Last week Brenda and I took off for our cabin on Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma. Uncle Roy and I snuck off to the river to do a little catfishing. It was mostly fishing and very little catching. But we had a great time. These are shots of the upper Illinois river just above Lake Tenkiller. The water is a little muddy at this point.

They have some of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen. There is a movie based on this neck of the woods called "Where the Red Fern Grows". We went to see the old general store that was used in the movie which is located outside of Keys.

The following is a shot of the Trout stream just below the Tenkiller dam. The water here is cold and clear.

Now that we have the tie rods finished they can be installed. There will be plenty of flexibility with the rose joints at both ends of the rod.

Now all we need is the steering linkage and steering wheel.

I have never assembled a universal joint before this project. They are a very efficient means of transferring force at an angle. The basic parts are the yoke which holds the U joint, The U joint itself, the bearing caps, copper retaining rings, and grease fitting which is also referred to as a zerk fitting.

I have already assembled one side of the joint so I will try to explain how to assemble the other side. Both sides are assembled in the same method. I know it is hard to see from these photos what I am talking about but you can easily find detailed information on the Internet. That is where I got my info. You basically start by placing the U joint inside of the yoke. carefully put some grease inside of the bearing caps. Then you take the bearing caps that you see in the next photo and place them on either side of the yoke. The bearing caps fit very tightly in the yoke and must be pressed in using a vise or similar force. The idea is to carefully squeeze the bearing caps into the yoke while centering the u joint so that it will slide into the bearings. This is the part where you need to pay attention because the bearing caps contain numerous needle bearings that are held in place by a small amount of grease. If any of the needle bearings fall out you must put them back into place in order for the joint to work properly.

You do not want to apply any direct force to the yoke itself. Keep all of the pressure on the end caps. One way to do this is to use a socket that is smaller than the Outside of the bearing cap. This way you will not put any pressure on the yoke and risk bending it.

The bearing caps need to be pushed in far enough for the retaining rings to be snapped into place. Now I don't want to give the impression that this all goes very smoothly especially if you have never put one together before. About the time you are through is when you are finally getting the hang of how to assemble it without much trouble.

Don't forget to insert the grease fitting when you are done and be sure to turn it so that you can get to it with a grease gun. Be sure and remember to grease the joint before putting it into service.

Here is the joint with the fitting installed.

Now we can complete the rear axle assembly. The Azuza flange bearing will hold the axle to the outer mounting brackets. I will wait until final assymbly to insert the key stock into the keyways.

A short center axle has a universal attached on each end and will be driven by the rear sprocket. I have not chosen the sprocket size yet. The sprocket will be bolted onto the sprocket hub you see in the middle of the photo.

The rear drive shafts are held in place by the lock screws on the bearings.

Now we can assemble the rear shocks and mount the rear wheels. This is the moment I have been waiting for. We now have a "Rolling Chassis".