Draggin8

Yes! Eventually. But not without help (Credit where credit is due!) : Heavy-duty ball joint tool from Harbor Freight, propane torch, CRC Freeze-Off. I had to grind out the opening in the ball joint tool - it was about 1/8-inch too narrow. Applied the tool and cranked it down hard. Heated steering knuckle with the torch. Applied Freeze-Off to the stud for about 30-seconds. And ... BAM! ... it let go! Glad I'd planned for success (!) by placing a wood block and cushion underneath. Anyway, thanks again. You guys 'had my back'. I appreciate it.

Thanks for all the suggestions. You guys are great!

Thanks, Terry - I get that about the castle nut. But I'm talking about the hole in the steering knuckle itself. Anyway, a local ATHS friend said "don't worry about it" there's nothing in that hole that will prevent the shaft from coming out of the knuckle.

I've recently driven my 1959 H653LT for the first time. Runs great - drives "OK" but needs front-end alignment. I've checked "toe-in" and found it actually has about 0.5" toe-out. Rotating the tie-rod with a pipe wrench seems to just move the tie-rod left or right - but doesn't change the toe-in as I'd thought it would. So, looks like I'll need to disconnect one of the ball-joints from the tie-rod to make the adjustment. To remove the ball joint, I've been told to just hit it from various angles with a 4-lb hammer, and it will drop out. I'm reluctant to do that without knowing a little more about it. In the picture below, there's a hole in the steering knuckle adjacent to the ball joint's tapered shaft. I'm concerned that there might be a roll-pin or some other sort of "keeper" there that must be removed before the shaft can come out! I'll really appreciate an answer!

Well, that wasn't too bad. I drilled through the casting, and removed the ball/spring detent from the top. Photos attached ...

Thanks for helping me make my point. Once I've positioned a strong magnet to pull things in the proper direction, I'll try again to rotate the shaft.

I think this is an important point. If only we'd had the conversation before I let the ball and spring fall down into the notch! I'll use your idea of prayer along with a strong magnet, and see what happens.

Wow! Thanks to every one of you for the great replies!! Carlotpilot: I'm going to try your magnet idea, first. Freightrain: If that doesn't pan out, I think I'll take your "drill/tap/plug" suggestion. eddeere: Thanks for your enthusiasm over the truck! Tires are by General, supplied by S&S Tire of Puyallup, WA. Front: Grabber OA 385/65 R22.5 Rear: 11R22.5 Freightrain: Yep - that video shows the process. Soon after I bought my truck, I met Brian Vaughn, owner of Classic Reflections (www.classic-reflections.com), an automotive restoration shop near where I live. He has a big trailer-mounted dustless blasting machine, and I hired him to strip the chassis and running gear. Again - Thank you all for your input. I'll keep you posted!! -Doug-

Hello, everyone! I've had an account here for a couple of years, and I've enjoyed following the discussions. Thank you for the informative reading. Now I'm stuck - and it's my own fault. But I'm hoping for some constructive suggestions. I'm restoring a '59 Mack H653LT with a Triplex transmission. The truck hadn't run for five years or so, when I bought it, in September 2015. I got it running during the Spring of 2017 - that's a story in itself. But it runs great. I've been able to drive it short distances, though I soon determined that the 5-speed was stuck in 2nd, and the 3-speed was stuck in Direct. Everything was so caked with grease and dirt I couldn't see much, but that clued me that the time had come for some serious clean-up. Got the chassis and underside of cab stripped clean by a friend with "dustless blasting" equipment, this past September. Painted all exposed metal with flat black chassis primer, and moved on. Both shift levers were badly worn - slotted hole for pivot augured out, pivot pin necked down. A friend tidied them up by TIG-welding replacement metal into the holes and then milling them back to original slot dimensions on his Bridgeport. He even furnished a pair of hardened pins - a complete success. But that's when I discovered that the mechanisms actuated by the shift levers were bound up, due to rust and dirt-packed grease, external to the gearboxes themselves. I got the 5-speed section cleaned up and working smoothly, and then tackled the 3-speed (For anyone not familiar with the geography, that's the portion at the right-hand side in the "TriPlex" photo.) Based on my experience with the 5-speed, I imagined that the actuator shafts were bound up. These enter the 3-speed at its "lower-left corner" in the photo. After talking with an actual mechanic (not a "hobbyist" like myself) I got up the courage to remove the top cover - simple as pie. No problem. You can see it upside down on my bench, in the "TopCover" photo. Over a weekend, I dosed the shafts a bunch of times with penetrating oil ("Aero Kroil") and finally they began to free-up. In fact, things were going so well, before I knew it, I'd managed to pull one of the shafts nearly all the way out of the housing! I wanted to inspect it - and also the "detent" mechanism, which seemed way too stiff (Worn out?). And this is where I made the mistake that put me in my "Quandry" - As I attempted to remove the shaft from the case, I inadvertently rotated it to the point where the detent mechanism (ball-and-spring?) found its way into the milled slot near the end of the shaft. (You can see it, if you zoom in on the upper right-hand corner of the "TopCover" photo). Now the shaft is trapped! I can move it in or out about an inch - until I hit the end of the slot. I can rotate the shaft either direction - until the flat side of the slot runs up against the "ball" - or whatever it is. Can someone give me the number of the nearest "Triplexes-R-Us" so I can pick up another set of parts? Oh .... No? That's what I thought! So my "Quandry": The parts I have are irreplaceable! I don't want to risk damaging anything - but I do want to continue making progress. What should I do? Thanks in advance! -Doug- (The Draggin thing is a nickname from another life!)