drive-lines.
I asked the guy there if the drive-line was to short to add a CV joint. At first he said that there just wasn’t enough length to add a CV joint but after he checked it over good and made some measurements he asked me if I could leave the shaft with him for a couple of days to see what he could work out.
I left the shaft and went home.
The next thing that had to be done was to remove the steering draglink. The draglink connects the wheel to the steering box via the pitman arm and is what moves the wheel when you turn the steering wheel.
Using a pickle fork I began to removed the the draglink. I got the ends popped off but there was not enough room to remove the front end.
I had to remove the pitman arm to get the draglink off.
Now I will have to buy a new end for the 73 Chevy part of the draglink. I already have an end for the 68 Chevy van end so now I will have to weld the two pieces together with a spacer between them like the one in the picture above.
Today I will see if I can buy the the 73 Chevy end.
I also have to change the tie rod because it is bent. What I am planning to do is use a section of the old tie rod as a spacer for the draglink. I won’t know yet if the tie rod is thick enough but if it isn’t I will have to use something else as the spacer.
Ok that’s it for now.
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