!@!$!%@ 3/4t blue hub plastic chingadera repair, need advice

[masterbeavis]

I decided to part out the axle in my K20, found a buyer for the locking hubs, took em off and found this. WHO in the [long list of explatives] designed this hunk of [more expletives]


Is there a fix that doesn't involve replacing the long extinct dial? I was thinking a good degreasing, and some JB weld and a several wraps of thin guage wire to hold it all together.

What have you guys done to repair your hub dials? (That didn't involve replacing with the yellow more common dial?)

[masterbeavis]

anyone?

[WyoRoadDog]

No clue, but props for using "chingadera" in the title! I can say I've never actually seen that word written out!

[masterbeavis]

chingadera
From Wiktionary

English

Noun

chingadera f. (plural chingaderas)


Singular
chingadera f.


Plural
chingaderas f.

1. (US, vulgar) Spanglish: something bad or a misdoing
2. (US, vulgar) Spanglish: a gadget, gismo, trinket a whatyoumaycallit or an unknown name for a mechanical device as in.... "the chingadera that holds the car hood up is broken"

the literal translation has a bad word in it.

[masterbeavis]

beuler?

[Sweet72]

I remember replacing a set of those back in 1973, the owner couldn't believe GM would put plastic parts in a truck! Who'da thought they'd be building "Tupperware Trucks" as I like to call 'em, like the Avalanche. I don't know of anything that will hold those pieces together.

[EighthD]

I think if it was mine I would try using 3M 8115 panel bonding adhesiveto repair them. Just clean real good using wax and grease remover then skuff the plastic up so the adhesive will stick. Let it set up for 24 hours. I use 8115 to repair a lot of things it really dose work good. I hope this helps Good luck.

[jerry moss]

i have a bunch of broken ones like that from the hubs i rebuilt, several sets. if they're taken apart incorrectly, it will break everytime. i saved all the broken ones so one day i might come up with a brainstorm and fix 'em. my plan is to somehow attatch a piece of metal tubing to the inner portion of the knob so the pin is in steel instead of plastic. since the blue knobs are now extinct it might be a good time to start on mine. i only have two sets of N.O.S. blue ones left, and i'll probably break one sooner or later.

[masterbeavis]

I was thinking of finding something that would fit the inner diameter of the dial, like mentioned, and epoxying it in, just a matter of doing the legwork and mocking up the parts to get it to work. If I can find some PVC pipe, or other plastic pipe, that might work easier in the machining dept.

Jerry, how long ago did you stock up on the blue dials? You could make a mint on the fools who want these hubs NOS with the blue dials(swap em into a 73-75 yellow dial)

[jerry moss]

i bought the blue ones a couple of years ago along with about 10 sets of yellow ones. i bought all the NOS hard parts, seals etc. to rebuild all the big hubs i had stashed over the years. now i have enough hubs for my own trucks (with blue knobs) and i've slowly sold of the others with yellow NOS knobs. i was lucky enough to get a couple sets of NOS chrome outers for myself from a fellow board member.

[Robert1970C20rstbukt]

That's what happened to the driver side hub on my Suburban, but the knobs are red, probably from a f0rd front axle. I was hoping it had the blue ones but when I first looked at the truck they were red. I know the old man that owned it worked in construction so he probably tore 'em up with a big pair of channel-locks!

[jerry moss]

Robert,
i had a 70 3/4 ton many years ago and it had red centers also, they said spicer where the ford version has FORD written. i guess red "SPICER" centers would be super rare in NOS.
the guy i bought all my NOS blue centers from had a bunch of red "FORD" centers that i should have bought but didn't, shortly after i bought mine his warehouse burned to the ground.

[Rod]

I've had red's in 2 1970 suburbans, I still have a blue on one side and a red on the opposite side in my GMC suburban.

[masterbeavis]

two words, SPRAY PAINT!!

[roger0080]

I just finished up this fall doing exactly what Jerry and masterbeavis suggested. I tried the Ford dealers and there where none available. Tried the after market replacement hubs and they just look goofy on the big hubs, ick. So I did my own solution.

Whether you use a metal or pvc insert, it is hard to find an insert that has its O.D = I.D of the plastic. Or, if you find one where the ring/insert O.D > I.D of the plastic, then there generally isn't enough thickness to the material to be able to turn it down in a lathe (which I don't have).

Fortuneatly, after much digging around in the pails in the shed of odd ball metal stock, I found 2 pieces of stock that would work. I cut the ring to be about 1/2" and drilled the 1/8" hole through it. I'd recommend drilling the hole after you have it bonded in so the holes line up. Then I ground some grooves/slots in the O.D of the ring so the epoxy would stick in the channels, scuffed up the inside of the plastic and used some 3M ScotchWeld DP-420 Expoxy Adhesive (available at www.grainger.com). I tested various epoxies and most just suck. Use an industrial type expoxy. Now the metal ring is taking the contact of the pin.

