After swapping the '84 in during a dry spell yesterday (27°F),…

After swapping the '84 in during a dry spell yesterday (27°F), the rear d'shaft wouldn't mate up. Turns out the yoke on the '84 is larger, so I pulled its nut & left it in-place (to hold in the fluid I had just changed) while I pulled the '83 yoke. That quickly evolved into the hardest part of this job. The yoke nut was holding over 400 lb-ft and not budging. My Snap-On 1/2" breaker bar is too springy, and I was putting a couple inches of curve into it with NO action from the nut. I even broke a little chunk out of the yoke when a bolt bent. So I put the blue wrench on it just in case I had used red threadlocker when I replaced the speedo gears years ago. But even with the backside of the yoke smoking, it was still holding ~450 lb-ft. After letting it cool overnight with some ZEP 45 penetrating oil, I bolted on a holding bar, cribbed the t-case on the floor, & put a 3' cheater pipe on my Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar. It finally let go somewhere around 550 lb-ft (my 240 lbs bouncing on the cheater ~2.5' away).

Owner caption January 2010 · Photo 2894 of 6546