My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[gadget73]

I'm down to a single drum brake vehicle, and its my newest. When I got it the parking brake absolutely did not work, but the pedal really didn't feel bad. Pulled the drums just to see what was going on, expecting a mess and I saw brand new brake shoes and zero dust. Someone, probably my uncle, had changed the rear brakes and left the adjuster wound all the way in. Easiest drum brake repair I've ever done. No idea if the self adjuster works, but they only function when the shoes are kind-of close to start with. Way out and it just won't do anything.

[friskyfrankie]

Probably because the adjusters are designed to be a "fine" or "polish off" adjustment and not miracle makers. Makes sense to me as long as repairers understand the design limitations all will be fine.

[Arquemann]

Adjusted front wheel bearings, they were a little loose. Again I adjusted them so I can feel a bit of play yanking on the tire, but not audible. I did some city driving and the hubs were barely warm, hopefully that's just from braking.

Also changed plugs again, previously did them in May last year. I had almost forgotten about the Denso Plats I bought in the spring.
Couple things I noted:
- New plugs did not affect the rough idle at all it seems
- A/F distribution is better with the Holley 4bbl than with the CFI previously. Plug colours are all quite close to eachother
- A couple plugs are wet(ter) than last year. 1, 2, 4 & 8 were wet. A year ago it was mostly 1 & 4. All a bit carboned up.

[sly]

Front bearings... tighten to 100 ft-lbs then loosen and snug. Set cotter pin at next tightest slot if not already lined up. It should not be loose.

[Arquemann]

Front bearings... tighten to 100 ft-lbs then loosen and snug. Set cotter pin at next tightest slot if not already lined up. It should not be loose.

100 ft-lbs?? Jeeez even the Ford manual says to tighten to 30 ft-lbs (or was it 34) and then loosen and set to 10 inch-lbs I think. But I've always done like I explained in the previous post. I think there's like 4-5k miles on the bearings. This is my second time adjusting them.

[sly]

Wait... I might be thinking of something else. Maybe new seals or another part. But yea, there should be no play. I've never used a torque wrench and just done TIGHT with a 3/8 ratchet and then backed off and snugged up until it didn't wiggle but would rotate with little effort (not no effort as that's too loose).

[jaywish]

Yes tighten till it binds when spinning then a little more to set the bearings..
Then back off till it just no longer binds at all. free spinning.
Lock it down with cotter just the smallest possible amount looser than this position. Not tighter.
That is pretty much how I have done it.

[Arquemann]

HEHEHEEY guess what guys!
The rear end started whining! About 80km after the shop visit!
Did not whine on wednesdays trip, did not whine yesterday on the way to the cruise night. Started whining out of the blue on the way home.

A clearly audible whine at about 75-80kmh and kinda seems to growl at 100+ kmh.
For four years it has been nice and quiet. Then the inspector tells me to go poke around. And all downhill from there.
Fuck.
Fluid level is fine, checked it today. I highly doubt the old fluid was anything other than 80W90, probably older than the Ford TSB about using 75W-140.

I think I'll call the shop on monday, also mentioning their shoddy workmanship aswell. After that I might consider offing myself or other pleasant pastimes.

[Arquemann]

Called the shop, they took my comments sincerely. Mechanic will get some questions asked and a stern talking-to. If the rear end noise gets worse, they'll take it back and check it through, no fuss about it. They said worn diffs can be finicky and I'd be inclined to agree.

Dunno if I should just put in 75w-140 in it already. I hate the diff whine, I have good hearing and it just drills into my skull even over music. Atleast the MGM's whine isn't as loud as in the Caprice.
Also the front wheel bearings are just fine, I was just overly cautious about them getting warm after tightening them.

[Brown_Muscle]

That's good to hear about the shop being cooperative. I'm surprised they didn't want you to bring it in as it is. If it always whined after the set it up i'd say the gear teeth weren't set up correctly, but since it suddenly occurred, something happened. I'd recommend 75w-140 synthetic regardless. Although i'd have them take a listen first.

[Arquemann]

That's good to hear about the shop being cooperative. I'm surprised they didn't want you to bring it in as it is. If it always whined after the set it up i'd say the gear teeth weren't set up correctly, but since it suddenly occurred, something happened. I'd recommend 75w-140 synthetic regardless. Although i'd have them take a listen first.

Thing is that they didn't touch the gearing at all (or they shouldn't have atleast). Since they changed the wheel bearings and axle shafts, only thing I can come up with is if a wheel bearing was installed improperly, crooked or bent. But I can't really see a normal cylindrical roller bearing whining like that if damaged. I'd also sound like it's coming from either end of the axle.

I'll see how things play out, if the whine doesn't get worse in the near future, I might just have to come to terms with it. And/or put in 75W-140.
Since the type of whine (only at certain speed, low throttle) would kinda indicate pinion bearing preload, I wonder how much could I tighten the pinion nut before the gear mesh goes off too much. Just to snug up the bearing preload a bit, in case it'd shut up.

[Tiggie]

Not sure if this helps, but a loose pinion has noise on decel, too tight is noise on acceleration.

[friskyfrankie]

If it were my money I would not be satisfied "living with it"! Have them fix it until it is correct or work out a financial settlement and have it done elsewhere.

[Arquemann]

If it were my money I would not be satisfied "living with it"! Have them fix it until it is correct or work out a financial settlement and have it done elsewhere.

Of course I'm not satisfied with the whining rear end, but at this point it's quite hard to clearly prove that it's caused by the shop. If it gets worse, it'll be a more obvious case of something done wrong, but currently it could just be stupid coincidence. Considering the fact that the old gear oil I drained the first time around could've been original. If something in the rear end is currently making glitter off itself, it'll get worse. I'm having a hard time coming up why the shops work would be causing the whine. Only thing odd about this is that the whine started so suddenly.

[friskyfrankie]

If it wasn't there before bringing it to the shop - that would be my story to have them fix it.