On another set that just had cracks at the holes and/or where the plastic crown chips off at thepin hole, all I did was use the epxoy and coat the inside of the plastic and rebuilt the crown back up with the expoxy. After it dried, I then redrilled the holes.

Wish I had some pics right now, but it worked great.

His pictures that he posted would be tough to fix. The blue dials on the inside have a taper to them at about the half-way mark so an inside ring would be tough. With careful prep and cleaning, the epoxy only method might just work fine (build up thick expoxy coating on the inside) with yearly hub cleaning and lubricating.

I tried and tested various epoxies for durability before someone put me onto the 3M DP-420. Most off the shelf epoxies sucked IMHO and you want this one to just work.

Also, you have to watch the thickness of the ring. One was pretty fat. I expoxied it in so it was flush with the end of the blue plastic end. I though I was safe as to the thickness (ie didn't matter). As it turned out, when I was bolting the finished chrome ring with my fixed blue dial, apparently the axle shaft needs to be able to slide into the blue dial upto about 1/8" (?). Anyways, the shaft butted up against my epoxied in ring. I found out becuase I couldn't turn the hub lock! I realized what happed and I thought "Oh my! I probably just broke the expoxy bond to the metal ring!!!". After I took it out, that expoxy had no signs of fatigue. Whew. Im impressed with that 3M expoxy. So I took the die grinder out and enlarged my metal ring and reassemble it. All is well now after 5500 miles of road-tripping and off roading it.

Don't throw them away! Fix em!

[masterbeavis]

Finally, some good tech!! Makes ya wonder tho, if the design of the dial and the axle shaft would cause breakage if the shaft moved just right?

[Robert1970C20rstbukt]

The red ones on my Suburban do have the Spicer insert, but I always thought the red ones were for f0rds? I bid on a set of NOS GM yellow ones on ebay and they sold for around 100 something bucks, way too much for me! Anyway i'm gonna try what roger suggested, that's a good idea there.

[masterbeavis]

Here is a link to the DANA website for the locking hub repair book
http://www2.dana.com/pdf/5305.PDF

It looks like my hubs were missing the actuating cam

[jerry moss]

Master, Thanks For The Link, I Printed A Copy

[masterbeavis]

Where do you find part #7 at??

[BLAZERMAN]

Originally Posted by jerry moss

Robert,
i had a 70 3/4 ton many years ago and it had red centers also, they said spicer where the ford version has FORD written. i guess red "SPICER" centers would be super rare in NOS.
the guy i bought all my NOS blue centers from had a bunch of red "FORD" centers that i should have bought but didn't, shortly after i bought mine his warehouse burned to the ground.

I have seen the red spicers and red ford versions also but recently ran across a set of red blank knobs.

[masterbeavis]

Blazerman, are those your parts, and if so, how much are you looking to get for the part #7's?? I need a pair for my hubs.

[1969k10stepside]

Blazerman,I have a set of those red lockouts that are blank too,they are sitting out in my parts shed.They were on my 69 K10 originaly.Everyone was telling me they were off a Ford but they werent Ford lockouts.

[roger0080]

Blazerman I can really use 2 of those collars that you have so many of there in the pic. If you could part with a couple out of those 13+ shown please PM me. Thanks.

[roger0080]

Here are some pictures of the repaired ones.

In the first picture the crown had a hairline crack and the other crown was completely broken out so I built up the crown with the epoxy. This one is assembled and ready for use.

The second picture is of a diffrent unit but it was the same thing: one crown good the other broken out. This one came out nicer in building up the crown with epoxy.

The third picture is a picture of the usable metal rings I found and the epoxy glue used. The ring on the left and right fit almost perfect, but are too thick which require using a die grinder on the inside for about 1/8" inwards. The ring in the middle is perfect but maybe 1/16" too small -- but that is ok as you can fill the gap with epoxy.

I don't have a finished pic of the finished metal ring repaired one as that is currently bolted onto the front axle in use, but it was made from the same ring on the left. This one had both crowns broken out so both pin holes were like a v-trough. But the ring insert really solved that problem.

I coated the inside of the plastic with epoxy in all of them to reinforce them at the outer ends. Seeing how easy the epoxy fix is, I would coat any non-cracked ones I have to prevent the crown from cracking and busting out and elimiate this problem.

Since I have some extra parts and can expoxy them, I no longer worry about having to find non-damaged plastic ones. Whew! I'm happy with it at this point in time.