HRPT Prep 1 - Rear Axle & Suspension

I'm going to start my preparation for the Hot Rod Power Tour with the rear suspension.  I don't expect to find any real issues but I want to review everything.  HRPT is a long trip and I don't want to have any problems.  Over the course of the weekend, I took care of the following.

I pulled the rear drums to look over the brake system.  Everything is in great condition.  Plenty of life left on the brake shoes, nothing concerning about the drum surface, wheel cylinder are in good condition without any leaks, and the rubber brake lines are flexible and without any cracks.  I put a light coat of VHT SP997 Cast Iron high temp paint which is the same paint I originally used on them years ago.

The stock rear axle vent tube leaves quite a bit to be desired.  There is essentially a nipple that screws into one of the axle tubes, connects to rubber hose, that is inserted into the frame rail.  The threads for the vent nipple are 7/16"-20 and I found a Strange Engineering vent (STR-H1112B) which is more compact and doesn't have a rubber hose running near the exhaust.  I installed it using the original lock washer that was used with the vent nipple.

I confirmed the torque on several of the rear suspension fasteners.  I used the torque specifications from the 1967 Mustang Shop Manual.  The wheels are torqued to 80 ft/lbs., U-bolts are torqued to 50 ft/lbs., front leaf spring bolt is torqued to 45 ft/lbs., and the shackles are torqued to 20 ft/lbs.  I didn't bother with the axle retainers or the center section as they are leak free and no doubt fine.

While I did not have a chance yet, I want to drive the car around to heat up the gear oil in the rear axle and pump it all out. I purchased Valvoline 80w90 gear oil (VV831 on right below) which meets GL-5 specs and has no friction modifiers.  This is exactly what is recommended by Detroit for the Tru-Trac that is installed in the rear.  This isn't 100% necessary but I have not changed it since installing the Tru-Trac or the rear gears so it is at least worth the peace of mind.

To finish off the weekend, I cleaned up the wheels and tires.  I then filled them up with 32 lbs. of air pressure.  

The next project will be to replace the upper ball joint on the passenger side front suspension.  I noticed some play in the ball joint a couple of weeks ago and the new parts to do the job just arrived from Summit on Friday evening.

I have 14 weeks until Power Tour.